February 14th, 2014
by Erin Olson
by Erin Olson
On a recent trip to the Dominican Republic, I snapped a couple pictures from the airplane. I had to have a memory of the fact that I was facing a fear. I have an irrational fear of drowning. I think I may know where it started, but nevertheless, it is irrational. So you can imagine that the prospect of flying over a body of water for an extended period of time (even if land is in sight) is a little nerve wracking for me, but I did it.
Honestly, I can swim. I even swam on the swim team in high school. I am not a natural athlete so it all needs to be taken with a grain of salt. In fact, my high school swim coach awarded me with the “Most Improved Swimmer” award because in his words (in front of everyone attending the awards ceremony…to my adolescent horror), “The first time I saw this girl in the pool, I thought she was drowning. She has come a long way in a season.” If nothing else, I have determination…and a little bit of stubbornness.
Okay…back on track to where I was going with all of this.
You know that feeling when you are about to start something? Maybe it is the moment you are standing on the starting blocks staring at the pool lane in front of you and the clock is counting down….3, 2,…beep. Or maybe it is right after you take the field during a football game…the referee blows the whistle and the next sixty minutes are full speed ahead. Maybe it is after you make the decision to jump out of an airplane (bless you) and as soon as you step out, there is no turning back.
That moment is precisely where we are as a family…we’ve stepped out of the boat and are hoping that we have more faith than Peter and that Jesus will not let us sink. Because seriously, I know God knows I have an irrational fear of drowning and He’s got us, right?!?!
I have had adoption on my heart for over a decade. A year after my oldest son was born, we found out we were pregnant. However, eleven short weeks later, I miscarried that baby. For the next twenty months or so, we tried to get pregnant and it didn’t happen. During that span of time, my mind often wandered toward adoption. I looked, researched and questioned from where, but deep down inside, it didn’t make sense and the timing felt off.
Finally after twenty-two months of waiting, we found out we were pregnant with our second child and then when she was just a little over a year old, we got pregnant again. During my last pregnancy, I had some health issues and honestly did not think I could carry another child so we were planning on taking some measures to ensure that I could not get pregnant again.
I remember my doctor looking me in the eyes at one of my last prenatal appointments and saying, “I will only do this if you can honestly say that, God forbid, something were to happen to one of your children that you would not want to become pregnant again.” Of course I said, “Yes, I am sure. No more.” But seriously, I was eight months pregnant, I had gained sixty pounds and it was September in Texas. It was a perfect storm.
Shortly after my third child was born, that adoption thing crept back into my spirit. I called a couple agencies and they were adamant that I could not adopt out of birth order and I knew I really didn’t want another infant. So back in the files it went.
Fast forward to two years after my third child was born and due to health issues, I had to have a complete hysterectomy. The finality of knowing it is never a possibility to bear a child again does something to a woman. Maybe it’s the hormone fluctuations, but it can make you cry and feel sad…especially when you are still within child-bearing years.
Raising three children and dealing with some life bumps in the road have kept us busy, but the adoption thing has always been there. To ease this feeling, I’d sponsor children around the world. I thought it might fill that feeling. Nope, the feeling was still there.
Okay…back on track to where I was going with all of this.
You know that feeling when you are about to start something? Maybe it is the moment you are standing on the starting blocks staring at the pool lane in front of you and the clock is counting down….3, 2,…beep. Or maybe it is right after you take the field during a football game…the referee blows the whistle and the next sixty minutes are full speed ahead. Maybe it is after you make the decision to jump out of an airplane (bless you) and as soon as you step out, there is no turning back.
That moment is precisely where we are as a family…we’ve stepped out of the boat and are hoping that we have more faith than Peter and that Jesus will not let us sink. Because seriously, I know God knows I have an irrational fear of drowning and He’s got us, right?!?!
