The time has come for me to tell Sarge’s story. Today is March 26th and tomorrow is Easter. Both of those days hold much significance in his story. It was March 26th of 2014 that we first learned about Sarge and Easter is all about God’s redemption for His people.

It’s hard to find time to come here and write. It’s hard to find any sort of quiet in my life in this season and I need quiet to write! I realized the other day that there is so much noise in my life right now that it is hard to even be still and know that He is God. This isn’t from a lack of faith but from living a life that keeps me on my toes from the time my feet hit the floor in the morning until all three of my children are tucked in for the night. The chaos can still be raging all around me, but I can find that quiet spot where my heart is still and knows that God is God.

During a quiet moment, I was thinking that I am living the season I longed for when I began this blog nearly eight years ago. My infertility days seem a lifetime ago. A different world. I am so consumed with my children these days that it is hard to even believe that there was a day in the not so distant past when I wondered if I would ever be a mother.

What a journey the past 8 years have been.

I was once told that deep joy can only be measured by deep sorrow and pain. We can’t fully understand and appreciate deep joy until we have walked through a season of deep sorrow. Sarge is one of the greatest joys my life has ever known; but the season of his birth is the most painful season my life has ever known. It is going to be very hard for me to write but this is a story that I must tell.

If I had to summarize the past eight years of my life in one word it would be surrender.

My journey has taught me God doesn’t want me to do anything except surrender to Him.

God first brought me to that place of surrender on March 8, 2009. Maybe some of you reading this were around even back then and remember that defining day in my journey. All fertility treatments had failed and I was told my chance of pregnancy was extremely low – even with fertility treatments.

Adoption had been on my mind for several months. God was preparing my heart to move towards adoption upon hearing this news even though I didn’t want to give up on my dream of pregnancy.

I found myself at the place of surrender. Was I going to surrender my everything – my dream of pregnancy – to God or was I going to continue to fight and try again to conceive?

I chose surrender and it has radically changed my life.

You never fail choosing God and His plan for your life. The past 8 years have blown me away as I have watched time and time again God do miracle after miracle in my life.

God is good and all He does is good! That is a foundational truth found in Genesis when you read the story of Creation. All God created and did was good and perfect until sin entered the picture.

From that moment, God has been working a plan to redeem His people. He promised Adam and Eve a seed that would come to crush the head of the serpent. (Genesis 3:15) Tomorrow is Easter! This is what Easter is all about…God’s redemptive plan for His people! God is always working for our good. (Romans 8:28) He has plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

But we have to get ourselves out of the way first so God can do His work.

That is where surrender comes in to play.

We lay our hopes, our dreams, our plans, our desires at the feet of Jesus, trusting Him to show us His plan.

We’ve come through some very deep waters over the past 2 years and God has shown Himself faithful every step of the way.

The story I am about to share is nothing short of another miracle. Actually, two miracles. God has worked in ways only He can work and moved mountains only He could move.

Through the Lens of Grace is a story of redemption for my husband and my son and how God taught me to look through the lens of grace – God’s Grace - as I walked this journey with them.

To read the next part of this story, click here.

- Elaine