Psalm 113

Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever.
From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God, Who is enthroned on high,
Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
To make them sit with princes, with the princes of His people.
He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD!

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Almost 18 years ago Jay and I decided we wanted to start our family (after almost a year of marriage). My sister was going through infertility problems so the thought was in my head but I didn't really think it would happen to me. Guess again. After over a year of trying I was of course getting very discouraged. At the same time, we had been searching for a church home for awhile and finally found one we loved. The problem was, there were SO many pregnant women at that church! I remember sitting there one Sunday morning thinking "It figures, we finally found a church and I have to see so many pregnant women." Almost immediately after I thought that, they had a time where anyone could share a scripture, a testimony, or anything they wanted. Someone right behind me shared Psalm 113 and that last line stood out to me of course. It turns out, as I sat there that morning, I was a few weeks pregnant with Ben and just didn't know it yet! I will never ever forget how God gave me that scripture to encourage me that morning.

Shortly after Ben was born (8/13/90) I started longing for another child. We had some minor medical intervention to conceive him so I thought, well we'll just do that again and we'll have more children. But it was not to be. We went through many many years of tears and prayers and I finally came to the place where I was content with the one child I had. I kept adoption in my heart though until God finally brought it to pass (I will share more on our journey to adoption in another post - this one is long enough!). I had told God many times over those painful years that if He ever blessed us with more children, I would be sure to give Him all the glory and praise for answering my prayers and giving me the longing of my heart.

So today I just want to publically praise and thank God for His MANY many blessings to me especially the blessing of my 2 and soon to be 3 children!