When there is something better than *perfect*...

I posted earlier about my journey with God. About the tough times that we are facing, and how faith and focus on Him carries us through. Well, I read a written piece that spoke to me, it was exactly my heart's desire: I want to praise God. It was about Leah's journey with God. Here she was married to a man (Jacob) who didn't love her. Her only desire was for him to love her. And then she bore him his first-born son, and she thought "now he will love me". It carries on through the story of Leah and how she longed for Jacob to love her. But then she fell pregnant a fourth time, and her focus shifted. She realised that no matter what Jacob thinks of her, God loves her. And she started focusing on Him and praising Him. She named her son Judah - "this time, I will praise the Lord". I could identify with this. I so identified with this! And I knew, that's what I want to focus on: God. I want to praise God.

Through all of this, I was convinced that the baby I am carrying would be a boy. It was weird, really, I had never ventured a guess as to our baby's gender with any of my previous three pregnancies, knowing that you have a 50% chance of being right or wrong anyway. No, I preferred to wait until the earliest possibly time that the doctor was able to tell us what gender our baby would be, and then get excited about whatever God decided to give us. It was the wise thing to do. But this time was different, I thought I had figured God out. I thought I knew exactly the plan He had for our lives. Ha. How small-minded of me!

Anyway, since I was so sure that we were going to have a boy, I told Natie about the article I read about Leah, and we both agreed that we liked the name Judah, and that we both really do want to praise the Lord. It was decided - our boy's name would be Judah. So less than a week later, we go to the doctor for our first ultrasound, hoping that he would be able to see at 15 weeks of pregnancy, the gender of our baby (boy). Imagine my complete unbelief when he finally said that it looks like the baby's going to be a girl! Ha. I was totally taken aback. A girl? Are you sure? But it was going to be a boy? Seth was going to get his brother (no matter the 9 year age difference)? His name was going to be Judah? God? Have I lost the plot? Have I gone off on my own tangent? I mean, a girl is wonderful too, I am not disappointed in the least, I just really did not expect this. We can't name our girl Judah. It simply won't do! What now?

So we were left chewing on this new bit of information... we are expecting a girl. She is going to be wonderful and beautiful and perfect. Except, she can't have the perfect name. Sigh. Back to square one. But then someone suggested a whole host of girl names that are related to Judah. We didn't like them. It wasn't right for our girl. But there was one! Natie saw it, liked it and Googled it. The natural progression of things in the twenty-first century. Aaah! Here was a new idea! Jodie. Jodie is a very nice girl's name, that we both like, and is derived from Judah! Cool! But it's also derived from Joseph, who, incidentally, is Judah's brother - Rachel's first son. And while Leah had her own journey of being unloved, Rachel had her journey of being barren. And when God blessed her with a son, she named him Joseph - "may He add".

I was blown away. God saw our hearts and knew that we wanted to praise Him. And in finding that, He promises to add to us. God adds. Jehovah increases. God's plan is better than perfect.

World, meet Jodie! She'll be here in August.