1.20.2005
How I came to be a...
The Lord touched me in April of 2003. At that time I had a 6 month old daughter, was still in college, and was working every night delivering newspapers. I had been on a backwards drift away from the Lord for about a year or so, which I trace back to a point where I doubted the authority of the word. I wanted to be a better husband and to be a better Christian, but I just couldn't pull myself out of the mire. I was a good father, I loved my daughter more than anything, even more than the Lord at that time. I was made to be a father, but I knew I wasn't a real one without the Lord. One night I rolled over and told me wife that I felt alone and hopeless. I cried for no reason, and then I went outside at midnight and began reading my Bible until I went to work at 2:00. The Lord changed me right there. I was already a believer of 5 years or so, but he said, okay, I'm going to make you whole again and restore your joy. Not because of anything I did, but just because he saw fit. It was the first time I saw God as a father and Lord (before that the focus had always been on Jesus, or the Holy Spirit). He told me things to do, and I obeyed. I believe there are times when the Lord's voice is so clear, and this period was one of those times. I drove in my car every night for at least 2 hours throwing papers, so I had plenty of time to think, pray, and listen to teaching tapes. I consumed tapes by vision forum and Doug Wilson. My wife had been praying for me the whole time, and of course she was overjoyed.
One day, soon after, my wife said, what do you think about letting God choose our family size? We had never used contraceptives, but were still doing family planning, we had also gotten pregnant 6 months into our marriage. The question at first freaked me out. I thought, are you crazy? So I said well, maybe we should we doing rhythm or something to give God a little room to work. She said, no that doesn't cut it either (and I knew she was right). So I told my wife, I will pray about it tonight while I'm driving. The Lord changed my mind right away. I didn't hear logical reasons, or even read scriptures about it, he just showed me. After I submitted, then I learned all the biblical and logical reasons why God should be the one to determine family size. So we decided to trust the Lord, and we were so excited and relieved. I remember during that time of my life telling all of our friends that this was why I loved being a Christian. It is so exciting! We serve a dangerous God, he always mixes it up and forces us to rely on him. Things aren't easy or comfortable (at least to our flesh), but when you really have faith in God, there's nothing to worry about!
I believe my wife got pregnant about two weeks later. Needless to say we were a little apprehensive at first, but still thrilled. Although my wife doubted our decision for about a week after we had the baby, we have never looked back. We always pray that the Lord will bless us with as many as he sees fit. Evangelical christians are always saying things like "let go and let God" or "let God take control of your life" and we just wondered why they didn't say that about one of the most important aspects of marriage. You want God to have control over where you work, but not over how many children he should bless you with? Huh, what? And that's not even getting into theological reasons. We just want to take God at his word, and trust that he is the Lord.
The Lord touched me in April of 2003. At that time I had a 6 month old daughter, was still in college, and was working every night delivering newspapers. I had been on a backwards drift away from the Lord for about a year or so, which I trace back to a point where I doubted the authority of the word. I wanted to be a better husband and to be a better Christian, but I just couldn't pull myself out of the mire. I was a good father, I loved my daughter more than anything, even more than the Lord at that time. I was made to be a father, but I knew I wasn't a real one without the Lord. One night I rolled over and told me wife that I felt alone and hopeless. I cried for no reason, and then I went outside at midnight and began reading my Bible until I went to work at 2:00. The Lord changed me right there. I was already a believer of 5 years or so, but he said, okay, I'm going to make you whole again and restore your joy. Not because of anything I did, but just because he saw fit. It was the first time I saw God as a father and Lord (before that the focus had always been on Jesus, or the Holy Spirit). He told me things to do, and I obeyed. I believe there are times when the Lord's voice is so clear, and this period was one of those times. I drove in my car every night for at least 2 hours throwing papers, so I had plenty of time to think, pray, and listen to teaching tapes. I consumed tapes by vision forum and Doug Wilson. My wife had been praying for me the whole time, and of course she was overjoyed.
One day, soon after, my wife said, what do you think about letting God choose our family size? We had never used contraceptives, but were still doing family planning, we had also gotten pregnant 6 months into our marriage. The question at first freaked me out. I thought, are you crazy? So I said well, maybe we should we doing rhythm or something to give God a little room to work. She said, no that doesn't cut it either (and I knew she was right). So I told my wife, I will pray about it tonight while I'm driving. The Lord changed my mind right away. I didn't hear logical reasons, or even read scriptures about it, he just showed me. After I submitted, then I learned all the biblical and logical reasons why God should be the one to determine family size. So we decided to trust the Lord, and we were so excited and relieved. I remember during that time of my life telling all of our friends that this was why I loved being a Christian. It is so exciting! We serve a dangerous God, he always mixes it up and forces us to rely on him. Things aren't easy or comfortable (at least to our flesh), but when you really have faith in God, there's nothing to worry about!
I believe my wife got pregnant about two weeks later. Needless to say we were a little apprehensive at first, but still thrilled. Although my wife doubted our decision for about a week after we had the baby, we have never looked back. We always pray that the Lord will bless us with as many as he sees fit. Evangelical christians are always saying things like "let go and let God" or "let God take control of your life" and we just wondered why they didn't say that about one of the most important aspects of marriage. You want God to have control over where you work, but not over how many children he should bless you with? Huh, what? And that's not even getting into theological reasons. We just want to take God at his word, and trust that he is the Lord.
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Hey,
Just now got a chance to come over to your site. Nice getting to know you guys. Yes, we should get together sometime. Actually, I was in your neck of the woods the month of August fleeing from hurricanes as we live on the east coast.
As far as your post here, I have one silent comment--a smile.
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Just now got a chance to come over to your site. Nice getting to know you guys. Yes, we should get together sometime. Actually, I was in your neck of the woods the month of August fleeing from hurricanes as we live on the east coast.
As far as your post here, I have one silent comment--a smile.
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