If you are a parent, you no doubt remember the first time your eyes fell upon your child. The little scrunched-up wonder was beautiful to you. You knew this was no ordinary child.

I can imagine these same thoughts went through Jochebed’s mind as she looked at Moses. In fact, enjoy this little-known piece of Bible trivia: Did you know Moses is the only baby described as beautiful in the Bible?

My heart goes out to Jochebed as I envision her looking at her newborn boy. Times were tense. A new Pharaoh meant grave danger for her baby boy. Would he even have the opportunity to grow up and exercise his unique gifts, talents, and strengths?

My children share DNA, but they are different in temperament, looks, and abilities. The way my husband and I parent each of them is different. We work toward consistent principles, but their individual needs are different. For instance, during our PCS moves, one child would make friends quickly while the other one needed more time to adjust.

I look at each of my children and ask God to help me see and respect their unique qualities. How does that work its way out in every day living? Author Kenneth Boa suggests the recognition of individuality and dignity of each family member shows up through a positive and encouraging attitude. Boa elaborates:

When people are sarcastic rather than supportive, relationships disintegrate. Since it takes about five positive comments to overcome one negative remark, it is important for parents to be on their children’s teams, not on their backs. They should avoid favoritism and comparisons of one child with another. It is especially important for parents to openly admit their mistakes and ask forgiveness from their children when they embarrass or insult them, break a promise, or mistreat them. In this way, honesty and esteem for each individual become ingrained in the thinking of the children.

Each of our children, created in the image of God, possesses their own unique beauty. Our job as parents is to help that beauty to blossom as they fulfill God’s will for their lives.

For each of your children, create a list of their unique characteristics, strengths, and talents. Use this list as a prayer guide for your children.

Baby Moses in the bulrushes is a popular children’s Bible story. Never mind that no one can tell you what a bulrush is. The unbelievable part of the story highlights a mom preparing and placing her baby in a little floating basket to leave him on the bank of the Nile River. Who does that? The scene sounds counterintuitive for a mother who loves her child. Today, we would be calling Child Services on Jochebed, ASAP.

Jochebed’s reason for making the little water bassinet was not for cruelty, but for love. At three months old, baby Moses discovered his voice and found that crying would bring food and cooing would bring attention. She could keep him hidden in her home no longer. Her love for this tiny fellow caused her to take drastic action to protect him from destruction. Perhaps no one would hear him cry inside the miniature ark. The sound of the water and the thickness of the covering would muffle any cry. Perhaps she thought she could return to the ark among the bulrushes to nurse him.

I wonder if Jochebed was thinking of Noah and his ark when she constructed the vessel for baby Moses. Did she think about God’s message of salvation to Noah and his household as she painted the inside and outside with pitch, just as Noah did years earlier? Perhaps this little ark would be a life preserver for her child as the huge ark was for Noah.

Scripture lists the word ark three different times: in reference to Noah, Moses, and the Ark of the Covenant in Exodus 25. All references point to salvation that can only come from God. The reference rings true for Jochebed and her child.

There comes a time when I can no longer shield my children within the confines of my home. As much as I want to shelter them, I know at some point they must make their way in the world. I have no bulrushes to weave into an ark, and no pitch to seal the ark tight.

What I do have is the truth of God’s Word to seal their minds from the deceptions of the world. I can brush it on in the morning and evening through family devotions, and apply it with prayer throughout the day, as needed for life’s situations.

What plan do you have for family devotions? If you do not have a plan, consider researching age-appropriate material and develop a family devotion strategy. If you do have a plan, how do you see it making a difference in the lives of your family members?

One of my prayers as a parent has been that God would consistently intersect the lives of my children with people who would point them toward his will for their lives. I pray for people who can say things to them that they will hear and receive in a way they may not hear and receive from me. God has been faithful to answer this prayer over and over again.

I do not know all of the divine encounters my children have experienced, but I remember one well. My son graduated from high school, and after a year of college we received a call from him with these words, “I feel like I am wasting my time and your money.” Grateful for his honesty, but concerned for his lack of focus, my husband and I began to pray in earnest for God to direct him. For over a year, he did some traveling, and then got a job doing manual labor at barely minimum wage. He worked with an older man who one day looked at him and said, “Son, do you want to be doing what I’m doing when you’re my age?” My son responded, “With all due respect, no sir.” The man said, “Then you need to get yourself back in school and start working toward a future.” Soon after this conversation, my son returned to college and today is a successful middle school principal. I smile when I think of him today. Perhaps he is the answer to another parent’s prayer as he intersects the lives of young people.

My husband’s experience as a military chaplain serving with a basic training unit convinced him that God often uses drill sergeants to get young men and women back on the right track in life. After observing many physical, mental, and spiritual transformations of new recruits, he came to the conclusion that the drill sergeants were the catalysts for change, but the agent of change in a recruit was the Spirit of God moving in response to the prayers of families and churches back home.

I do not know if Jochebed prayed that someone would intersect her son’s life, but it happened. Just as God orchestrated the events of Pharaoh’s daughter bathing in the Nile River to influence the future of Moses, I believe God orchestrated the circumstances surrounding my son’s working with a man who influenced his future. In God’s great irony, the river that meant death and sorrow for Hebrew infants brought life and hope for Moses. In that river, a mother’s prayer and God’s mercy intersected.

Who were some of the people who intersected your life and pointed you to Christ? Consider writing a note of gratitude to them or pray for them asking God to bless them for their investment in your life.

Perhaps other mothers attempted to hide their children from Pharaoh’s onslaught, but Scripture only gives us insight into the mother of Moses. Her diligent care and dangerous move resulted in great reward. Instead of turning her child over for death, Pharaoh’s daughter rescued Moses and offered Jochebed the job of nursing him. Imagine the stress Jochebed felt during the days she tried to keep Moses quiet in her home. Finally, those days were over! Now she could freely interact with her child.

For seven years, she served as the caretaker of Moses in the house of Pharaoh. No doubt, she told Moses the stories of his Hebrew lineage and trained him in the ways of God. We do not know if she lived to see him deliver the Hebrews from bondage, but we do know her brave action set a divine plan in motion. Moses would grow up to rescue God’s people from their slavery in Egypt.

Jochebed gave her son up to another and then God gave him back to her. Symbolically we do the same when we give our children to the Lord through baptism or dedication. In our military chapel in Germany, young couples would routinely present their babies to the Lord. In addition to receiving a pink or blue Bible and a certificate from the chapel, the Chaplain would take each child into his arms, pray and anoint him/her, and then give the child back to the parents. Through this act, the parents acknowledged their inability to provide for all their child’s needs, and they put him or her into the hands of the only one who could, the Lord God Almighty.

God rewarded the trust and courage of Jochebed. Her actions spared her son from death and allowed her to remain a vital part of his life. The book of Hebrews does not list the parents of Moses by name, but their actions are listed among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11:23, “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”

Jochebed trusted God with the life of her son and God rewarded her faith. In what ways do you trust God with your child/children? In what ways do you need to grow in trust?