I have had adoption on my heart for over a decade. A year after my oldest son was born, we found out we were pregnant. However, eleven short weeks later, I miscarried that baby. For the next twenty months or so, we tried to get pregnant and it didn’t happen. During that span of time, my mind often wandered toward adoption. I looked, researched and questioned from where, but deep down inside, it didn’t make sense and the timing felt off.
Finally after twenty-two months of waiting, we found out we were pregnant with our second child and then when she was just a little over a year old, we got pregnant again. During my last pregnancy, I had some health issues and honestly did not think I could carry another child so we were planning on taking some measures to ensure that I could not get pregnant again.
I remember my doctor looking me in the eyes at one of my last prenatal appointments and saying, “I will only do this if you can honestly say that, God forbid, something were to happen to one of your children that you would not want to become pregnant again.” Of course I said, “Yes, I am sure. No more.” But seriously, I was eight months pregnant, I had gained sixty pounds and it was September in Texas. It was a perfect storm.
Shortly after my third child was born, that adoption thing crept back into my spirit. I called a couple agencies and they were adamant that I could not adopt out of birth order and I knew I really didn’t want another infant. So back in the files it went.
Fast forward to two years after my third child was born and due to health issues, I had to have a complete hysterectomy. The finality of knowing it is never a possibility to bear a child again does something to a woman. Maybe it’s the hormone fluctuations, but it can make you cry and feel sad…especially when you are still within child-bearing years.
Raising three children and dealing with some life bumps in the road have kept us busy, but the adoption thing has always been there. To ease this feeling, I’d sponsor children around the world. I thought it might fill that feeling. Nope, the feeling was still there.
(photo property of http://hopewisdomlife.wordpress.com/2011/05/)
In 2009, my possible scenario adoption focused on Haiti. I can’t even remember why, but there was something about the island, the people and they spoke French (& Creole mostly) (in my stubbornness, I took four years of French, not Spanish, in high school…crazy for a girl who grew up in Southern California). And then in January 2010, the largest earthquake in 200 years rocked Haiti.
It was so chaotic at that time that all I could do to help was send money and eventually sponsor children at orphanages and send more money to help build “safe houses” for girls who had aged out of the orphanages so that they didn’t end up in sex-trafficking.
I thought that was the end of the adoption thing for sure. Haiti’s adoptions were closed off and on (or completely backlogged thanks to Hurricane Sandy), for the next couple of years.
However, in March 2010, God delivered two powerful dreams to me. They were so real. So real in fact, that I wrote them down in my journal. As I pulled that journal out a couple weeks ago, I tried to make sense of the dreams. When I first received the dreams, I thought it was because we were contemplating a move to an island in South Carolina and God was sending me a warning that we shouldn’t be moving there.
One month later, April 2010, God sent me another dream. Different than the first two, but still I thought they were in connection with where I was asking Him to allow us to move.
We didn’t end up moving, not because of the dreams, but because of circumstances.
Fast forward to April 15, 2011, and God sent me yet another dream. This dream was in a different setting than the three prior dreams, but the tone of the dream was the same as the other three.
I am in the midst of leading a Bible study right now and we are talking about the story of Joseph (Restless by Jennie Allen). His dreams and the subsequent two dreams that Joseph interpreted for Pharaoh had a huge impact on God’s story. Joseph had to wait for thirteen years for the dreams that God gave him to come to fruition. Thirteen years!
Even as I started typing this blog and as I was reading my journal, I started second guessing myself. Maybe God was really warning us that He didn’t want us to move where I wanted us to move. Maybe I am completely wrong. I talked myself out of it so much that I actually had to walk away from this blog for a while and do something else.
But as a wrestled with the possibility that maybe I am just wanting something that isn’t, I returned to scripture and the promises I know that God has made to me.
In my spirit, I know that the step we are taking is just the beginning of something even bigger than we can ask, think or imagine.
