Thanks,
Cory

I’ve been trying to figure out how to crank up the blog center on my Joomla! site and that brought me to your “Howto” website. I’m really new at all of this. I’ve still not figured it out and I got sidetracked by your blog.

I was so blessed to see your open display of faith. Oh, if more Americans would do the same.

Also, I read your article about the recent tragedy in your family. Our prayers are with you and I’m writting to let you know that we, too, lost a baby. Here’s the good news though: We have four beautiful and healthy children now. In fact, the first of the four was conceived just 3 months after our loss. We don’t really understand it all either, and we don’t need to. We are comforted believing we will meet that baby in heaven one day. Perhaps, that would offer you comfort too. How nice to know that we are eternal beings, all of us. Even those babies that didn’t make it full term.

So, I pray the LORD to richly bless you and yours. May you be fruitful and multiply under the mighty power and protection of the LORD Almighty.

In Jesus’ Name,
Robert S. Totman

ps – some pics of the subsequent treasures from God: http://picasaweb.google.com/ReflectingHisGlory

We have 2 wonderful children, and neither one was by “our plan”. We planned to get married, wait a couple years to save and get established, and then have our 1 and only child. We got married and only 1 month later my wife found out she was pregnant… only 23 months ahead of schedule

9 months later, we have our 1 child and that’s all our plan calls for.

Fast forward a few years, and oops, we are pregnant again. Surprisingly, I did not panic (to be honest, the 1 child thing was mostly my idea). Sadly, 4 weeks later my wife had a miscarriage. Having that gift and then quickly losing it really opened our eyes. Eventually we were able to have our 2nd child and we couldn’t be happier.

Like I said, neither one of our children were by our plan, but looking back we realize that God had a much better plan for us. Cory, I wish you well with your family. Also, thank you for sharing your Joomla knowledge.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing your beliefs. I’m truly sorry you feel that way because I believe you have a fundamental misunderstanding of my faith when you say “you will never have lived a day as a free human being and I find this very sad.”

To me, true freedom comes only in knowing and serving Jesus Christ. It is a paradox that most people do not understand. I only pray that you will come to understand that in your lifetime.

Thanks again for stopping by.

God does not exist. I find it strange that you battle with the idea of faith, then claim it was god that pulled you through etc.

Life is a biological marvel, the master plan is the survival of the gene, a far more majestic story than some misanthropic egotisitical being who supposedly has a path from it all.

When you die you will lose all consciousness, so you will never be in a position to realise that god does not exist, you will never have lived a day as a free human being and I find this very sad.

You control your own destiny within the confines of reality as we have made it.

Thanks to you Cory. Uv been an encouragement. I hope to share about you in our next youth gathering.

I have been looking through your blogs for a few days now because I’m starting a website business and needed some information about Joomla! I know how to use a computer but as a non-technical person, building my website, is to say the least, posing a great challenge for me. Anyway, I have been planning my website for quite some time now and it occupies a lot of my time and thought. However, I know God is directing my path and I listen to Him carefully to go where He leads.

Even though I’m quite busy trying to start my site, I had to take time out to reply to “God’s plan vs our plan”. First of all, let me say thank you for sharing your story and acknowledging God and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I few years ago, my husband and I went through something similar to your story. We had been married for 10 years (we got married young) before we were ready to have children. During that time we thoroughly discussed and planned for our future children. When we were ready (according to our plan) we tried and succeeded in having our first child, a wonderful boy. It was very easy for us since we planned it very carefully (right!). About 18 months later we tried for our second child. All according to our plan. Again, it happened very quickly and we were on our way until I had a miscarriage. I was devastated. A few months passed and we tried again with no success. That continued for a few months. I panicked and instead of finding out what God’s word said about the situation and trusting Him, I went to a fertility specialist. My doctor was quite surprised that I would see him at such an early stage and my husband, though supportive, was not fully convince we needed to take those steps at the time. He said we should be grateful for the family we have and trust God to add to it when the time was right. Still, I allowed fear to dictate my actions and I started the procedures to begin fertility treatments anyway.

To try and make a long story short, we got right up to the place where we were to start the treatments and my husband had to finally speak up. He was willing to go through with it for me but had to express his doubts. Also, he was starting his own company at the time and was leaving his job to do so. That meant we would have to pay for our own insurance and dip into our nest egg a little bit and would not have the “security” of a bi-weekly paycheck. That’s when I broke. I had to face what God was trying to show me and that was that I have not really been trusting Him at all. I said I trusted Him all the time. It was easy to do living our comfortable lifestyle. But when He allowed that lifestyle and all my planning and the things I was really putting my faith in to be shaken, it was an eye opener. I decided that I was going to really trust God so, I canceled the fertility treatments. My doc’s office advised against it because if I didn’t get in on this round it would be at least another year before I could even start again and I wasn’t getting any younger. More frightened than I can ever remember, I put all my energy in discovering what God had to say about the situation.

I studied the book of Genesis – the story of Abraham and found out about the covenant that we have with God through Jesus Christ. In that covenant God promised us many things but the one that I focused on at the time was that He promised to give us our own children through the fruit of our own loins. I meditated on those scriptures all the time, went out and got myself a part-time job to get outside of myself and problems. In a sense, I educated myself on the covenant and put it all in God’s hands. About 4 months later, I was pregnant with our beautiful baby girl. She’s about to turn 3 in a few days and when I look at her I am reminded how important it is to trust God and also how important it is to educate ourselves in the word and KNOW OUR COVENANT RIGHTS. The bible says the people perish for lack of knowledge. In the covenant God made with Abraham, He made promises…promises that are extended to us through Jesus Christ. WE DO OUR PART AND GOD DOES HIS. It is a fascinating revelation to say the least and the knowledge of it gives me the foundation and the assurance I need to trust God.

God bless you and your family.

-Von

P.S. Dr. Creflo Dollar does an in depth teaching on our covenant in his Foundation of Covenant series. Also some of the scriptures dear to my heart… Deuteronomy 7:9-15, Genesis 15:3-6, 1 John 4:16-19, Deuteronomy 8:18.