God Heard the Cry of My Heart

I love the month of April because that is the month of my spiritual birthday. 


For the first 25 years of my life I would have considered myself a good person and I went to church off and on.  I never remember the pastor in our denominational church sharing the importance of being born again.


My life was good. I was married to a wonderful man and we were pursuing the American Dream. We both had great jobs, a new home, new furniture, nice cars, and great friends.  What more could a woman want?  


The day came when we decided to begin our family but it wasn't as easy as we thought. Month after month we would get our hopes up only to have them dashed. Back then they didn't have home pregnancy tests. I would have to make an appointment with the doctor and they would take the test. I would get a call back in a few days with the results. 


My doctor saw the toll those negative pregnancy tests were having on me and asked us if we had ever considered adopting.  He had adopted two boys himself.  It was not something we had thought about but began to consider it. 


One night in desperation I got down on my knees beside my bed and cried out to God and said, "God if you are real, if you give us children I promise to raise them in a Christian home." I had prayed in the past but wasn't sure God had heard me but that night I knew my prayers had made it past the ceiling of that bedroom.

A few weeks later we set up an appointment to meet with the adoption agency when I got the good news from the doctor that my pregnancy test was positive.  We were going to have a baby! I was thrilled God has heard my prayer.


I got pregnant in August and Jerry was born again in December.  I watched his life and how he had changed because of asking Jesus into his heart. I thought that was a good thing for him to do because he hadn't grown up going to church but didn't realize for the next few months that I needed to also make a personal commitment to Christ.


We began to attend a church in the spring where the Pastor had just taken a course called Evangelism Explosion. The week after we attended his church he made a home visit.  He asked two questions that changed my life. The first question was, "Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you know for certain that if you were to die tonight you would go to heaven?" My husband answered the question with a resounding yes and I said, "I hope so, I think I will." The second question was, "Suppose you were to die tonight and stand before God and He were to say to you, why should I let you into my heaven, what would you say?" Jerry answered because of the shed blood of Jesus that saved Him from his sins. I gave a works answer, "I have been a good moral person, I have taught Sunday School, I have been in the choir, etc. etc." 


Before that pastor left our home he had explained the good news of the gospel. I was eight months pregnant by that time and I got down on my knees that evening and the Pastor led me in a prayer to invite Jesus into my heart.  


The following month when our first daughter was born I thought about that prayer of desperation several months before and how God answered my prayer. He brought a man into my husband's life to share Jesus with him and then a few months later a pastor led me to the Lord so we could fulfill our promise to raise our children in a Christian home.
We didn't know when we named our first daughter Shana Lynn that her name meant "God's gracious gift". 

Shana Lynn

Then fifteen months later we were blessed with another precious daughter, Lisa Marie, which means "consecrated one".  

Lisa Marie

It was been such a joy raising our daughters in the knowledge of the Lord. I am forever grateful for a God who heard the cry of my heart and answered my prayer.

Shana is only fifteen months older than Lisa

Easter morning with my daughters

Yes, I did dress them alike for the first few years

My blessings from the Lord!