Last night my husband and I went to a fundraising event in San Francisco for the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. As we mingled with courageous Lung Cancer survivors, the Bay Area's most generous donors, and some of the greatest minds in Oncology today, a beautiful young lady walked up to us wearing a stunning Diamond Pendant.  She pulled her long blond hair back behind her ears, in pure Vanna White fashion and gave us a clear view of her extravagant "bling."  

"Would you like to enter our raffle tonight to win this exquisite diamond pendant, valued at $10,000?  We're only selling 150 raffle tickets, which gives you a 1 in 150 chance of winning."  As I contemplated her masterful use of math and admired her beautiful necklace, Matt took out his credit card and bought one of her 150 tickets.  I was instantly giddy.  You see, while I rarely ever win anything, I was immediately sure I'd be going home with $10,000 worth of sparkle around my neck!   After all I had a 1 in 150 chance!

Needless to say, I didn't win.

I did, however, go home with this gem...

During the program an award was presented to a Japanese Medical Scientist who discovered a unique gene mutation in some tumors of Lung Cancer patients.  He identified and studied the mutation and with the help of a pharmaceutical company helped discover a therapy to counteract the aggressive disease.  Years were given to stage 4 Lung Cancer Patients who originally were given 6 months to live.  

The Doctor humbly took the stage and as he cradled the award in his healing hands he said, in short, "I walked into the room of a patient who had been on Oxygen unable to breath for months, and at the very end of his life when we discovered the genetic mutation and treated him with this new Cancer therapy.   When I came back to visit him two weeks later I could not find him in his room and asked for him, and the nurse told me he went out to find some Korean bbq.  That was the moment that changed my life;  this is what I had worked for and would continue to work to do for the rest of my life.  To find cures for patients suffering with Lung Cancer, and every type of Cancer."  

This man's aha moment infused his ability with passion.

I teared up not because I didn't win $10,000 worth of diamonds, but because my heart stirred with hope.  Hope for patients, yes, but then a mother's hope... Hope that one day my three sons will have Aha Moments of their own.  "I was made to do this...  no matter the cost...   nor the length of the journey... This is what I was created for..."

You are God's Masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

Whether their good works are found in Science, Medicine, Sports, Business, Music, Finance, Politics, Engineering, Sales, Design, or Writing, God created each of our children specifically, fearfully and wonderfully, uniquely designed for the good works He prepared beforehand for them to discover and walk in.  

I long for my boys to find bliss in the exact way God created them.  In the film "Chariots of Fire," Olympic medalist Eric Liddell says, "...God made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure."

The grandest part of our job as Mothers is to point these little lives to the One who created them, but second to it is to grow them up and encourage them to explore, that they might discover the marvelous calling(s) their Creator has on their uniquely marvelous life.

My life has been a string of Aha Moments, I wrote a bit about them here, but I expect that the strand will continue to go on as the Master Weaver unfolds His Perfect Plan for my life.  Not always easy is His plan, nor are the Aha Moments always fun... but as we follow Him and model for our children lives that trust Him, we can be assured He will reveal it to us... one step at a time.

" 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord.  'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' "  (Jeremiah 29:11)