It's so easy to think, and say, that "God knows best" when others are going through tough times, but it just dawned on me that it's so true, for my life too.
Jon and I had hoped to have kids in 2008. After numerous tests and then going through in-vitro, our twins, Matthew and Kayla, were born in 2011. That's three years later than the plan we had for ourselves. And you know what, it's taken me another three years to realize that God knew exactly what he was doing. I'm actually a little embarrassed that it didn't dawn on me sooner.
Had we gotten pregnant right away, Jon would have still had a couple years of schooling left, and so we would have been living on a maternity leave income that first year. We would have still been renting our basement suite. I would have had to return to work full-time, just to support our family. I would have had to pay for day-care for some of the time. Wow.
Because we didn't have kids until three years later, Jon was (almost) done school, and I had been working for those three years, full-time. We still rented the top-floor of a house for a couple years, but we were able to save during that time so that we would have a down payment for a house of our own, which we bought in 2013. I was able to only return to work part-time in 2012 and had free day-care for the times I was working (thanks, Mom!), and so I was able to spend a lot of time with Matthew and Kayla during that time.
And that's only thinking of it from a financial point-of-view. I think I would have been ready to have kids in 2008...but would Jon have been ready? Especially with the financial sacrifices we would have had to have taken then.
Anyways, God definitely knew what was best for us. And I'm ashamed to admit it took me three years to realize that. I hope that it's something that I don't forget...who knows what curveball to my plan for our life will be sent our way next!
After struggling with infertility for three years, we were blessed with the birth of Matthew and Kayla in March 2011 (by in vitro) , Nathan in October 2013 (by frozen embryo transfer), and Olivia in August 2015 (naturally!). We are loving every moment (well, almost!) of our lives as parents.
Wow, Laura, what a revelation God has shown you. It teaches us to trust in him in everything. We all go through stuff in life and it's great when we look back and we can see God's hand in it.
ReplyDeleteI can testify to God knows best too! We get caught up in the moment of our trials and can't see past it. It's hard to trust when we think we know best. Now the key is to remember that God does know best and sends great things our way when he says its time. Lessons learned for future trials. So thankful God knows best!
ReplyDeleteLove your response. Love it. So well said. I feel like saying, Amen sista! haha...but that's totally not a me thing to say. :) I feel like printing out your response and hanging it on my bathroom mirror so I can read it all the time so I don't forget. Hmmm. Might have to do that.
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