“I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born.” Isaiah 44:2 CEV

“Since the day you were born, I have carried you along. I will still be the same when you are old and gray, and I will take care of you. I created you. I will carry you and always keep you safe.” Isaiah 46.3-4 CEV

Day 2 of 40: Today’s reading gets real personal, real fast – because I am an unplanned, adopted child. Or… as one callous, insensitive, pro-abortion moron coined it… “an accident.” (But that’s a story for another time.)

Growing up, I never really felt that I fit into my adopted family… my birth origins were kept a family secret (even from me until I was 7 and a neighbor kid told me)… not to be shared outside the family. It was a source of embarrassment? shame? I don’t know what? Except… I kept quiet about it.

It wasn’t until I became a Christian that I had a sense of family identity and heritage. I was made in the image of God… and God knew me and shaped me even before I was born. My family tree included people like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… Peter, James and John… Luther, Calvin, Knox. I was in good company.

My birth origins and daily life were all in God’s hands and I tried to live that out over the years as best I knew how… with a lot of grace thrown in.

But now it’s the “old and gray” part that I’m trying to understand. I’m not able to do the things I did before as I worked out God’s purpose for my life… so what now?

In Isaiah 46:3-4, God seems to be saying to me, “Don’t worry about it.” “I created you. I will carry you and always keep you safe.” I guess safety also includes purposeful living… even at my age.