New convictions.

As much as a blessing that a strong Christian heritage would have been for me, I have found blessings in coming to Christ as an adult. For one thing, it gave me an opportunity to question everything in light of my faith and God's word. It was all new territory. What did He have to say about how I live my life? If I trusted Him enough to save me, did I trust Him enough to give Him control of every area of my life?

First, let me assure you that I do not claim to write from a position of victory in any area. I'm still being refined, believe me!

For one thing, I was convicted early on that as a Christian, I was not to use any form of birth control. With six children already, we faced the prospect of moving from the realm of the large family to the realm of the spectacle! We accept God's financial and material blessings with eagerness. Why is it that we reject His blessings of of sons and daughters?

Psalm 127:3-5 Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

So we soon welcomed baby number seven, Leroy, into our family. He is named for James father, Robert Leroy, who died suddenly earlier that year. He was a wonderful papa for our children and is sorely missed. Our firstborn is named for him, too, Robert!

We were blessed to find a great deal on a 15 passenger van after Leroy was born and even got to take a family vacation that year! The next year we went out on a limb and built a new seven bedroom home for our growing family. We were not unhappy in our three bedroom/one bath but it was getting tight!

Things were falling into place. My life was perfect! Seven beautiful, healthy children. Loving husband. Brand new home. Guess what else? That's right! We were expecting a baby!

I was about to get a lesson in perfection.