As promised, here's the story of how our boys were conceived in our hearts (as told by Shannon) ...
In September of 1999 we found out I was pregnant with Leah. We were very surprised, but excited none the less. When I was about 6 months along, a guest pastor (who is also a very good friend of ours) prayed for me. He began to pray over Leah and asked the Lord to bless her even in my womb. He prayed that God would anoint her with His power and that she would grow up to do great things for Him. Then, with the guidance from the Holy Spirit, he began to pray for our next child. I must admit, it was a little weird at first because I hadn't even given birth to Leah yet and he was praying for our next baby. Nonetheless, we could feel God's anointing and we knew God was speaking something into our lives. The pastor said that our next child would be a boy and that "he would have a stronger anointing than his father. He would also help take back the city for the Lord." I can remember those words as if it were yesterday.
We held onto that promise, and although we didn't dwell on it too much, we never forgot what God had promised us. Eight months after Leah was born, we found out I was pregnant again. I couldn't believe it. We were doing everything we knew to prevent getting pregnant. It wasn't "our" plan to have three kids so close together. It took us several months to process it all before we decided to tell any of our family or friends.
Once we shared the news with everyone, the buzz began. All of a sudden everyone started remembering the Word that had been spoken over us and we all "just knew" that this baby was a boy. One Wednesday night in the youth service the Lord spoke to me as clear as I have ever heard Him. Steve was preaching out of the Old Testament. He was teaching the kids about King Josiah and how young he was when he became king. I remember putting my hands on my belly and as I did this is what I heard Steve say to the young people..."Josiah had a stronger anointing than his father and he helped take back the city for the Lord."
I couldn't believe it! There it was again. The exact same words we heard when I was pregnant with Leah. As clear as anything, I heard Him say, "Your son's name will be Josiah. He will have a stronger anointing than his father (Steve) and he will help take back the city for the Lord (bring revival to Dayton)." From that point on, I knew my son would be named Josiah. No doubt about it!
Well, as many of you know, on October 25th 2001, I gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Yep! That's right. A girl. Trust me, as I was laying on the ultrasound table expecting to see little boy parts and hear the nurse say "It's a boy" I was beyond shocked when the screen read "It's a GIRL." My heart dropped and I thought I was going to pass out. I have trusted God all of my life and He has never lied to me or let me down. I haven't always understood His ways, but I have always trusted His word. I struggled for weeks, wondering what it all meant. I mean, it would be one thing if our pastor friend had just goofed up and got a little emotional. I could handle that. However, I had heard the Lord speak to me and I knew that my son was supposed to be named Josiah.
After many restless nights, tear filled prayers, and conversations with Steve, we decided that we weren't going to have any more children after Hailey. We wanted a son more than words could describe, but emotionally we were spent. We made the decision that I would have my tubes tied after Hailey was born.
It was amazing. As soon as we made that decision, we both had a peace that we couldn't comprehend. Before long, the Lord started reminding me of my desire to adopt. From the time I was a in high school I have always had a desire to adopt someday. Of course, it was easy to talk about when it was hypothetical. Now, there was a reality about it. Once again, the Lord spoke to me so clearly. He said, "Shannon, I have promised you a son. Sure, the human who relayed the message got it a little mixed up, but My promise remains. However, I never said that your son would come from your womb. He is out there and his name shall be Josiah."
WOW! Talk about faith coming full circle. We were so encouraged and began preparing our hearts and minds for the day our son would come home. We talked to the girls about it and for many years they have talked about their brother as if he were already a part of the family. We told our families and we could sense the excitement as everyone began imagining what this little guy might look like.
Now let's jump up to February 2008. For years we had been talking about Josiah and praying for the day he would come home to his forever family. However, we had never taken any steps to finding him or getting ready for him. As we sat in the upper section of US Bank Arena at "The Call", the Lord began speaking to my heart again about adoption. One of the primary prayer focuses that day was for the thousands of abortions that are done in our country. An entire generation has been slaughtered and our government has allowed it. We were challenged to not just be pro-life from conception to birth, but from conception to death. We, as 'The Church', must be ready to help these young women and be pro-life through adoption.
As I was listening to one gentleman talk about his adoption story, I had this overwhelming desire to start asking for 2 boys, not just Josiah. Shocked and speechless, I began to barter with God. I told Him that if we were going to have another son someday then his name would have to be as significant as Josiah's. I started flipping through the Bible and looking for names that would pop off the page. Nothing. So, I thought "I should reread the story of Josiah. If they are going to be brothers, either naturally or adopted, they would need to have names that were connected in some way." I couldn't find anything that jumped out at me. Actually, there was one. I seriously thought God was joking and I laughed out loud (you can ask my sister and Steve) when the Lord showed me the name Hilkiah. I was like..."ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'm not going to name my son Hilkiah!" So, like any stubborn woman, I started looking through the rest of the Bible again, searching for anything BUT Hilkiah.
Suddenly I came to the book of Jeremiah. I liked the way "Josiah and Jeremiah" sounded. However, I wanted to find out more about Jeremiah and the significance of his name. So I started at the beginning and read Jeremiah 1:1&2 "The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah..."
I couldn't believe it! There was the connection AND he was the son of Hilkiah, Josiah's high priest. I started crying and I knew that right then and there my second son was conceived in my heart. I shared it with Steve and instantly the Lord began working on him as well. We came home and told the girls. To say they were excited would be an understatement.
Since then we have been praying for "the boys" (as we call them) and believing God for His divine intervention. We are excited to see how He decides to bring them to us and we know that He is going to use this adoption process to bless more than just our family. The girls pray for their brothers every night and we pray for their birth families too. We want God to bless them and we know that the bond we will have with them will be supernatural.
So there it is. The unabbreviated version of how our boys were conceived in our hearts. Although we don't know when they will be coming home, we DO know that we are getting ready. Pray for us and pray for "the boys" because God is up to something!
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