Monday, May 13, 2013
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
My Story
Well, the past few Sundays our pastor has preached on telling the good news, the great commission, spreading the gospel, however you would like to say it. And he said the best way to tell of God's love for us is telling our very own testimony.That has stuck with me. Now there have been so many times in my life where I could clearly see God's hand in it. Like the time I went to the Endo Surgey Center in Georgia. After the surgery I received a bill for over $16,000 that my insurance just would not pay. They didn't like the way it was coded. I fell on my knees. The next day I received a call from the doctors office....they wiped my bill clean! I did not even have to meet a deductible. Other times it would be years before the picture became clear. I think one's life is full of testimonies, but if I were to tell my life testimony up to this point it would go something like this.....
As a toddler I clapped to the tunes of There's Power in the Blood and Learning to Lean. As a little girl I don't remember being in church much, but I do remember the day my parents divorced. That impacted my life enormously as you will soon see. I also remember the first day at my new bus stop. A scrawny olived skinned boy waiting there stoled my heart that instant. I was only about eleven years old, but I went home that night and prayed that I would marry that boy. Now most of you know how that turned out, but that was not the only prayer that little girl said. And let me tell you. God listens to His children's prayers. It does not matter how young you are He hears and sees your heart. My prayer as a little girl was, Lord, I want children when I grow up, but if I'm not gonna stay married, if we can't get along, I dont' want to put my kids through that. Little did I know then how much those prayers would impact my life.
Fast forward years later. I'm married to that scrawny little fellow that was standing at the bus stop that day. He's the love of my life. And now we're ready to start our family....or we thought we were. We went through years of infertility. After one miscarriage, I was done. It was hard, but I knew God was with me. I knew He knew how much my heart desired to be a mother. We decided that for us there were just too many babies out there that needed a family to spend a pile of money on fertility that might or might not work. And it was one of the best decisions we ever made. In 2005 we started our journey to adopt our first daughter. That also had twist and turns as a process that had taken up to 9 months turned into over three years. But God had a plan. Our child had not been born yet. On September 16th 2008 I held my daughter in my arms for the very first time. She is perfect in every way. My love for her is unmeasurable.
If we had started a family in our time, I'm really not sure that William and I would still be together. Then his life still revolved around beer. Without children I could handle that, with a child in our home, that might have been a different story. God knew that. I look at our life now. William and I are youth leaders in our church. Our daughter is being brought up in a christian home.It's just amazing how He can take your life and turn it around. Now that doesn't mean we are perfect mind you. We are far from it, but what it does mean is that we are trying, making a conscious effort to live our lives pleasing to God. That when we mess up and we do, that we have a loving and forgiving Father to turn to. For that I am eternally thankful. I can't what to see what else He has in store for me!
As a toddler I clapped to the tunes of There's Power in the Blood and Learning to Lean. As a little girl I don't remember being in church much, but I do remember the day my parents divorced. That impacted my life enormously as you will soon see. I also remember the first day at my new bus stop. A scrawny olived skinned boy waiting there stoled my heart that instant. I was only about eleven years old, but I went home that night and prayed that I would marry that boy. Now most of you know how that turned out, but that was not the only prayer that little girl said. And let me tell you. God listens to His children's prayers. It does not matter how young you are He hears and sees your heart. My prayer as a little girl was, Lord, I want children when I grow up, but if I'm not gonna stay married, if we can't get along, I dont' want to put my kids through that. Little did I know then how much those prayers would impact my life.
Fast forward years later. I'm married to that scrawny little fellow that was standing at the bus stop that day. He's the love of my life. And now we're ready to start our family....or we thought we were. We went through years of infertility. After one miscarriage, I was done. It was hard, but I knew God was with me. I knew He knew how much my heart desired to be a mother. We decided that for us there were just too many babies out there that needed a family to spend a pile of money on fertility that might or might not work. And it was one of the best decisions we ever made. In 2005 we started our journey to adopt our first daughter. That also had twist and turns as a process that had taken up to 9 months turned into over three years. But God had a plan. Our child had not been born yet. On September 16th 2008 I held my daughter in my arms for the very first time. She is perfect in every way. My love for her is unmeasurable.
If we had started a family in our time, I'm really not sure that William and I would still be together. Then his life still revolved around beer. Without children I could handle that, with a child in our home, that might have been a different story. God knew that. I look at our life now. William and I are youth leaders in our church. Our daughter is being brought up in a christian home.It's just amazing how He can take your life and turn it around. Now that doesn't mean we are perfect mind you. We are far from it, but what it does mean is that we are trying, making a conscious effort to live our lives pleasing to God. That when we mess up and we do, that we have a loving and forgiving Father to turn to. For that I am eternally thankful. I can't what to see what else He has in store for me!
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