Sheridan's Testimony From Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest"

"If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself-begin to have spiritual discernment."

In May of 2000, we cut the lines that tied us to the dock, and put the control of our family size and fertiility afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose. During that time, we have experienced for ourselves the truth that the "Lord's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over." Psalm 12:6 We echoed the words from Psalm 107:28-30, "'Lord, help!' they cried in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress. He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness as He brought them safely into harbor!"

Sheridan's birth represents our long-awaited return to the calm waters just inside the harbor. In her birth, "God has given us gladness in proportion to our former misery." Psalm 90:15 We are "praising the Lord for His great love and for all His wonderful deeds to us." Psalm 108:31 We are so thankful for you, our friends and family, who prayed for us during the storm and who now rejoice with us as we welcome Sheridan Anna Claire. The waves have stopped, a fresh, warm breeze is blowing, and the sun is shining brightly at the Alexander household today. Praise the Lord!

"When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs, where pools of blessing collect after the rains!" Psalm 84:6

A Word Of Hope From The Lord... One year ago, on February 18, 2006, God gave us an unusual word of hope concerning a possible future addition to our family. I (Joy) was feeling particularly discouraged that morning as I considered the inevitability of never again mothering a little one. I thought, "Who could ever have hope after seven miscarriages?!" It was as if the Lord immediately answered my pondering by sending a name through my thoughts: Naaman. I stopped what I was doing and quickly located Naaman's account in the Bible. Although familiar with the miraculous healing, the story washed over me in a new and refreshing way. Here was a man with no hope of a cure. He was obviously reluctant to believe Elisha's remedy of dipping in the Jordan River would provide healing. Surely, with each dip and no sign of healing, he must have become increasingly doubtful. However, after the seventh dip, the number of completion, he was completely and miraculously healed. I wondered if God was trying to somehow speak to me through the unusual circumstances of that morning. I hadn't given it much more thought until March 11th. The day before, I woke up with a portion of scripture running through my thoughts over and over again. "Who knows, but that the Lord....." or "Who knows? The Lord...." I figured I would google the portion later in the day to find out where it was, thinking it was said during some battle involving Joshua or some king, but I had a busy schedule out of the house and never got around to it. The phrase continued to play in my mind as I did my morning devotions on March 11th. Suddenly a thought went through my mind, "I wonder if that phrase has something to do with King David when his baby died." (Surely the Holy Spirit directed this thought. How in the world could I, on my own, even begin to speculate on the location of the phrase?!) I found David's account in II Samuel 12:22. "Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live." I later wrote in my prayer journal, "Lord, could you possibly be giving me a promise?! It is enough that You're speaking to me! Oh Lord, how I long to feel Your hand on my shoulder during this wave of revisited sadness about the miscarriages and bleak future. I can't imagine having that great of faith to confidently believe a next pregnancy would be successful. I can't imagine how hard the fall would be if I did think You were going to give us a baby and it ended in another miscarriage. All I know is this - You're saying something. I'm not sure what, but it is something. Thank You, Father." Two months later we conceived Sheridan. Today is Sunday, February 18, 2007 and since she is two weeks overdue, we are scheduled to arrive at the hospital tomorrow morning for an induction. As I write, she is joyfully tumbling around in my tummy. Tomorrow we are eagerly hopeful that we will see God's fulfillment of what began as simply a "word of hope from the Lord."

The meaning of Sheridan's name...

Sheridan's middle name is Anna Claire. After so many years and so many losses, we are incredibly aware of God's grace and mercy in allowing us to join Him in a kingdom-sized assignment of raising another soul for Him. Anna means "grace" and "mercy" and her name will forever serve as a reminder of God's miraculous display of His great love. Claire means "greatly celebrated". As you can imagine, Sheridan's birth is being greatly celebrated by us all! You can hear more about the circumstances surrounding Sheridan's miraculous birth on the "Inside Scoop" page under "Family Size".