Early morning Friday, June 3^rd, we received a text from our son Joe—they were at the birthing center where our daughter-in-love Liv was in labor to give birth to their first child/our fourth grandson! In the midst of our excitement and anticipation, I sat down for my daily devotional time.

That morning’s One Year Bible reading contained Ps. 121, which states:

“My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth…he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you…The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” (Ps. 121:2, 3b-5a, 7-8)

I recommend this whole Psalm any time, but this morning it felt like a direct, perfectly applicable message for Joe and Liv, especially for Liv (who could certainly identify with “neither slumber nor sleep”)!

Isn’t it wonderful to know that when we can’t sleep, the Lord never does, and never even wants or needs to? It’s also wonderful and reassuring to know that He always has a timely message for us if we just tune in to “hear” it!

There’s never a time when He’s off-duty, out on break, “out of office”, or inaccessible. He’s always awake, alert to our needs, on call, and available—because we’re constantly in His care!

The day went on— doula, midwife, other medical personnel, and Joe, all watching over Liv the best they could. But they could only do so much. The rest of us close in family and heart watched and waited from a distance and kept checking our phones. We could do even less. Meanwhile, Liv labored on—she herself could only do so much.

But there was One there with her the whole time, watching over her and the baby, who could do whatever was needed when needed. That evening, “baby Tof” still hadn’t come out, and things were getting complicated and a bit scarier.

Thankfully, we all, including Liv, knew Whose hands she was in and Who continued to watch over her. We kept praying. Late night came and the grandmas and grandpas, brothers and sisters all went to sleep, committing Live and “baby Tof” to the Lord’s constant care…

When we awoke early Sat. morning, there was Joe’s news—Judah Atlas Tofilon born 3:12am, June 4^th, 2022! No news to our heavenly Father who stayed up the whole time with them, and gave us peace to go to sleep, assured that they were in His constant care.

That’s true wherever we are, whatever we’re doing, whenever we need it, which is always! Not just in birthing labor but daily labor. In our up times and down times, fun times and hard times, times of endeavor and times of relaxing. All the time. Whether alone or with others, we’re never alone.

The Lord promised, in Deut. 31:8, repeated in Heb. 13:5—

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

This means we are never outside the boundaries of his care, concern, and love. Since He is also all-powerful and all-knowing, as well as ever-present, His care for us is always effective, lacking nothing in wisdom or completeness. Whether we’re having a baby (not so common!), or in the middle of any difficulty (all of us, often), we can count on His loving, wise, powerful, ever-present care.

The day after Judah’s birth, when we video-chatted with the once-twosome, now threesome, we all thanked the Lord together. My heart was full to bursting with love—when both of them, in turn, snuggled him close, with parental love and care, I thought—what a reflection of our Father’s constant, ever-present, care for us! No movement or sound goes unnoticed by his parents. No need goes unmet.

Ok, I’m a proud and excited grandma, still getting my head around my “baby boy” being someone’s dad—but you’ve got to admit, what happened and the Scripture that day are a great illustration of how we’re constantly in His care!