Yes, we are stepping out of the boat and moving forward with the adoption process. However, I believe that what will transpire is bigger than just one child. This adoption is just one step in the greater plan that He has in store for us, for a little girl waiting in an orphanage in Haiti and for the island of Hispaniola itself.
So as we step out in faith, totally afraid of drowning, I will cling to a verse I cling to often, Habakkuk 3:19,
The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.
I thought that was the end of the adoption thing for sure. Haiti’s adoptions were closed off and on (or completely backlogged thanks to Hurricane Sandy), for the next couple of years.
However, in March 2010, God delivered two powerful dreams to me. They were so real. So real in fact, that I wrote them down in my journal. As I pulled that journal out a couple weeks ago, I tried to make sense of the dreams. When I first received the dreams, I thought it was because we were contemplating a move to an island in South Carolina and God was sending me a warning that we shouldn’t be moving there.
One month later, April 2010, God sent me another dream. Different than the first two, but still I thought they were in connection with where I was asking Him to allow us to move.
We didn’t end up moving, not because of the dreams, but because of circumstances.
Fast forward to April 15, 2011, and God sent me yet another dream. This dream was in a different setting than the three prior dreams, but the tone of the dream was the same as the other three.
I am in the midst of leading a Bible study right now and we are talking about the story of Joseph (Restless by Jennie Allen). His dreams and the subsequent two dreams that Joseph interpreted for Pharaoh had a huge impact on God’s story. Joseph had to wait for thirteen years for the dreams that God gave him to come to fruition. Thirteen years!
Even as I started typing this blog and as I was reading my journal, I started second guessing myself. Maybe God was really warning us that He didn’t want us to move where I wanted us to move. Maybe I am completely wrong. I talked myself out of it so much that I actually had to walk away from this blog for a while and do something else.
But as a wrestled with the possibility that maybe I am just wanting something that isn’t, I returned to scripture and the promises I know that God has made to me.
In my spirit, I know that the step we are taking is just the beginning of something even bigger than we can ask, think or imagine.
Yes, we are stepping out of the boat and moving forward with the adoption process. However, I believe that what will transpire is bigger than just one child. This adoption is just one step in the greater plan that He has in store for us, for a little girl waiting in an orphanage in Haiti and for the island of Hispaniola itself.
So as we step out in faith, totally afraid of drowning, I will cling to a verse I cling to often, Habakkuk 3:19,
The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.
Posted in adoption, Haiti, Earthquake, Haitian Earthquake, Stepping Out of the Boat, Sandalfeet, Erin Olson
Recent
My One Word for 2024....Refrain
January 6th, 2024
Don't Miss the Messaging
April 2nd, 2023
I Am Watching
January 21st, 2023
The Great Pivot - The Influence of Digital Media
October 22nd, 2022
Do Not Stop Tracking West - The Position of Our Heart Reveals the Posture of Our Heart Toward God
July 28th, 2022
Archive
2024
2023
January
2022
July
2021
2020
2019
January
February
2018
April
September
November
December
2017
February
June
September
December
2016
January
Categories
Tags
Abortion
Alcohol
Ashkenazi
Beer
Blogger
Blog
Christian blogger
Daniel Loeb
Drinking
Gay Marriage
Holocaust
Intoxicated Church
Intoxicate
Margaret Sanger
New Year
Paul Singer
Private Sin
Public Sin
Sandalfeet Ministries
Sandalfeet
Spirits
Tim Gill
Wine
#Emerge
#LiveUnashamed
#TurnOffTheDark
'Tis the Season
1 Corinthians 13
1 Peter 3:18
1 Timothy 1:12-16
180 the documentary
1973
1and3
2 Chronicles 7:14
2 Corinthians 2:5-11
2015
2016 Vote
2016
2019
2020
2023
2024
40th Birthday
62nd National Day of Prayer
63rd National Day of Prayer
8
A Few Thoughts About the Starbucks Red Cup
A Generation in Crisis
A Savior is Born
A Shining Star
Aaron
Abbott and Costello
Abraham
Acts 16:31
Adultery
Advent Calendars
Advent Devotional
Advent Wreath
Advent
Against the Grain
Agape
Alabaster Jar
Alaska Airlines
Albaster Jar
Albie Pearson
Alcohol
All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
Amanda Guyger
Amber Gugyer
American Church
Ami Chapman
Anglican Church
Annie the Movie
Are You Hurting Your "Friends"?
