1994 Lexus ES 300 Acceleration

My car has no first gear when I'm in Drive. It takes forever to build up speed and does not change gears till 3rd gear at about 35, 40 mph. It seems like its in 2nd gear from the 0 mph. I can press the gas pedal half way or all the way and still no acceleration, at least not for about 5 seconds then the car finally builds up speed and gets going and it runs normal from 20 mph up. But when the car is in L it drives and accelerates just fine. Like nothing is wrong. So now I just use L as a first gear and when I get to 20 mph I pop it into 2nd or D it works ilke that just fine but I dont wanna always do that. Check engine light is on as well. How do I give my car first gear back in D so it caould run normal and like it used to. Thank you in advance for any help.