This past week, my second oldest daughter, Lori Ann, married a wonderful young man in a beautiful ceremony at the Tabernacle.  I must admit that watching her marry the man of her dreams brought a torrent of emotions for me.  Lori is beautiful – she always has been.

From the moment I saw her being born to this special moment, she has always had a glow about her.  Not just on the outside, but inside as well.

As I stood at the Tabernacle and watched her coming down the aisle on Jim’s arm, my mind was flooded with memories.

I drifted back to that occasion, December 6, 1990, the day I witnessed her birth.

The day before, Lloyd Zeigler (my mentor) had interrupted one of my classes.

“Margie’s in labor,” he said. “She called and asked for you.”

I immediately left for the hospital, and I sat with Margie all that day and through the night; she was having a horrible time of it. The next morning, the doctors finally decided to do a C-section. Her previous children had all been delivered vaginally, and Margie had never had any kind of surgery before. She wanted me in the operating room with her.

“Do you think you can handle it?” the doctor asked me.

“I think so,” I replied. “I’ve been through childbirth classes, and I’ve assisted with several deliveries. I want to do this.” I had been present at the births of three children—Nicole (or Nikki Bee as we called her), Bobbi’s daughter; my niece Amber, Mark’s daughter; and the child of my close friends Christy and John— but I had never done anything like this. I wasn’t worried, though, because I had discovered that a calming presence always came over me when a baby was being born, and it seemed quite natural to be in the delivery room helping.

Previously I’d held the baby as it came out of the mother’s womb. I had cut the umbilical cord. I knew I could do this, even though a C-section would be a lot different.

Margie was scared by this new—and traumatic—experience. Right before they put her out, she motioned to me, and I leaned over the gurney.

“Jesus is here with me,” Margie said. “He told me to just go ahead and go to sleep because he would stay with me.”

“That’s right,” I told her. “And I’ll be here too.”

Scrubbed and gowned in hospital greens, I stood by Margie’s side and watched the doctor cut open her abdomen. It was extraordinary, looking down and seeing a person inside of another person, and I was overwhelmed as the doctor reached in and brought out a baby girl in his hands. C-section babies are beautiful. Their heads are perfectly shaped because they haven’t gone through the trauma of the birth canal. This tiny little girl with a full head of black hair yelped and gulped, filling her lungs for the first time outside her mother’s womb.

As I helped cut the umbilical cord, I was awestruck.

The anesthesiologist brought Margie around quickly, and the doctor presented her with a brand-new daughter.

“What do you want to name her?” he asked.

Margie didn’t hesitate. “Lori.”

“No! You can’t do that,” I said. We had never even discussed it.

“Yes,” she said. “I want to name her Lori. I don’t ever want to forget what you’ve done for me and my family.”

Little Lori—or Little Luvins; I was Big Luvins—was seven now, and I’d been there for every milestone in her life—every birthday, every holiday. Maricela, Margie’s next oldest girl, had tattled on Lori the last time I’d seen them. “Auntie Lori, Little Luvins says bad words.” It was true, unfortunately; my namesake could already cuss like a sailor.

Lori Bakker in “More Than I Could Ever Ask”

Little did I know that very soon, I would be married to Jim Bakker and both of these wonderful girls would be our daughters to raise and love.

A few years after Lori was born (we now call her “Little Lori”), the circumstances of life led us to a place where Jim and I could adopt this beautiful child.  She was and is my namesake, and she is beautiful, inside and out.

“Little Lori” is now 21 years old.  Not only is she an amazing human being, she is gifted in many areas.  She has done a wonderful job producing our television show in the past, and today she is studying and preparing for a career in management and fashion design.

I can truly say that raising “Little Lori” was one of the greatest joys of my life.  Though not without its own distinctive challenges, the privilege of being trusted to raise this remarkable child and now, married young woman, was sacred to me.

God, in His infinite grace and mercy, restored to me the privilege of being a Mother to this wonderful girl…. along with 4 other amazing children!  That makes a total of 5 children God has given to Jim and I to parent.

Perhaps some may believe that we intentionally adopted 5 children to replace the 5 children I had aborted in my days of rebellion, but I assure you that is not the case.  No, dear friends, these children were given at different times and under different circumstances.  Each one is a unique blessing and each one has a testimony belonging only to them.

Even if I had planned it, God planned it better!  Little did I know what God would do with the beautiful child that was born that day I accompanied Margie to the hospital!