From the Editor: I wanted to share this testimony from one of our readers. Hopefully this true story will be a source of inspiration and encouragement and help to build up the faith of couples who are waiting for the Lord to bless them with a baby. -DB

  We had been an infertile couple for our entire marriage. The problem was mine - a disease which causes a lack of ovulation and other unpleasant side effects. We were told there was little to no chance of conception without fertility treatments and medications. I (Julianne) recently found a note I wrote in the margin of my NIV study Bible on January 10, 1997. I wrote "a baby" next to Romans 4:17, which reads "...the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." I read that and believed in my heart that the Lord would create a baby for Darren and me when there was no hope. I really believed that God was telling me that He would create life for us someday. (Christians would call this phenomenon the Holy Spirit speaking through His Word.) Remarkably, the context of this scripture is Rabbi Saul (the Apostle Paul) teaching that Abraham believed God to fulfill His promise that Abraham would bear a child and become the father of many nations when there was no hope (he was an old man beyond childbearing years). God did fulfill the promise years later through Abraham’s son Isaac.
  Not realizing the date was significant, I recently found a journal entry on January 10, 1998 about trusting the Lord; I had written out a bunch of scriptures about Him fulfilling what He says He will do, and us trusting Him to do it. At one time we believed that modern medicine would create the miracle we desired. We tried fertility treatment for a while, but with our HMO the money was a major issue. We finally gave up, deciding that if God wanted us to have a child, He certainly could do it without medical intervention. Sometime in 1998, I remember praying, "God, your first command to Adam and Eve was to ‘Be fruitful and multiply.’ I believe you want us to do this without a second mortgage. Please make a miracle."
  At Hanukkah of 1998, I knew the Lord was bringing me into a new era - "the time is now" and "a new beginning" kept going over and over in my spirit for weeks. On January 10, 1999 I woke up from having a dream and later that same day having a vision, both about pregnancy and childbirth, although symbolic in nature. I read a scripture that day that I believed with all my heart - "...your days of mourning shall end" (Isaiah 60:20). A few weeks later my periods began out of the blue with no medical intervention (this doesn’t happen with my disease). Realize it had been nine years since I’d had a period without medication -- wow! My faith grew much larger at that point, though Darren still doubted we’d ever have a child even with this sign.
  One year later and still not pregnant, I just "knew" I was to be soon, and I remember congratulating Darren on January 10, 2000. I went out and bought a pregnancy test to see if I was yet, but that test was negative. What a blow! A spell of depression hit for a while, since everything seemed to line up, what with the signs from the Lord and all. How could I have been wrong? Did I just not hear God’s voice correctly? A few weeks later and still without a period, I tried a home pregnancy test again. This time it was positive and the rest is history. I really did hear His voice speaking to my spirit! I really did have a supernatural experience! Hallelujah!!!
  It is truly a miracle that Rachel is alive, but even more so is the miracle that the God who rules the universe cares about the desires of the hearts of even sinners like us and wants to have a relationship with us personally. With that story of faith and miracles to meditate upon, we wish you all shalom with the God who cares about all of us intimately. Praise God for what He’s done.