(Author's note: This was written about 2000. Victoria is now 22 and graduating college December 2019!)

I went to Mardel's Christian bookstore the other day, and bought several small items for my daughter Victoria's "I'm-PROUD-of-you-for-becoming-potty-trained!" gift.  I delighted in being surrounded by thousands of items that glorified God.

By the way, Eden means "delight," a fact I learned from reading Tommy Nelson's book, The Big Picture. So the LORD called the Garden He made Eden, or Garden of Delight (Gen. 2:8).

The music in the store was soothing and refreshed me as it praised the LORD.  I was able to take my time and choose carefully the gifts I wanted for my little one--both for her delight and for her education in learning more about God, and how to love and exalt Him.

I enjoyed buying the gifts and giving them to her as much or more as she enjoys playing with them. She is delighted that I'm celebrating her achievement of this milestone. "You're so proud of MEEEEEEE," she says gleefully, and then rewards me with a big smile. 

She likes the gifts, but loves the praise and smiles and hugs and kisses I give her even more. My words of praise are treasures to her.

I have found--as I make the effort to be super-conscious of all of the GOOD things she does, to TELL her when she does things that please me--that she is satisfied. When I brag on her to others, she likes it. She is pleased because I am pleased, and her little spirit is at rest.

I have found that the more I praise her and encourage her, the more I get in return. It is a gift form Heaven. She beams and says, "Mama!" and runs to me when I pick her up from "church school," (which is what she calls daycare), or from the church nursery when we attend service.

"I love you, Mama," she says, and hugs me close. And she loves to brag on me! Often, when we are somewhere together, she will smile at strangers and say, "This is my friend, Mama. My mama loves me!"

I know that our loving Father, Who is SO compassionate, Who cares so lovingly about every detail of our lives, is deeply moved when we praise Him. He created us to enjoy and exalt Him, to delight in loving Him, to experience and receive His goodness. He never leaves us, and He inhabits the praise of His people!

Just as we all want to be around those who are loving and accepting and praising us, just as we yearn for that ultimate satisfaction, so does El Elyon, Creator and Possessor everything. He longs for our ardent admiration. It is our privilege ot exalt Him, and our delight to have the freedome to do so!

Even more than our closest loved one, Jesus is dearer than those. He desires to communicate with us more deeply than anyone else.
I am teaching my little one to raise her hands and verbally praise Jesus, and to thank Him for His marvelous love.

We are both learning more about talking to God, and delighting in the opportunity. There is nothing sweeter than to have your little one earnestly close her eyes, bow her head, and press her little hands together and pray, "Dear Jesus, please help my Mommy feel better. Thank You. In Jesus' name, Amen."

"Then those that loved the LORD spoke often to one another, and the LORD listened, and heard. And a Book of Remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the LORD, and thought upon His Name."

This morning as we went ot the car to go to "church school," Victoria saw the new bumper stickers and emblem I'd bought at Mardel's. the Christian fish of TRUTH was consuming the "darwinfish," which is a fish symbol sprouting legs and saying, "Darwin," (the father of the worldly evolution theory). She was delighted at TRUTH triumphing.

Even so, the LORD El Elyon edelights when His Truth triumphs in our lives. We are the apple of His eye. He waits to bless us! He gives us so much, and although our flesh is never satisfied, our spirits can be perfectly content, and delight and rest in Him.

Through books, courses, presentations, service, prayer, worship, and more, Tonja and her husband live to exalt God. Her series for girls, P.O.W.E.R. GIRL ADVENTURES, is now out (books I-V), along with LEGACY; YOUR HOLY HEALTH: VISIONS OF THE KING, and more. See the "River Rain Creative" YT channel.