Eunice and her faithful reward

Eunice and her faithful reward

I'm not sure if you know my story. I wanted kids since I was little. When my husband and I got married we wanted to wait a couple years till having kids. Two years went by and then we decided we didn't really want kids and wanted to invest our lives into spiritual kids. Two more years went by and the Lord put great examples of moms actively involved in ministry. For the first time I realized being a mom in ministry was possible and beautiful. So we decided to start having kids. Ha! How much control I thought I had over thing back then. The Lord sure had to humble me. I honestly thought having kids was all up to us. We'd plan everything and then the Lord would snap His fingers at our desire and poof a baby would appear in my belly. That is obviously not what happened. Over two more years went by with no baby in the belly. Instead the two week battle of hopes going up and being crushed.

Then the Lord graciously led us to adoption. We had always wanted to adopt but we figured we would adopt "later".  (Did you know that of the people who want to adopt, only 3% ever do.) Well, through a series of God ordained events the Lord gave us our two little boys. Then a couple years later as we were pursuing another (more difficult and odd type of adoption, embryo adoption) we got pregnant. Honestly it was a hard adjustment.

Well, long story short, little baby Eden dramatically burst onto the scene. Three kids is a lot but it seemed we had room for at least one more. And adoption really is just amazing so we were dreaming of adopting from Africa or maybe from foster care, but figured we would wait till the kiddos got just a tad bit older. Then we find out, you'll never guess. Ok, well, you probably would. We're pregnant. We have another arrow for our quiver coming. Will you pray for us (Eden's pregnancy was just anything but enjoyable) and for this baby?  

I guess under the circumstances highlighting Eunice, Timothy's mom and her mom Lois is in order. Two incredible faith filled ladies whose faith multiplied for generations and even impacted the apostle Paul. He says this about them, "I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, not lives in you also." 2 Tim. 1:5 

Doing college ministry we hear a whole lot of sad stories (many of which we get to see God redeem) but it is so super encouraging to hear a story of strong believers who left a legacy. I pray our kids will run after the Lord whole-heartedly and that Austin and I will finish strong (did you know only 30% of believers in the Bible finished strong, the same statistic today) will a lasting, radical faith reproduced by our kids.

Faith is not a result of trying real hard to have faith or hoping my faith will stay unshakable. Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God. Basically, if you and I don't want to become part of the 70% who don't finish strong, we have to cling to Jesus and walk with Him moment by moment.

This is part of the series

Other posts in this series:
Potiphar's Wife; Life Unrestrained  
Woman at the Well; Experiencing God's Grace
Rahab; Ms. Courageous meet Prince Charming
Damaris; Counted Among Them 

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