Are You Hurting Your "Friends"?
Are You Soaking
Ascension
Ash Wednesday
Ashkenazi
Ashley Madison
Asma Al-Assad
Assemble
Aurora
Auror
Austin & Ally
Austin
Autumn
Awaken
Band-Aids
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Barak
Bashar Al-Assad
Bathsheba
Be a Voice for the Voiceless
Beautiful Gate
Beer
Being Fed
Beirut Attacks
Bethel Music
Bethseda
Better Days Are Ahead
Bible Fellowship
Bible Museum
Bible Study
Bible
Billy Graham
Bishop TD Jakes
Bitter Cup
Blogger
Boaz
Bobbie Houston
Boko Haram
Born In A Manger
Boston Marathon
Botham Jean
Brandt Jean
Brian barcelona
Bride
BringBackOurGirls
Brittany Maynard
Broken People
Broken things
Burdens
Busyness
C.H. Spurgeon
Caleb Castille
Calling
Canada
Cancel culture
Casting Crowns
Catherine Mullins
Change
Charles H. Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon quotes
Charles Spurgeon
Charleston Church Shooting
Charleston
Chasing the Dragon
Chick-fil-A
Chicken
Child
Choose What is Better
Christ-follower
Christian Radio
Christian blogger
Christian blog
Christian podcast
Christianity
Christian
Christine Caine
Christmas All Year Long
Christmas
Christy Nockels
Church
Climb a Tree
Coffee Bar
Colossians 3:13
Comfort Zone
Comfortable
Community
Confirmation
Contentment
Content
Cool Christianity
Coop
Coronavirus
Corrie ten Boom
Country Club
Covid-19
Covid19
Craving God Ministries
Creation
Creator
Cross
Crown of Thorns
D.C.
DIY
DOMA
Dads and Daughters
Dads
Daily Devotional for Lent
Daily Devotional
Dallas
Damascus
Dandelions
Daniel Loeb
Darkness
Darlene Zscheh
Daughters Of the Deep
Daughters
Days of Elijah
Deborah
Defiance
Deliverance
Democrat
Demon Possessed Man
Dennis Bratcher
Desensitization
Deuteronomy
Devotional for Lent
Devotional
Disorder
Dominican Republic
Don't Act Like a Chicken
Don't Give Up
Don\'t Give Up
Don\\\'t Give Up
Don\\\\\\\'t Give Up
Donald Trump
Doubt
Dr. Tony Evans
Drag Queen Reading Hour
Drag Queen
Drinking
Dry Bones
Dylann Roof
ED Commercials
Earthquake
Easter
Eight Practical Tips
Election 2016
Election
Elephant in the Room
Elohim
Emanuel A.M.E. Church
Emanuel AME
Emerge: It's Time To Turn Off The Dark
Emerge: It's Time To Turn Off The Dark
Emerge: It's Time to Turn Off the Darkness
Emerge
Emerging: Out of the Shadows of Voluntary Darkness
Emerging
Emily Lett
Empty Tomb
Encounters
Entertainment
Ephesians 1:3
Ephesians 2:8-9
Ephesians 2:8
Ephesians 6:12
Epiphany
Erin Olson
Erin Olson Dallas
Erin Olson Sandalfeet
Erin Olson
Erin and Scott Olson
Erin
Esau
Esperanza International
Esther
Evangelism Explosion
Evangelism
Evil
Exodus 1:17
Ezekiel
FORGIVEN If we are forgiven why can’t we forgive? How you can know if you are living in unforgive
Facebook Live
Facebook
Faith
Fall
Family Relationships
Family
Fasting
Father's Day
Father's Day
Festival of Unleavened Bread
Fetter
Firing Squad
First Fruits
First Great Awakening
For Your Glory and For Me
Forever 21
Forever
