Today I had the honor of being one of four ladies who spoke at our annual church Ladies Luncheon. The suggested topic was to share what God is doing in our lives and how He is faithful. I thought you might enjoy reading my notes. As you might imagine, I didn’t stick to my notes exactly, but they give the general idea. Here it is:

When people hear that I have six children, they often shake their heads and say, “That’s nice, but I could never do that.” While I don’t argue with them outwardly, I always think to myself, “Yes you could, if you had to.”

I commented to my friend Tara once that I felt guilty complaining about yet another pregnancy while she was crying out to God begging Him to open her womb. She said to me, “God has each of us on our own journey. He knows what we need.”

God is faithful to each of us in the journey He asks us to take. He gives each of us unimaginable tasks to accomplish, and burdens to carry that make others wince.

Think of the ladies in this room.

Fighting cancer
Having a child seriously hurt in a car accident
Suffering from spousal abuse
Agonizing through infertility
Waiting for adoption papers to be finalized
Going through multiple job losses
Being transient while waiting for God to indicate where to live
Being a single mother
Burying a child
Struggling financially

As I visit with you, my sisters, and hear your stories, I often think to myself, “I could never handle that.” But then again, with God’s faithfulness, I could! It wouldn’t be easy, but with God’s help I would just take one step after another.

Pastor Bob preached once that we mistakenly say that God never gives us more than we can handle. He felt that phrase was not accurate, and that God DOES give us more than we can handle, but then He takes us through whatever it is and we must rely on Him to get through it.

Here are some of the ways I’ve experienced God’s faithfulness in my life. First, God has blessed us over and over with children. As we have watched others struggle with infertility, secondary infertility, and agonizing adoption procedures, we have realized how fortunate we are to have these gifts from God. Throughout this time, we have also suffered from multiple miscarriages. Even though I am not always rejoicing in my path, I have learned to endure well the miscarriages and also delight in my children and to enjoy them.

Another example of God’s faithfulness has been evident as we have tried to sell our house and move to our dream country home. What seemed to be a straightforward idea just didn’t fly. It completely fizzled. So here we are, two years later, still in our house in town. But I have learned several very interesting things. First of all, I have been, shall we say, “encouraged”, so pare down our possessions. If we are going to have eight people in a small house, we simply cannot keep lots of stuff around. Second, we have lived through a major remodeling project and lived to tell the tale. What wonderful lessons we learned during the six months or so that most of my kitchen was packed in boxes and we washed dishes in the bathtub. Folks would say, “I don’t know how you do it! I wouldn’t be able to live like that!” To which I reply again, “Yes, you COULD do it!” We all do what we have to do. God is faithful.

In closing, I would like to take the opportunity to tell you of just one more of God’s gifts to our family. My suspicions were confirmed this week that we are expecting another baby, due in December. How will we do it? I don’t know. Where will we put this baby? I don’t know. What happens if I miscarry again? I don’t know. But God knows, and He is faithful.