Julie and Mike, though this, you still are blessed. Find and count the blessings. It makes it so much easier to deal with the rest.
Absolutely! We have a son who surrendered to preach at age 14 and now at 18 has written his first sermon as a senior in high school. He is in mentoring with his youth Pastor and has a passion for the Lord and a strong desire to become a youth Pastor after his service in the military. He will be the 4th generation of ministers in our family (Mike is a minister not a pastor therefore he does not have a church but is an evangelist). Matt has an incredible love of people especially our troops overseas and we are very proud of him (as you can tell :thumbs: ).
Testimony about Hannah
Hannah is our special blessing that was prophesied by our Pastor in WA when I became unable to have children (considered barren medically) anymore. I only had periods once every 3 months and because I was 300lbs at that time :blush: my hormones were all being sucked into my fatty tissue making it impossible to ovulate. Mike was only home 1 time in 4 months because of work and a family crisis (so I was the poster child for teenagers who think one time won't matter :laugh
.
Anyway, this Pastor say the Lord said certain barren women in the church were going to get pregnant and called for all the barren women to come up to get prayed over. I stood up and Mike blocked the way and said, "We have enough children with my two and Matt", so I reluctantly sat down. After the service the Pastor came directly up to me and said that God had said I would get pregnant and have a little girl. I was thinking 'Cool!', Mike was thinking 'No way that's going to happen!'
Two years go by and every one of those women (6) either had children or were pregnant but I had forgotten about the prophecy. The same Pastor told me God said for this Pastor to write a skit about Hannah in the bible and that I was to play the part of Hannah (she was a faithful, barren woman that God gave a child to). I thought that would be cool because our skits were rarely dramatic.
A couple of months later my bible study leader told me God said I needed to be at that weeks Bible Study (I missed them occasionally :blush: ) and to read the scriptures on Hannah in the bible. Huh, that's weird I thought. Another 6 weeks go by and I think I have the worst case of the flu I've ever had (remember I only had periods once every 3 months so I didn't know I was pregnant) and my best friend says, "You idiot, you're pregnant! Go to the doctor". Okay...not possible, but I make an appointment anyway. The same day (I worked as church secretary at the time) the 20-something bible study leader tells me God says I need to come to
her group on Sat and to read up on the scriptures about Hannah in the bible. Well at this point I just burst out laughing and tell her about my appointment. She touches my stomach and says, "You are pregnant, you're going to have a girl!". Needless to say, the doc says yep and I call Mike (who has been in TX for 5 weeks with several family emergencies) because I can't wait until he flies home the next day to start moving us to TX and he reminds me about the prophecy! We strongly felt God wanted her named Hannah, a name we never would have chosen on our own. She is a unique child (talking in sentences at 7 months old) and we are excited to see what plans God has for her future.
I know not everybody believes in prophecy or God so I am in no way trying to start a flame war. I am simply sharing what Mike and I believe happened based on our experiences in life. We love and respect each person on this board as they are.
Another blessing has been the love shown our family by the members on this board. You are an amazing group of guys and gals and we are honored to call you BOTL/SOTL.
So yes Nullsmurf - This is just a small sampling of the blessings the Lord has poured out on us and we thank Him for them all the time.
Thank you all for your wisdom, prayers and good wishes. We will be updating as soon as things change.
Julie
She is a few pounds overweight so she should be okay if she loses a few pounds.