My BSF Testimony on Baby Samuel

Just wanted to stop in real quick before all the fun and excitement begins and say hi! We are gearing up for my baby shower this weekend, which means lots of family and friends are coming in from out of town. Which to be honest I am super humbled by! This is my 3rd child so I thought let's keep it small and just do some diapers and wipes. But that has turned out to not be the case, actually the opposite. Almost everyone I invited from out of town is coming, all of my supper club friends, I think there were only a few no's due to being out of town or recently having a baby. So we are going to have one heck of a party on Saturday! Woohoo! It just goes to show how blessed we are and how loved this little boy already is! It certainly doesn't go unnoticed or taken for granted on our end.

Also in God's perfect timing, at BSF this week we studies 1 Samuel chapters 1-3. Which just so happen to be the story of Hannah and God blessing her with baby Samuel. My sister's leader of BSF knew my story and wanted to share my testimony with their group so I wrote a little 2 year recap of it down. I think you guys have gotten the gist since you've been with me on this journey and also saw my post when we first revealed we were pregnant with this baby. But I will copy and paste it below for anyone who wants to read it or share it. I will be back next week with tons of pictures of my amazing shower and all the fun we have over the next few days! (I also need a recap of Halloween and the Great Wolf Lodge) so I will have lots to post next week! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Here you go:

My name is Jamie McLaughlin and I am in my 3^rdyear at BSF. My mom has done it for years and has tried to talk me into it for quite some time. Well I finally gave in 2 years ago and started with the study of John and since the very first day I started, God has been growing me and revealing the most unbelievable plan for my life. Here is how the past 2 years of my life have unfolded. 

Almost 5 years ago, I was diagnosed with endometriosis and was told the only way I would ever have children would be through In Vitro Fertilization. 4 years ago we decided to move forward with that and God blessed us with our beautiful 3 ½ year old daughter Blakely. 2 years later, my husband and I decided to try for another child. My 2^ndround of IVF was successful and my pregnancy was moving along wonderfully. That was until I had my 10 week ultrasound and there was no heartbeat. I was told I needed a D&C tomorrow, which just so happened to be my very first day ever of BSF. So I missed the first day and life carried on no longer pregnant. .  That was until about a month and a half later when we were on Lesson 6 covering John Chapter 4. My teaching leader spoke the most amazing lecture that was a turning point for my life and I can honestly say I haven’t been the same since that day. She said: “ How do your actions reveal your trust in Jesus regardless of your circumstances?” My actions since my miscarriage revealed I had zero trust in God. It was time to truly have a relationship with Him and rely on him to unfold my future in his perfect way.

About 4 months later, we did our 3^rdround of IVF and it was a success again! We were cautiously optimistic this time. I had a 10 week ultrasound and all looked good so I felt like this could end with a baby. God had other plans. At my 12 week ultrasound, I went in and heard the exact same words, there was no heartbeat. So I had my 2^ndD&C and was once again no longer pregnant. This miscarriage was actually was handled much better because my relationship with the Lord had been strengthening over the past year thanks to BSF. And so life carried on. 

Fast forward 4 months later and we decided to try one more time. I prayed fervently that if this IVF cycle was not going to end with child, please Lord don’t let it work from the beginning. And that is just what he did. He answered my prayer and I never got pregnant from that round. 

I wasn’t really sure where to go from here and decided to really seek wisdom and guidance from God. I read a book called “When God says wait” by Elizabeth Thompson and through that I learned of all the people in the Bible who had periods of waiting and how they handled the delays and detours. This is when I truly learned the story of Hannah and Samuel and that story became near and dear to my heart. Maybe because my grandfather’s name was Samuel, but I just loved the whole premise of her not giving up and giving Samuel back to the Lord. 

So I began to pray. Pray for guidance on whether we should do IVF again, should we just quit, where do we go from here. My prayer became one like Hannah, that if God would bless us with another child, I would give him back to the Lord just like Hannah and if by chance he was a boy, I would name him Samuel. About 6 months later, God put a series of events in my life that told me it was time to try again. So we proceeded with IVF round number 5. God laid it out so perfectly.  I only had one embryo which meant one chance to get pregnant or we were done trying for children for good. The IVF cycle worked and I was pregnant. As we passed the weeks where my previous miscarriages occurred I breathed even deeper sighs of relief. 

Sharing the news with my family that baby Samuel was Due January 4^thwas one of the greatest moments in my life. God’s love and grace has carried me through all the trials and tragedies and I am so happy to know that he is a loving redeeming God. One who continues to amaze me with his perfect timing. I am 30 weeks pregnant and have my baby shower this Saturday. I think the timing of Hannah and Samuel’s story this week is no coincidence and I am just so grateful to God that he loves us and never gives up on us and his plan is wonderful and always at the perfect time.