I desire you! (Week 1, Day 1)

I was unplanned. My accidental conception has become somewhat of a family joke; after all, how many times have you heard of a husband unintentionally bricking up his wife's birth-control pills into the bathroom wall? Without immediate access to a new supply of pills, my mother quickly became pregnant.

I was unwanted. The day I checked myself into an orphanage I felt completely unwanted. I had no person to turn to and could only appeal to the mercy of the social services system, which was obligated to furnish a minor with accommodation and nourishment.

At that point, I have no idea what possessed me to go to a pro-choice meeting. Curiosity perhaps. At any rate, I was late entering the conference room and all eyes turned on me when the door slammed shut behind me. Grasping the opportunity, I decided to address the main speaker by posing the question that troubled me: "What makes you so adamant that abortion is a good thing?" "Just consider the child," he earnestly challenged. "Imagine a child who was conceived by mistake, is unwanted and ends up living in an orphanage. Wouldn't we be doing the child a favor by not exposing it to such a miserable existence?"

"I am that child," I blurted out. "I was unplanned and unwanted and am living in an orphanage, but I am thankful to be alive. God planned my life, He made me and He desires me. That is all I want and need."

This group of abortion lobbyists was so dumbfounded by my reply, their meeting had to be postponed. One by one, they silently left the conference room. What a glorious God we serve who "chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise... God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are." (1 Cor. 1:27-28)

Your own life, or the life you carry inside you, might have been neither planned nor desired by human standards, but you have a God who chose you before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), who knit you together in your mother's womb (Ps. 139:13), and who calls you His treasured possession (Deut. 7:6). He loves you so much that He is preparing a place to spend all eternity with you (John. 14:2).

Praise be to God who gives value and meaning to each living soul!

· Choose one of the following Bible verses to meditate on today. Write it on a note and stick it to your mirror, or write it directly on your mirror with an erasable marker:

"You have captivated my heart, my sister my bride, you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes." (Song of Solomon 4:9)

"I am my Beloved's and His desire is for me." (Song of Solomon 7:10)

"The Lord longs to be gracious to you." (Is. 30:18)

"Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am." (John 17:24)

"He rejoices over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing." (Zeph. 3:17)

· Use the space provided to write down your thoughts or prayer of thanksgiving about being desired by your heavenly Father.