Satan's Baby Doll

Like most girls, I loved playing house. I spent hours and hours clicking through the awkward hardwood floor of our house in heels busy to care tasks to the needs of my baby doll my mother. I lovingly feed them, they worked, and rocked their sleep. I have dressed in cute baby clothes and brushed their hair synthetic love. I loved pretending to be a mom. Anyone who asked me what I wanted to be when I grew the most would have heard me state without hesitation that I wanted to be a mom. And I dreamed of having a girl most beautiful of all.

Fast forward a few decades or more and you can imagine my excitement that hot summer day in 2007 when the ultrasound technician said she was sure we were expecting a little girl as our fourth child. Make no mistake, our three children - all boys are very eager, very loved and very well, blessings, but it was a moment I had wanted, dreamed and prayed for a long time. I was bursting with excitement! I wanted to call my husband, Tim immediately, but I decided to stop at the shop and take a "Congratulations on your little girl" card to break the good news of him. I felt so blessed! Thoughts of pink dresses, hair bows and ribbons, and baby doll danced in my head for the next two months. Visions of a beautiful little girl with big bright eyes and a smile that would melt the hearts of my mind drunk.

These wonderful dreams were shattered the day, we discovered Tessa was born with a birth defect - a bilateral cleft lip and palate . My heart broke thinking that it is fighting in this world because people would not see as beautiful. My heart pounded as I recalled my own struggles with my appearance and self esteem as I grew up. I've got the memory of those moments of fear and trembling at the thought of my precious child to have to address how people can be cruel.

As I followed my husband's advice to heart and turned my worries to God, I realized something. To quote Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "gifts that God has placed the greatest dreams of man to shame." Tessa is a blessing and a gift when it is. Each child is a blessing as they are. God was used to teach me so many important lessons and her life God has given me more than I ever dreamed. In fact, his birth was inspired to write one of these lessons - to rediscover that true comfort comes only from God. This inspiration gave birth to my first book, The strength in a smile.

Having Tessa in our lives, I also learned another invaluable lesson. I learned that what really matters is our hearts, our minds. Our value is not what we do or what we like, but we are. We bring something special in the world. We bear the image of God. We all have dignity, value, and purpose.

Unfortunately, people confuse congenital Tessa who she is. They end up not seeing the girl she is beautiful and rather than a label. Satan has convinced us that we need to label each other. Satan knows that we are created in the image of God - we are all so tall, short, fat, thin, big smile, or the realization of an extra chromosome. He knows that the beauty we can offer the love of the heart and lead others in the love Christ has for us. The devil knows that God has for you the plans and seeks to destroy. Jesus said in John 10:10 "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy." (John 10:10, NIV), he tries to train your beauty and value in the world rests on a distorted sense of how self-esteem must be defined.

Satan seems to be winning this battle in our lives. It convinces us that we are all different. It gets us to believe that our differences are what makes us somehow less worthy. We label each.