And The Winners Are...

Remember my giveaway? The one where I was going to post the winners on my birthday?? The one that I totally wanted to have good prizes for??? Well, what I wanted to do didn't quite work out. And my ambitions for posting last week OBVIOUSLY went to the wayside. BUT, I am finally here. Back to reveal the winners and their amazing stories. I promise to still share mine, just not now... I'd rather just reveal.

Thank you so much to everyone who shared. I really and truly loved reading your stories. Loved seeing God's work. I teared up for each and every single one. Thank you for sharing such raw pieces of your heart. Thank you. Truly.

So, without further delay, the proud new owner's of Starbucks cards are...

Mrs. D...

I received Christ when I was about 8. I walked with Him and I walked away many times in my life. He has been with me all along the way. Molding me and shaping me for when He would be able to use me. God showed up in a very real way… a way that I was unable to move to the left or right to miss Him.

We had just had our second daughter who lived in me for 35 weeks and then went to be with the Lord just before she was born. That was the beginning of the realness of God for me. When I had nothing else He was there. I didn't know that I had built my foundation on The Rock until the wind came and I didn't waver. As I think back over the last almost 2 years I see God's Hand in everything. I didn't have eyes to see before my attention was directed back to Him. After Hazel died it was like my spirit man took the wheel and drove because I was unable too. They Holy Spirit in me tuned my ears and eyes to the things of God as if I had never seen or heard Him before. I know that I did hear God before her death.. I just didn't know that it was Him. I thought that it was just my thoughts. After she was born God was whispering in my ear. When we were in the hospital fully prepared for our daughter to make her entrance alive... we weren't prepared for her arrival stillborn. We didn't know what step to take next. God orchestrated it all for us. All we had to do was act it out. Each thought that I had in the hospital I attribute to God because these were things that I never would have planned. We took video of us holding her and telling the video camera as it sat on the table what had happened that day. We had casts of her had holding my husbands thumb and a cast of her little foot. These were things that if I hadn't thought about doing I would have huge regrets that I missed out on doing with her. God in all His love gave me through everything NO REGRETS about those 21 hours that we had with her. There is not one thing that I wish I could go back and do. There is such peace in that. I thank God for being there for us every minute of that day. We had so many people praying for us in the months after that we could truly feel it.

I had just started Bible Study Fellowship earlier that year. A friend had asked me to go with her and check it out. I had heard of it because it was something that my mother-in-law had done when my husband was a child. My 1st daughter was 9 months when I started. The book we would be studying was Romans. Another reason I decided to start the study was that I was tired of being in a desert filled spiritual life. I was dry as a bone and didn't feel anything. I was waiting for God to get me out of the desert. I had enough and decided I would get out on my own. BSF was my 1st step toward awakening my spirit again. A few weeks after I started BSF I found out that I was pregnant with our 2nd child. (cool little God detail... the weeks of the bible study were in unison with how far along I was... week 8 of BSF... week 8 of pregnancy etc.) Anywhoo...I persevered through the bible study. Each week I did my lesson but I really didn't feel like I was getting anything. I would take notes during lecture... again not really "feeling" like God was talking to me. I didn't know what I know now.. God was talking to me. After Hazel was born I went back and looked through my notes and God was speaking to me loudly about suffering. I didn't even know why until I was in the middle of suffering and I had tools that HE had gave me on how to see Him in the middle of it. Cool Huh.

God has seen me through what some would consider the worst thing that could happen. The death of a child. Don’t get me wrong… it was terrible. But God had her days numbered at conception and she served the purpose of her life. She has ministered to so many people… most of whom I may never know how until Heaven. She is ministering to her older sister and her soon to be born younger brother from Heaven. If they want to meet or know where their sibling is, it requires me to tell them about the Awesome God that we serve and the choice that they have to make with their life in order to meet her. We had not planned to get pregnant with Hazel. Really… I had a 9 month old. It was one of those God planned things that I just got to be a part of. We knew that she would be a girl and we had not decided a name for her. Only once we found out that she was already in Heaven… I knew what I wanted to name her. Hazel…after my husband grandmother. She had just gone to be with the Lord the week before. I wanted to name our 1st daughter that name.. but it didn’t play out that way. I had lobbied for that name with the 2nd pregnancy but couldn’t get my husband to warm to the name….nor any members of my family. Hazel in the Hebrew means “One who sees God”. And that is our surely our daughter.

God is in the details.
He is always talking… the question is… are we listening?

Hebrews 11:35
Women received their dead raised to life again.

Ephesians 1:11
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Psalm 34:18
The Lord in near to those who have a broken heart.
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

2 Chronicles 15:2
The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you.

And Kelli...

I'm late, I'm late, but I was having computer problems. Here I am.
I truly accepted Christ when I was 17 after going to a Bible study that one of my friends held at his house. That's when it all made sense to me and after that I was baptized.
I went to college and well, let's just say I fell off the wagon. I didn't find a church home and I slipped into things that I should not have...living with Rondell being the biggest regret.
After Ron and I were married we tried for a child and got pregnant with Jamison. I had always wanted a child and was so excited to be pregnant. But during the pregnancy I got very sick, just shakey all the time, couldn't eat a lot, very tired...I lost 23 pounds. I ended up having a C-section after 26 hours of labor.
After a month I went to Cleveland for my sister's birthday. I started to have a terrible headache, which then led to a strange twitch and then a stutter (like I was having a stroke). I went to the ER and it was determined that I had post pardum depression and I was experiencing an anxiety attack from all of the depression. Tough times.
I did have some healing but not completely.
I got pregnant with Caleb and about my third trimester started having severe depression symtoms and decided, with doctor's approval, to start taking an anti-depressant. It helped.
The moment when God truly stepped in, and grabbed me tight was shortly after Caleb was born. Rondell decided that he wanted to go to a conference in Atlanta. Without hesitation, I told him to go and enjoy. That was nothing but God because I tended to rely on Rondell very much. So, he went and God showed me that I was a good mom and very capable of being independent, not independent of Rondell but just that He had given me the tools to be the kind of mother He designed. My eyes opened up to Him that weekend and I will never forget it. He broke through a wall I thought I could never tear down...and I can't...not by myself but with Him. God is so good and He showed me that and from there, there's no turning back!

Girls, email me your addresses and I'll get those to you. And thank you again to everyone who shared!