Miracle on Conway
{A little bit of background story}
For those of you who don’t know, we recently packed up and moved our entire family across the state to Petoskey, MI to be near family. We decided to move without much of a plan other than my husband getting a job. We had an idea of where we might be staying, but fully relied on God’s provision to get us up there and place us where we needed to be. We sold our home downstate within weeks with zero prospects up north… then the unexpected happened and I got pregnant shortly after we moved into our third placement. Terrified, nervous and excited- we started to pursue the home buying process even more aggressively.
This is where our story begins…
Monday, November 18th I woke up at my lowest of lows. Still experiencing the pain of our second miscarriage in all aspects and imagining how I had planned my life going forward, including telling the good news this week to family & friends, I felt like I was never going to escape reliving this nightmare. On top of that, dealing with extreme disappointment again as the house we (both Collin and I) were convinced the Lord had planned for our family also fell through the day before. We both fell asleep the night prior in tears, our minds filled with untruths telling us our faith was too weak for God to give us the desires of our hearts - a third baby and a home. And, that all of our selfish plans in moving north were now coming to a head. That morning, I had no choice but to fall down in worship- in tears- completely vulnerable.
The Lord led me to 1 Chronicles 16:11-12.
“Pursue the LORD and his strength; seek his face always! Remember the wondrous works he has done, all his marvelous works, and the justice he declared—”
After reading this verse over and over again, I couldn’t help but think back to our first miscarriage and how the Lord worked through what at the time was the darkest season of our lives. In the midst of our devastation, a random giant sunflower grew up right in our backyard inches from our back door where other plants had faltered. That sunflower was used to reveal God's promise of another child and instilled hope where there was none at that time.
I glanced at the memorial tattoo on my arm.
Memorial sunflower tattoo - October 2019.
Growing next to the large sunflower, is a tiny seedling- a sunflower that is sprouting but not yet developed. I broke down instantly. The Lord knew we’d experience another loss and I didn’t. I recollected that days before I went to get my tattoo, I started drawing a different sketch of a sunflower even though I was convinced I was using the original one I had drawn the day of the loss- the head of a sunflower and a cross. I brought both sketches with me to the tattoo parlor and felt an unexpected tug towards the newer sketch. At the time, I was trying to rectify “why” but I didn’t really know the reason behind my decision and had often times in the last five years regretted it.
Now, I don’t.
I broke down in tears again. Before the kids woke up, I quieted myself with the Lord a few more minutes and listened to a song that was brought to my attention on my drive downstate the past weekend. “QUIET” by Elevation Rhythm. This song had resonated in my heart everyday since then and had become my worship anthem.
That day at 11am, I was driving home from a playdate with my kids and decided to just keep driving towards the only other possibility of a house we had known of. I was praying, hoping it was better than we expected. It wasn’t. It was so much worse than even I imagined. I immediately turned around once again feeling instantly defeated. Trying to lessen the pessimistic voices in my head, I turned on my Spotify worship music. The song “QUIET” once again echoed through the car and I sang along trying to keep my composure while driving.
Immediately after the chorus, I got a phone call from our realtor. I picked up and all she said was, “Meg, all I have to say is “PRAY." She then told me that the other offer the seller accepted less than 24 hrs ago was already falling through and we were runner up. So, that’s what we did. We prayed.
Not even five mins later, she called me in tears to tell me the house is OURS. She couldn't believe it as she had never seen a deal fall apart that quickly. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing either. Never did I fathom this in the realm of (human) possibilities. I didn’t stop shaking for hours. I drove in disbelief all the way home and praised the Lord with everything I had.
Later that afternoon, the sun was shining and the weather wasn’t nearly as cold, so I took the kids outside. We were running around playing a stone scavenger hunt game we like to play, when all of a sudden Lettie says “Mom, mom, I have something for you”. She runs up to me with something in her hand. She unfolds her hand and there lay a small white daisy. I was shocked because I hadn’t seen a flower this healthy in months, especially around the lakeshore covered in dead foliage. “Mama, it’s your sunflower. Mama, it’s YOUR sunflower.”
Within her words, I realized the Lord truly did give us a sunflower that day. He didn’t give us the miracle of a healthy baby like we had earnestly prayed for on Thursday, but he restored hope in showing me his sovereignty, his goodness and his graciousness in the miracle of our new home that I’ll never forget.
Little did I know, the Lord’s plan was not set in full motion yet… We were set to close Monday, December 16th. On Monday, December 2nd, we received notice that closing had moved up to December 11th. I knew immediately that that date had significance, but had tried to block it from my memory. I opened my calendar on my phone and there on December 11th, I had written- “Baby Hew #3 First Ultrasound”. Once again, the Lord was gracious enough to turn a day of sadness into one of anticipation and rejoicing.
Welcome to Hewitt Haven 2.0!
AKA The best Christmas present we could’ve asked for.
Abundant Blessings,
Meg