Forgiveness - Unforgiveness : Revealed Through Your Fruits
Forgiveness - Unforgiveness: Revealed Through Your Fruits
Forgiveness Bible Study
Forgivenes
Forgivness
Four Friends
Friendship
Friends
Fruits of the Spirit
Fruits
Fruit
Galatians 5:22-23
Garden of Gethsemane
Gather Your Neighbors
Gather
Gay Marriage
Gendercide
General Revelation
Genesis 3:15
Gentleness
George Zimmerman
Gerasenes
Get Out of the Tree
GetOurGirlsBack
Gideon
Gifts
Give Credit To Whom Credit Is Due
Give
Gluten-Free
God With Us
God is Love
God is With Us
God is good
God's Not Dead
God's Will
God's Word
God's Not Dead
God
Golden Chord
Good Friday
Goodness
Grace
Greg Laurie
Growth
HIS Bridge Builders
Habbakuk
Haitian Earthquake
Haiti
Happy New Year
Harvest America 2016
Harvest America
Harvest What Does it Mean?
Harvest
Hate
He is Risen
Healing
Healthy Habits
Heart
Heaven Kissed the Earth
Hebrews 10:14
Hebrews 10:24-25
Hebrews 12:1
Helper
Heroes of the faith
Hillary Clinton
Hillsong United
Hipster Christianity
His Redeemer Lives
His Revelation
Holocaust
Holy Spirit
Holy Week
Holy
Homeschool
Home
Hope Defined
Hosanna in the Highest
House of Prayer
Human trafficking
Hurricane
I Can Only Imagine
I Can
ISIS
Immanuel
Impatience
In N Out
Instagram
Intercession
Intercessory prayer
Intoxicated Church
Intoxicate
Is It Our Garden Moment
Isaac
Isaiah 7:14
Isaiah 9:6
Isaiah
Israel
It Takes A Village
It'S Time To Turn Off The Dark
It'S Time To Turn Off The Dark
Jack Graham
Jackie Pullinger
Jacob
Jael
James MacDonald
Jehovah-Jireh
Jen Hatmaker
Jeremiah 29:11
Jeremiah
Jerry-Maguire
Jessie
Jesus Movement
Jesus Revolution
Jesus clubs
Jesus is the Reason
Jesus is the reason for the season
Jesus' miracles
Jesus' will
Jesus
Jim Cymbala
Jimmy Valvano quote
Jimmy Valvano
Job 23:10
Job
Joel Osteen
John 10:10
John 14:6
John 15:1
John 3:16
John 8:12
John Hagee
Join With The Angels
Jonah
Joy To The World
Joy
Judge Deborah
Just Ask Erin
Karen Wheaton
Kari Jobe
Kickstarter
Kids Ramp
Kindness
King David
King Herod
King Hezekiah
Kingdom Community
Kingdom Winds
Kirk-Cameron
Lakewood Church
Laodiceans
Laodicea
Las Vegas
Leadership
Legacy
Lent Daily Devotional
Lent Devotional
Lenten Devotional
Lenten Season
Lent
Let it Be Jesus
Life
Light In the Dark
Light of the World
Light
Lioness Arising
Lisa Bevere
Listen to Him
Liv and Maddie
Live Unashamed
Living Under an Open Heaven
Lord's Prayer
Lord's Supper
Lot's wife
Lot's wife
Love
Luke 10:42
Luke 11
Luke 2:46
Luke 2:7
Majestic Inspirations
Majesty
Malachi 1:2
Manchester
Mandisa
Manna
Marathon
Margaret Sanger
Marilyn Monroe
Mary Anoints Jesus
Mary Magdalene
Mary and Martha
Matthew 12:21
Matthew 20
Matthew 21
Matthew 28:19
Matthew 5:9
Matthew 7:24-27
Mat
May 7th
May 7
Middle-class
Mike Fechner
Miracles From Heaven
Miracles
Missions
Moms
Mom
Mordecai
Moses
Mother's Day
Mother's Day
Motherhood
Motrin
Movies
Museum of the Bible
Museum
Music
Muslim
My Hope America with Billy Graham
My Hope America
NYC
Names of God
