Part one: He can do immeasurably more…

When I went on maternity leave with my first child, I strongly felt that the Lord wanted me to be a stay at home mother until my youngest child was twelve – who knew when that would be?! I hadn’t even given birth to the first one! That would mean a drastic drop in our household income for a long time to come, but it’s what we decided to do, and trust him to meet our needs – which he did in various and unexpected ways. We’ve sailed pretty close to the wind at times, but have never actually sunk!

Oh, and I neglected to tell you that I was an “older” mother! We had been married for several years before we decided to start a family and then it seemed like it might not happen at all. After a year of trying, I gave it over to the Lord and said, “If it’s not your will for us to have children, that’s ok. We’ll just accept that you have something else planned for us.”

That same morning, I opened my bible and my eyes fell on Psalm 113 …. He settles the barren woman into her home as a happy mother of children. I chuckled to myself. “Ok, Lord..!”

That was Tuesday. On Saturday I had a positive pregnancy test! When I surrendered to the Lord’s will, I was already pregnant but didn’t know it! He knew, of course, and of all the verses I could have randomly arrived at, he showed me that one! We’d moved house 15 months earlier and truly had just settled in.

So, the night before I was due to go for my first scan, I said to my husband, “We’re having a boy.” “What do you mean? How do you know?” he asked. “I don’t know how I know,” I replied, “but we’re having a boy! God said boy this time, girl next time.”

Though I had many problems during that pregnancy, ending up with pre-eclampsia and an emergency c-section, I knew all would be well, because he’d told me in advance. How could I be a happy mother if something happened to my unborn son?

Fast forward a couple of years… having had a molar pregnancy (not very common) which ended in miscarriage, followed by another miscarriage, finally I had a viable pregnancy. Well, he did say “children”!

I was wondering to myself whether this one was going to be a girl, since the original word was boy this time, girl next time. Then, a few weeks later, during an afternoon nap, I saw a baby lying on the bed and heard my voice exclaim, “Oh! It’s a boy!” And it was!

Some years later, I had a dream that a young girl with long straight hair, similar to mine when I was a teenager, came over and touched me on the arm. I thought she looked familiar but I didn’t know who she was. When I woke up I felt the Lord said, “That was your daughter.” Her name is Kathryn Louisa Grace – the name we chose for a girl – and I believe I will meet her in heaven one day.

I am a happy mother of children, three actually, just as he said. Praise his name!