Proverbs 16:9 (Niv) “The Lord Determines His Steps.”

Sometimes in life there are projects that no one else wants to take on and you feel like you have been given the left overs. That was how I felt when my teacher approached my friend and I to take on this particular project. No one else in class showed any interest, so our teacher approached us and said that we would be a perfect team. We were suckers for a good compliment. We were young what did we know? So now we wondered what is this project we signed up for……The Reproductive System? What is that?

Our teacher went on to explain that this project was to mold out of clay models of the birth cycle from conception through nine months. “You have got to be kidding? ” I thought. “I am no sculptor! ” Neither was my friend. She reassured us that she had every intent on helping us with this task.

I was given a descriptive book that showed a sperm and egg cell and each embryo through the most completed fetus stage. I started reading along in this science book and before long……I was actually fascinated with this process! The process of life was an amazing discovery. Now how to put these pictures into form?

We took a large poster board as our display background. It helped us to decide what size to make each clay model as we would need to mold one model for each month of gestation. That meant a total of nine models plus and egg and sperm. Each model had to be kept fairly small.

We worked tediously as we continued to study the process and mold each figure. Life was now taking form before our very eyes. It was actually turning out very well.

As each clay model lay on that poster it was my first depiction of how a baby is formed. Each one started to look real to me. How we managed this ….still amazes to this day!

The day of the fair arrived. The whole gymnasium was filled with science projects. As our class mates started to come by and eye our display there were many questions asked. We were now finding ourselves teaching others what we had learned. People were hanging around our display .You should have seen the crowd! More and more of our classmates were flocking to our project there was no competition. They no longer eyed the erupting volcanos or the mysteries of combustion! They too were intrigued with the formation of life.

We had won first place. This honor won the privilege of having our picture in the newspaper!

What a thrill.

I never forgot my fascination with life before birth….I guess that is why later on I went on to be a registered nurse and worked with mothers giving childbirth. I also loved the teaching about prenatal life as I became a Natural Childbirth Instructor.

The Bible teaches us that our steps are ordered by the Lord. I look back in awe as I see how He ordered my steps that day as my teacher approached me. I wonder if being willing to fulfill that task is what made my life take form? What is He ordering you to do?

I only know that I will be very careful to listen to His call since I have clearly been shown… “The Lord Determines His Steps.”

Annettee Budzban AHRTWRITES2U@aol.com Has a writing ministry called, “Writings From The Heart” and sends devotions to friends and others. Her first book titled “Life Changing Inspirations” has recently been published. She has been published on other web sites and in magazines. She is excited to add her writings to her weekly devotional column in her local Daily Herald.