Narrow Gate
Narrow Path
National Day of Prayer
National Prayer Walk Your Neighborhood
National Prayer Walk
Nehemiah
Neighborhood
New Beginnings
New Blog
New Year
New York City
NewSpring Worship
Niagara Falls
Nigerian Schoolgirls
Nigeria
No Longer Slaves
Notes
Obedience
Oceans
Of Mess and Moxie
Office Shooting
Olive Branch
Olive Oil
Olson
On the Day of the Solar Eclipse
One Thing is Necessary
One Word
One Year Later
Open Heaven
Operation Christmas Child
Oregon's Death With Dignity Act
Oregon's Death With Dignity Act
Overcome
Palm Sunday
Parables
Parents
Pareto Principle
Paris Attacks
Paris
Passion
Passover
Pastors
Patience
Paul Singer
Peace On Earth
Pecking Order
Pentecost
Perfect Timing
Persection
Peter
Pick up Your Cross
Planned Parenthood
Podcaster
Podcasts
Podcast
Pool of Bethesda
PowerPoint
Praise you in the Storm
Praise
Prayer Closet
Prayer Room
Prayer Works
Pray
Preparing for the Harvest
Presence of God
President Obama
Presidential Race
President
Prestonwood Baptist Church
Prestonwood Devotionals
Prestonwood Easter
Prestonwood Pregnancy Center
Prestonwood Women's Ministry
Prestonwood
Priceless
Priscilla Shirer
Pro-gay
Prodigal Son
Progressive Christianity
Progressive
Promised Land
Prophetic Word
Proverbs 10:12
Proverbs 22:6
Proverbs 31
Psalm 118:1
Psalm 121
Psalm 31:19
Queen Esther
Race
Racism
Rahab
Raised to Life
Rashness
Rebuild America
Red Cup
Refrain
Reinhard Bonnke
Repent
Republican
Repurpose
Reset 2016
Revealing Darkness
Revelation 4:8
Revelation
Rick Santorum
Robert Fulghum
Robin Hill Lane
Robin Williams
Roe v. Wade
Romans 4:7-8
Romans 8:28
Ronnie W. Floyd
Rooster
Ruth
SCOTUSA
SYATP 2015
SYATP
Sabbatical Year
Sabbatical
Samaritan's Purse
Samaritan's Purse
Same-Sex Marriage
San Bernardino
Sandafeet
Sandalfeet Blog
Sandalfeet Ministries
Sandalfeet Minsitries
Sandalfeet
Santa Claus
Santa
Satan
Say His name
Scarlet cord
Scott Olson Dallas
Scott Olson
Scott and Erin Olson
Season
Second Coming of Christ
Second Great Awakening
Second Kings
See You At The Pole
Self-control
Senior Adults
Senior Church Goers
September 11
Serve
Sex trafficking
Sexual Abuse
Shame
Share the Message
Shifting the Entertainment Atmosphere
Sifting
Silence
Silent Night
Simeon
Simon
Simplify the Season
Sisera
Sit At His Feet: Choose What is Better
Sit At His Feet: Choosing What is Better
Sit At His Feet
Soak
Social Media
Sodom
Solar Eclipse
Solemn
Solomon
Sound The Trumpets
Special Revelation
Spenser Olson
Spirit Rising
Spirits
Spiritual Atmosphere
Spiritual Checkup
Spiritual Food
Spiritual Needs
Spiritual Orphans the Book
Spiritual Orphans: A Generation in Crisis
Spiritual Orphans
Spiritual Warning Signals
Sprint
Stand United
Star of Hope
Starbucks
Start Serving Stop Complaining
Stay Gold
Stepping Out of the Boat
Stormie Omartian
Storms
Storytellers
Stress
Strongholds
Such a Time As This
Supreme Court ruling
Surrender
Swim Upstream
Syrian Conflict
Syria
TD Jakes
Temple Construction
