In planning for the future, have you ever stepped back and pondered the past? Well, recently, Beth and I did just that. We looked back to see how blessed we are and how much the Lord has really done for us. We want to share with you just a little bit of what we have learned in 2006 along with the story of the birth of the little girl the Lord has given us to raise for Him. In everything we say and do, we want to give God the honor and glory He so rightfully deserves.

Also, we learned that it is imperative to know the character, heart and mind of God. If we understand this truth we can truly rest and obey God’s will even if it doesn’t make sense. Beth and I have been learning that God gives us what we need rather than what we think we want. This is a vital truth we are learning as we continue to seek His will for our lives.

As we shared above, these are just a couple of the foundational principals that we have learned this year from our own personal devotions, Sunday School and from the pulpit. The following is a story of how we applied these truths.

In May, we felt that the Lord was leading Beth out of Child Evangelism Fellowship where she had been serving as a children's missionary for about 10 years or so. He confirmed it over and over again through various circumstances. We both felt her full time ministry was changing into raising our children for the Lord. It was during this time of transition that I had the desire to look at names for our children. The Lord gave me the name Jeremiah Daniel and He gave Beth the name Isaiah Zacharias. With this information, Beth and I thought that God was telling us that we were going to have twin boys. This made sense to us because we both had a strong desire to have a set of twins, especially twin boys. Why wouldn’t this be God’s will? Didn’t twins run in both sides of the family? Didn’t we promise God we would raise strong spiritual leaders for Him?

Now the question was, when should we conceive? We began praying and asking God about this. Right after Beth quit chid Evangelism Fellowship, this prayer was answered. I remember the night when I heard the Holy Spirit say “let this seed go.” The next morning Beth said that she felt pregnant. I told her that she was crazy and there was no way for her to know in less than 24 hrs.

Interestingly enough, our church was having a prayer vigil. The weeks prior to the vigil, the pastor asked everyone to list 4-5 things that they would be believing God for and they wanted prayer for. This was the perfect time to get others to help us pray for guidance by the Holy Spirit to when we should conceive our boys. We joined with the members of our church and prayed. Little did we know that the Lord was in the process of answering our prayer during the vigil. Our pregnancy was confirmed the second week of June, which means that we got pregnant the exact time Beth thought she was pregnant. Little did we know that the next nine months God would put our faith to the test.

Our first doctor’s appointment went extremely well. We grew more and more excited about our twin boys when we found out that Beth’s uterus was bigger than what it was suppose to be. This could mean that we were indeed pregnant with our boys. At the end of the visit we told Dr. Jester our story about how we were believing God for twins. We felt blessed when he surprisingly asked us if we minded that he pray with us. Not only did the Lord allow us to conceive, He allowed us to have a great experience with a Christian doctor who wasn’t afraid to pray with us.

Soon after the prayer vigil, the Lord answered yet another prayer. He called me out of my position at NPC, Inc, when it made the least amount of sense. We were completely unemployed at this point. The interesting thing about this happening was that Beth and I were both at complete peace about not having work. It was the perfect time to spend in God’s Word and to seek God’s face together as a couple. In this transition God provided for all of our financial and medical needs through various channels.

The first thirteen weeks of the pregnancy, we prayed and claimed promises for Jeremiah and Isaiah. They had to be the ones in Beth’s womb. Beth and I prayed and thanked the Lord for giving us the desire of hearts. Over the next couple of weeks, we were stepping out in faith and telling everyone we talked to that we knew that Beth was pregnant with a set of twin boys. Our faith was growing exponentially. Finally it was our turn to step out of the boat like Peter did.

Then the day came for the first sonogram. We were finally going have confirmation that Jeremiah and Isaiah were in Beth’s womb. Excitedly, we went to have the sonogram. However, it turned out to be a day that tested our faith harder than it had ever been tested before. There weren’t two babies, but only one. We questioned ourselves and God. Did we truly hear from God? And could we trust God to keep His promises? Now in everybody’s eyes we looked like fools. However, Beth and I chose at the end of our doubt, to trust God’s character, heart and mind. We knew that God had a better plan than our own. That day, we determined in our hearts that we were going to keep our wedding vow to God and to each other to remain on the path He wanted us to be on even if it meant that we were going to be criticized and look like fools in other people’s eyes.

During the next few weeks, God gave me a job at Smith Transport. We were excited to see God provide a job that would support our current financial needs. I was one step closer in providing for my family.

Soon after I started, we were ready to have our second sonogram. Right before we left for the hospital God gave me the name Adriana Lynne. Honestly, Beth and I loved the name, but Beth wondered why God had not given me a biblical name? We were really excited that the sonogram technician guessed that there was an 80% chance that it was a boy. Maybe Jeremiah wasn’t going to come with Isaiah.

During the second sonogram the technician forgot to get a picture of the baby’s heart chambers. Therefore, they ordered a third sonogram. Beth really wanted to know who was in her belly so we could pray specifically for this child. However, Beth and I grew more confused because this technician said she was 99% sure that the baby was a girl. So which technician was right? Who were we suppose to pray for now?

Time drew close to the end of Beth’s pregnancy. As Beth grew uncomfortable and we grew excited to see who was really in her belly, we were tempted to do all the things that people say to do to make the baby come a little early. However, one day God spoke to Beth and said, “Do it my time and my way and I’ll bless you.” So we chose to let it come about in His time and His way. Although we both hoped and prayed that the baby would come in January and that the baby would come naturally; Beth not having to be induced.

