I Wish It Were You: Gender Disappointment in PregnancySample

Day 2: Children Are Chosen in Advance

“Oh, you’re having a baby?” she remarked in passing in the church bathroom. “Yes!” I happily exclaimed. “Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?” she asked. “It’s a girl,” and as I replied, that was still so hard to say. A few weeks earlier, I had written in my prayer journal about him. Each story of gender disappointment will be different – for some, it is passing on a family name, so a boy was longed for. For others, it will be being first at the birth of a grandchild or heavily involved in wedding planning, so a girl is desired. For others, it is simply the difference between tea parties and toy trucks, sharing secrets or trading fart jokes. In a convenience-driven, on-demand society, it’s easy to think we can get what we want. But God designs babies; He designs boys and girls for His glory, future men and women for His unique purposes. And if we believe this biblical worldview, there is simply no room for comparison between the children given, between their genetics and gender, between their idiosyncrasies and their origins—for they all share that provenance, formed by the One who ordained all of their days before one of them came to be.

Application: Write down three attributes you believe God may have selected for your child before he or she was even born.