Temple
Temptation
Tenacity
Testimony
Thankfulness
Thankful
Thankgiving
Thanksgiving
The American Humanist Association
The Depot Podcast
The Gathering
The Great Commission
The Katinas
The King is Among Us
The Mission of Motherhood
The Ramp
The Sisterhood
The Tabernacle
The Waiting Place
The Weeping Prophet
Theophany
Third Child
This I Beiieve
Thomas S. Kidd
Three Wise Men
Tim Gill
Time with God
Timing
Tony Evans
Trafficking
Transfiguration
Trayvon Martin
Triumphal Entry
Twelve Days of Christmas
Unashamed
Unbelief
Unforgiveness
United 2015
Upstream
Uzzah
VBS 2012
VBS
Vacation Bible School
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Vessel
Vicky Valle
Victor's Crown
Virginia Grounds
Virtual Academy
Voice Institute
Voluntary Darkness
War Room
Washington
We Are Called to Forgive
Weekend Project
Weeping Prophet
Whale
What If
What's in a Name
Wheat and Weeds
Who's on First?
Who's on First?
Wide Gate
Wide Path
Will You Stay Silent?
Wine
Wise Men
Woman at the Well
Woman-at-the-well
Woodlawn
Word for the Year
Word of God
Word of Life
Words
Works
Worry Creates Pause
Worship Music
Worship
Writing in the Sand
Wubble Bubble Ball
Wubble Bubble
Yahweh
Yes You Can
You Are Not the Boss of You
Your Love For Us
Youth
Zacchaeus
Zechariah 9
Zechariah
'Tis the Season
abortion
adoption
america
anger
authenticity
author
baby names
blessing
blog
blood moons
category 5 hurricane
child abuse
child trafficking
children
christians
conversation
crystal buck
culture issues
culture war
culture
densensitization
depression
divorce
don't scroll
don\'t scroll
don\\\'t scroll
east
everlasting
faithandforgive.com
faithandforgive.org
faithandforgiveness.org
family family vision statement family mission statement stay-at-home mome
flu epidemic
flu vaccine
flu
forgivegod.org
forgiveness
forgive
four blood moons
fruit of the Spirit
garth brooks
god's approval
governor abbott
hand of God
hand-of-god
heart condition
heroines
hope
housewarming shower
hurricane harvey
kinsman Redeemer
legalism
lost
lukewarm
marriage
media
ministry
mobile sonograms
mustard seed
myhopeamerica.org
nasa
nineveh
orphans
orphan
pandemic
parable of the mustard seed
parenting
peace
persecution
posture
prayer
prestonwood baptist choir
pro-choice
pro-life
prodigals
prophecy
pythonic-spirits
python
radical obedience
radical
reconciliation
revival
sadness
sharethemessage.org
spiritual health
spiritual maturity
spiritual-warfare
steps of salvation
stomach virus
students
thanks
the Bible
the Seed
the depot podcast with erin olson
the gift of conversation
theatre shooting
this blood
time in His presence
tragedy
trials
trust
truth
unanswered prayers
unplanned pregnancy
waiting
watch
why is it so hard to be a christian today?
widow's oil
workplace ministry
2 Comments
Wow what a powerful, personal story. To be so open to receive such a gift from God is quite a testament of faith! You and your family will be in my prayers.