While we were in church a few weeks before delivery, Beth started to worry about how labor would begin and how she would be able to deal with it. If any of you really know her she is a real chicken when it comes to dealing with pain. This particular Sunday I remember as we sang in worship Beth leaned over and said that God was speaking to her spirit. He told her that “her labor was going to be ok if she would claim authority over the labor pains. He reminded her that labor pains came with the curse of sin and that Jesus’ death had already overcome that curse.” So Beth and I began to daily pray and claim authority over her labor pain curse.

Friday, January 26 Beth and I decided to watch the Passion of Christ. As we watched this movie again Beth told me that she was reminded once again that Jesus’ death meant so much more than just the forgiveness of our sin. It meant that God had given us back the authority to overcome anything that sin had brought into this world, including labor pains. Beth remembers a sweet peace passing over her as she meditated on this awesome truth.

The next day I began to get sick. Saturday night I came down stairs so that Beth could get some sleep. As I hacked away sleep would not come to me. A little while later Beth came down and told me that she had started to bleed. This could only mean one thing. The baby was on its way to us! Within an hour Beth began to feel small contractions or at least what she thought were contractions every 5-7 minutes apart. They lasted about 30 seconds long and only felt like small cramps that didn’t really bother her at all. As the early morning went on Beth continued to have the contractions consistently every 5-7 minutes and continued to bleed more and more. Around 6:00 we decided to call the doctor to see if we should come in or not. Since Beth was bleeding, the doctor on call wanted her to come in. We got our things together and headed to the hospital. The nurse on duty checked Beth and said that she was 2 centimeters dilated and 100% effaced. Dr. Jester was the doctor on call and he said that we could either stick around the hospital or go home and come back later. We decided to go home to get some rest and relaxation.

Beth and I got home around 10:00. We both laid down and got a couple hours of sleep. When we got awake, we decided to play some games in order to relax and help the time pass. During the game, the contractions were getting stronger and Beth wanted me to rub her back the duration of the contractions. I could tell in her face that they were bothering her a little bit. After a while we both decided to try to get some more sleep. When Beth got awake this time, she told me that the Lord spoke to her heart again and told her that “when the cramping came all she needed to do was to tell her body to relax through the contractions”. From this point on, when she felt a contraction, Beth just stopped what she was doing, stood still, and focused on relaxing. I could tell that the labor pains were not bothering her as much as they were prior to the second nap. As time went on we continued to claim authority over the curse of labor pains.

Around 5:30 the contractions were about two minutes apart and lasting for about forty five seconds. Beth was not in any visible pain and she was praying that the Lord would give her wisdom to when we were to head to the hospital. Finally, at 7:15 we left for the hospital. When we walked outside, snow was flying and the roads were fairly slick, so we were convinced that this was the perfect time to leave, before the roads got any worse than they already were. As we drove to the hospital Beth asked God to increase her faith as she claimed authority over the labor pains. When we got to the hospital this time, the nurse checked Beth and she was 4 centimeters dilated. Thirty minutes later the nurse came back to check on Beth again and told us she was now 7.5 centimeters dilated. The awesome thing about this is that Beth was not in any visible pain. When a contraction would come, she would close her eyes and focus. I could hear her praying quietly and there was a peace on her face. Every time the Dr. or one of the nurses would come in and check on Beth, they would say how well she was doing for being this far into labor. Repeatedly, Beth told them that it wasn’t her; it was the Lord taking the pain away from her. My dad and mom came to hospital to see how Beth was doing. As they headed out Dr. Jester and the nurses told them that they had never seen anyone this far into labor handling the pain the way Beth was handling it. The other amazing thing is that Beth asked me if I would sing with her when she was 7.5 centimeters dilated. Of course I would; we sang one of our favorite songs “Shout to the Lord” together.

A little while later her water broke. Didn’t that mean she would be dilating to 10 centimeters rather quickly? For Beth it did not, she was stuck at 7.5 centimeters for 2 hours. It was during this time that Dr. Jester saw that Beth had a second water sack and that was what was postponing the delivery. He asked us if we would like him to break the second sack. Beth really wanted this delivery to be natural and so she asked the doctor to wait a little bit to see if it would break on its own. However, shortly after Dr. Jester came back in and gave Beth two options either he could give her patosan, a drug to speed up labor, or he could break her second water sack. We prayed about it and both felt at peace for Dr. Jester to break the remaining water. About 20 minutes after he broke her water, it was time to start pushing. The Pushing only lasted about 15-20 minutes because Beth was such a great pusher, at least that’s what the doctor and nurses said.

Finally, we saw our daughter, Adriana Lynne Shoop, for the very first time. To be honest with all of you, I really didn’t pay attention to the baby until I knew that Beth was going to be okay. Beth had lost a lot of blood and her blood pressure dropped. The Doctor informed me that she had ripped from her cervix clear down the birth canal. He also said that he had only seen this two other times. As he began to stitch her up he realized that Beth could not deal with the pain so he decided to put her out and do it in operating room. Beth told me later that the pain from the doctor trying to stitch her up after delivery hurt worse than any labor pain she experienced. Beth also said that the reason she thinks she tore was because she didn’t feel the contractions to know when to push with them.

So the next time the thief (satan) comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy you by the curses brought with Adam’s sin Beth and I want to encourage you to remember Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) God has given you the authority to speak over the curses in Jesus’ name. With this, you must have faith in not just knowing that God can do what He promises, but knowing He will do what He promises. The authority God has given you and your faith in God’s Word will bring the victory to pass. Jesus said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew 17:20) Lastly and most importantly, remember to trust God’s character, heart, and mind for the outcome, even when you don’t humanly understand. God made you and knows what you truly need and desire. Beth and I pray that God will use this testimony to encourage you and challenge you to put your faith into practice.