I Surrender My Children

Week 23, Wednesday

Susan Lafferty

“Take your son,” He said, “your only [son] Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

Genesis 22:2 (hcsb)

Rebecca was born a few weeks after we completed training, preparing to move to Pakistan. One morning I was holding her in my arms, overwhelmed by my love for her and the responsibility I felt as her mother. I wept, “Lord, what are we doing, taking her across the ocean to an unknown land?” A few days later we flew to Bangkok, Thailand, to await visas to enter Pakistan.

When she was about six months old, Rebecca became very ill one night in Bangkok—her fever kept climbing and she was vomiting over and over. We rushed her to the hospital emergency room and watched helplessly as they tried to bring her fever down and ran tests on her, including a spinal tap. That night after her fever and screaming had subsided, but before viral pneumonia had been diagnosed, she finally fell asleep. I curled up beside her in the hospital bed while Todd slept on a couch in the room.

In the middle of the night I was wide awake and very clearly heard the Lord speak to me: “There is another lesson in Abraham—besides the lesson of living in tents and going where I ask you to go. It is the lesson of sacrifice. Is Rebecca Mine? Does she belong to Me?” That hospital bed became an altar as I wept and gave Rebecca to the Lord.

As I write, Becca is an eighteen-year-old senior in high school—a vibrant, gifted young woman who is seeking the Lord and preparing to enter university. After that hospital altar experience, we moved to Karachi and were blessed with two more children, Jenna and Jonathan. We have faced other crises with our children—including a medical evacuation of Jonathan from Indonesia to Singapore—but each time my heart goes back to the Lord’s clear message at midnight. They belong to Him. I surrender all.

Father, thank You for Abraham who walked up that mountain with his beloved son Isaac by faith—fully surrendering his child to You. Teach me to trust You in the care and nurture of my children, fully surrendering each one for Your glory. Amen.