Allison

My husband and I have been watching The Bible miniseries on The History Channel this past couple weeks. We have really enjoyed it, as we re-visit Old Testament stories which we had forgotten and learn a few that we didn't know as well. It is so incredible to see God speaking so specifically to His people! I'm always even more amazed as I see Him working in my life, even though many of the ways I feel He speaks to me are far less profound. One of those little ways has been on my mind this week.

A few months back, I was not content with the baby carrier I had been using for Andrew. I researched and researched and decided to sell the one we had to fund a different one. There were two which I thought would work well for us, given my frame and his size. And both had great reviews for young babies too, which was a bonus. I looked for several weeks for a used carrier but didn't have any luck as they were still very pricey, even used. Finally, I settled out on a new one which I loved. A few weeks after that, I was poking around in our local kid consignment store and found the other carrier I had looked at. And it was only $30! (These carriers are $125 new so this was a steal!!) Even better yet, it was a pretty, neutral print. Though I certainly didn't need it, I wanted it as it had the best reviews by far for newborns. But I wasn't even pregnant so it seemed crazy to consider purchasing it, right? I had complications after having Andrew and we were very unsure of whether we would get any more babies in the few months after he was born. But thankfully, I was healed and we planned to have at least one more baby. I contemplated the carrier a bit and really felt like I should just buy it, so I did. I figured that I could easily get my money back out of it if I changed my mind as the going price for a used one was roughly twice what I paid. After getting the carrier home, I looked up the print and was taken aback - the print name was "Allison".  Allison was the name we had chosen if Andrew was a girl and it has been my girl name of choice for many years. My husband was sweet and quickly agreed to it during my first pregnancy as I loved the name so much. As I looked at the carrier and the name, I really felt that it was a promise from God - that He would send me another baby to love, even if it wasn't an "Allison" and was a boy instead. A couple months later, I found out I was pregnant. And this week, we found out that we'll be welcoming our sweet little Allison this summer. I am still in shock, honestly. Apparently my feeling regarding God's promise was much more literal than I thought!

So I'm obviously the crazy girl who feels like God gives her promises through used baby gear but I am okay with that. I am just feeling incredibly blessed that He speaks to me at all and has given me all that He has. Has God spoken to you? What messages or reassurances has He given you, big or small?