My Aunt Karen sent me a beautiful email this week and said it was OK if I shared it with all of you; but first, some back-story…
I’ve already posted the story of my conversion, and how Aunt Karen was the one who first helped me come to know Jesus when Kent & I were in the midst of a painful time in our marriage. Long before our struggles, she went through a very difficult divorce and cried out to the One who has been her best friend ever since. Years later she married Ken, a solid Christian man whom we all absolutely love. Both Aunt Karen & Uncle Ken are the type of people who put you at ease immediately and you can’t help but love them. I’ve found this is usually how it is when someone is filled up with Jesus, His love and peace attract you to them, and it’s definitely true in their case.
Now that you know a little more, read the email Aunt Karen sent to the family today:
“WELL, my husband is taking me on an Alaskan cruise in July with Charles and Cindy Swindoll. We have a lot of their material and listen to him on the Christian radio station all the time. When I was single, I heard them talking about their cruise on the radio and prayed that someday I would have a husband who loved Jesus enough to follow HIS ways, and who would want to go on a cruise with Swindoll and his staff. Ken never knew this, but he came home one night about a month ago and asked me if I wanted to go on a cruise with the Swindolls and a 1000 or 2000 people. Of course, the devil got into my head right away and I thought, “It’s a long flight to meet the ship…” (I’ve never liked flying.) I just said, “OK, when?” Then while praying a few weeks later, after Ken had to ask again when a deposit needed to be submitted, the Lord reminded me about my prayer request when I was single. I apologized to Ken in joyous tears and told him that was a dream I had asked Jesus for years ago, AND that I was sorry I didn’t act more excited about his offer! Now I said, “SURE, I’D LOVE TO GO!” The moral of the story…keep praying and being obedient to the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart if it’s in His will for your life.”
Thank you for letting me share this, Aunt Karen! If any of you have a story about answered prayers, I’d love to hear them in the comments!
Note: Many of you may read this and think, “Well then why isn’t God giving me the desires of my heart that I have begged Him for?” If you feel this way, please read this book, Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers to Life’s Most Difficult Problems.” It helps to answer those tough questions.- Read more about getting through the tough times in life.
- Another note, but unrelated to this story: If you are getting ready to buy or sell real estate in Michigan and
want to work with someone with integrity and that you can completely trust, Uncle Ken owns Coldwell Banker/Schmidt Realty, and Aunt Karen sells real estate in the Traverse City area. Just an FYI in case you might want to look them up.
God just recently answered a cry of my heart – after many years of saying “no” and teaching me to trust Him and be content in whatever His will is.
We had a vasectomy when I was pregnant w/ our third son, about 9 years ago. It didn’t take us long to regret that decision. We actually changed our thinking on kids drastically, going from wanting them out of the house asap so we could do “real” ministry to seeing them as a wonderful God-given ministry. We had a vasectomy reversal 5 years ago. Because we thought it was God that changed our hearts and because He provided for us somewhat miraculously to get the reversal done (my husband was offered a business trip to the very city – out of our state- where we wanted the reversal done – he had free room/board/flight to the surgery!), we thought God would bless us very quickly with a baby.
He didn’t.
After a year or so, my husband was checked and was told he didn’t have enough sperm to father a child.
We had always considered adoption but had been scared after seeing some friends have a really hard time with foster-adopt children. Earlier this year, a little 7 year old boy in desperate need of a home came into our lives. We had 3 boys already, and felt somewhat equipped and prepared to welcome him into our home. It has been more difficult than we expected but very worth it. We adopted him this November.
2 weeks later – almost exactly 5 years from the reversal date – I found out that I am pregnant!
God’s timing was impeccable. I had to go through years of feeling hurt and distrustful to work through my theology. It was when I finally realized 1) God is good and 2) God is sovereign, even over things like my womb and 3) God loves me that I finally conceded that He knew best. If He wasn’t going to bless me with another baby, I could trust that He knew best and that His actions were to bring Him glory and to love on me. I realized my being content in God regardless of circumstances was of a witness to the world than us having more kids.
Now I wouldn’t go back in time and have a baby earlier if I could. If we had a baby or toddler when we met our 7 year old son, we wouldn’t have let him move in (his violent tendencies at first were mighty scary – he’s already a completely different kid). We actually wouldn’t have legally had the room for him to move in (foster care regulations).
I had mentioned the idea of getting another reversal done to one of our social workers earlier this year, and she strongly advised that we keep that idea a secret until after the adoption was final – apparently some of the social workers wouldn’t approve of us having a growing family or would worry our adopted son wouldn’t get enough attention.
The fact that we discovered the pregnancy just weeks after the adoption was perfect! We had been aching for a baby even more throughout the adoption process. Understanding what our son missed during his early years of life (due to neglect) we wanted desperately to have a baby for him to learn to love and nuture, and even for him to “re-live” some of those times vicariously through another little one. We also had gone through such a hard year that we were craving the joy and laughter a new little person could bring into the house.
Needless to say, we are STOKED. With 4 sons already, I am hoping God gives me the DAUGHTER-desire-of-my-heart, but I am totally convinced that He knows better than I do and I can trust Him!!
What a rock-your-socks beautiful comment. WOW! God taught you so much in your time of waiting didn’t He??? And now, oh my, what a story and what blessings! When are you due??? Congratulations, and thank you JESUS! 🙂
Thanks! I know I wrote a novel in your comments section but I feel so compelled to share our story 🙂
I’m due next July! Very excited.
Keep up the great blogging. I’ve learned a ton from your food blog, though I am slow at implementing it!
What great stories to start my day with at 4 a.m. Lovely Auntie story, Kelly. How poignant! Oh..and Deborah’s story…fabulous and touching…
My, my..such good lessons to learn early in the day.
Hugs,
Karen in CA