My Biggest Yes {& a Rhinestone Jesus Book Giveaway}

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Today I get to giveaway 2 copies of my favorite new book: Rhinestone Jesus by Kristen Welch. Read to the end to find out how to enter to win.

In thinking about all of the times I have had a choice between saying yes to God or telling Him no, I believe that my greatest yeses were asked of me 6 times. Each time it was a clear question. Will you say yes to My plan for you?

I got married young at 19 and 6 months later I was pregnant.  It wasn’t the way I planned and I didn’t feel ready to be a mom but it was my first yes to God’s plan for me as a mother.

About five months later God began asking me to trust Him about having more kids. I was honestly scared to have more kids for a long while. I had a rough pregnancy with morning, noon and night sickness almost the whole time. But I couldn’t deny God’s tug on my heart and my husband agreed. I thought God would show off His power by not allowing me to get pregnant after I surrendered control to Him but nope, I was pregnant by the time my daughter was 7 months old and later found out it was twins. Twins! I was about to be a mom of 3 babies just 15 months apart.

I cannot tell you how challenging that was. I remember vividly a conversation I had with a friend about the time my twins were 2. I told her that there was no way I could add any more kids to my life. That I felt so overwhelmed as it was. But then God asked for another yes. 

This yes was going to be the hardest one. My husband and I said yes to “one more” praying for a boy after the 3 girls we already had. God gave us that boy but my pregnancy was full of complications, pain, and trials. I ended up on bed rest at 19 weeks and at 25 weeks I gave birth to a baby boy who was whole and perfect but his lungs were just too underdeveloped. He lived 6 short hours and then He died.

It was so hard but I knew he was a yes that we were asked to make and God always provides everything we need for our yeses.

My next yes was much easier to make initially. I longed for another baby after our loss. But this one took walking through grief and fear. The blessing at the end of this yes was astounding though. Another baby girl graced our home and I was a mother transformed. After a loss you mother differently.

I was done with yeses to kids at this point. 4 girls and a boy in heaven. I was good. But God wasn’t done asking. I agonized a bit but knew that all of my excuses and reasons wouldn’t compare to the blessings from another yes to God’s plan for me. And God gave me another son. This time, one to hold and cuddle and watch run through dirt.

I had said yes to 5 pregnancies and 6 babies so far. I had the stretch marks and varicose veins to prove it. I had spent months feeling sick to my stomach and enduring blood tests and had been through more hours of labor than I could keep track of.  My hands were more than full and I couldn’t comprehend adding anything else to my plate. But there was one more yes that I needed to say.

This one took months. I knew the stirring, not the longing, don’t confuse the two. God placed His finger on my heart and my husband’s heart at the same time and began stirring us toward another child. I was so reluctant. I just couldn’t. But how could I say no?

Our final yes has been a delight to my heart in so many ways. I cannot imagine her ever being a no.

After reading Kristen Welch’s book Rhinestone Jesus about her yes to God and her challenge to all of us to say yes in our mess, I began thinking about my greatest yes. It had to be my children.  Oh, there have been big things I have done for God that required a yes and I am confident there will be more but nothing as challenging as saying yes to having more children when I could barely handle what I already had. I NEVER saw myself as a mother of 7. I couldn’t have even dreamed that I would have had this many kids unless God had asked it of me. I know He doesn’t ask it of everyone but He asked it of me.

When I look at Motherhood through the lens of saying yes to God then I am even more confident that God will supply all of my needs and be with me throughout it all.  Motherhood is Kingdom work and each of my yeses to my children, when I had other ideas and plans, was saying yes to God’s plan for my life and theirs.

It’s so far beyond me to mother this many children well. I am so stretched beyond my comfort zone but I know that God always provides when we agree with Him and say yes. He gives me what I need, makes up for my insufficiencies and is always with me on my journey. He’s taught me to be brave.

God doesn’t ask us all to say yes to lots of kids but He does ask for our yes in some area of our lives.  Whatever his question is for you I hope you’ll say yes. There are so many blessings awaiting you on the other side!

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I have loved every single word I have read in Rhinestone Jesus by Kristen Welch. It is a real, honest and vulnerable story about how she learned to say yes and how a little yes can turn into something so amazing. You will feel challenged, understood and hopeful about the plans that God has for you as you read Kristen’s story of real life and her brave “yes” to God.

This book is a game changer. It just may change your life. Go buy it today and read it. You won’t regret it!

I get to give away 2 copies of this awesome book! Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter.
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