Devotionals for the Heart: Surprise!

A Surprise that was Meant to Be
A devotional by Heather Martin

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” 

–Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)

“For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” –Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

Before having our third baby, my husband and I decided this would be the last child. There were many reasons why we came to this conclusion, one being that I had already delivered our first two children via C-section and in a few weeks we were scheduled to deliver baby number three via another C-section. Needless to say, this was no fun way to deliver, but I guess there is no fun way to deliver!

They say you have this feeling when you should stop having children, and I just wasn’t sure if I felt like we were really done. We went over and over all of the reasons why it wasn’t a good idea to have another child but for some reason I had this tiny feeling that we weren’t done. But after many conversations with my husband, we decided that going to the urologist to have a vasectomy was the best idea for our family.

My husband has a wonderful friend who is an urologist and performs hundreds of vasectomies a year. We were living in Nashville, and his office was about an hour and a half away so we would drive to have it done there. I was 9 months pregnant and was not very excited about the idea of getting in a car to ride more than ten minutes, but my husband reassured me that this was the right time to do it.

Taking the trip wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined. We had a chance to talk more about it and by the time we got to the doctor’s office we both felt ready to do this and just like that, we closed an era of our lives together, I would only give birth to three children. We would be a family of five, or so we thought.

Our third baby arrived and he was BIG, 9 lbs. 3 oz.! He was beautiful, mild mannered, happy, and sweet! When he was 8 months old, we packed up and moved to Birmingham, Alabama. My husband had finally finished all of his medical training and had accepted his very first job as a certified pediatric surgeon. Our kids were growing, we were happy and settling in, and then…I started feeling kind of weird.

I never once considered that I could possibly be pregnant again! The signs were so clear but I ignored them because I had put all of my trust in that vasectomy. But I should have known something was up when I couldn’t stand to smell the scent of my sister’s mild perfume. For some reason I absolutely hated the smell of it and I couldn’t stomach it!

I felt extra tired all the time, but that seemed normal because I had a baby, and two other little ones. Then, I should really have known something was different for me because I was breastfeeding my 8-month-old baby and my hair started falling out. That was strange! After a few weeks of feeling “weird” I reluctantly decided to get a pregnancy test, just to be sure. But I was completely positive that this couldn’t possibly be the cause of all these weird symptoms I was experiencing, I just wanted to mark it off the list. So I took the test and to our complete SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE, it immediately read positive!

We could not believe it! How could this be? It was certainly a miracle! A miracle that only happens less than 1 percent of the time. We had made our plans, but God had other plans for our lives. He knew that our family would not be complete without Charlie. And now we can’t imagine our lives without this little boy who is funny, sweet, cuddly, smart, and loves to preach. We joke that this kid better be the next Barack Obama, or Moses!

But one thing we know for sure is that he is a very special surprise gift to us from God. He was meant to be. We make our plans but truly, God’s plans are the best!

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Author Bio:

Heather Martin was born the last of six siblings in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was raised by an amazing single mother (Rebecca Trotter) and was taught at an early age to love God and how to sing! 

She graduated from Oakwood University with a Bachelors Degree in Language Arts Education and later received a Master’s Degree in Education from Kaplan University. 

Shortly after graduating she followed God’s call to minister. She joined the Stellar, Dove, and Grammy-nominated gospel group Virtue, which was founded by her two older sisters Ebony Holland and Karima Kibble several years prior. Virtue has used their talents to spread the love of God across the world! They have recorded 7 studio albums and have been the recipients of numerous awards.

God has not only blessed Heather professionally, but personally. She met her husband, Dr. Colin Martin, and they have been married for 14 years. They have four children: Colin Jr. 11, Harper 10, Clark, 7, and Charleston 5. In 2016 Heather started an online blog and vegan and allergen-friendly cooking channel called “Chef Mommy.” Heather (Chef Mommy) has cooked with numerous celebrities and top chefs to spread the news of healthy cooking and lifestyle.

In addition to this busy schedule, Heather enjoys, running, reading, writing and spending time with her family.

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Connect with Heather:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherTMartin
Instagram for Heather: https://www.instagram.com/thechefmommy/
Instagram for Virtue (Heather’s singing group): https://www.instagram.com/virtuegirls
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chefmommyhm