Journey to Motherhood

By Amy Martin

Before you were born, I set you apart...

--Jeremiah 1:5

Journey to Motherhood is the author's personal testimony of her hardships and triumphs of conceiving and carrying her children. Having children did not come easy to her and her husband, and she does not hold back the emotional toll it takes on one's life and marriage.

This season of her life brought on many unexpected turns and tests where she had to rely on her faith and the Word of God to carry her through.

Amy is very real about the feelings and experiences she endured in hopes that others who read this will know they are not alone. Despite the doctor's reports and test results, miracles do happen! The purpose of this book is to encourage others who are experiencing the same heart-wrenching journey that there is hope and that God's promises are real.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639038961

Amy Martin

Amy Martin wrote and illustrated her first book at the age of ten and gave it to her fourth grade teacher, who hopefully lost it in her house somewhere and didn't share it with anyone else.The first book she published as a grown-up, In Your Dreams,was a semi-finalist in the Young Adult category of the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Competition. She has published four books in the In Your Dreams series, and she is also the author of The Perfects series.Amy lives with her husband and a ferocious attack tabby named Cleo. When not writing or reading, she can usually be found watching sports, drinking coffee, or indulging her crippling Twitter habit (and, sometimes, doing all three at once).

Book preview

Chapter 1

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven… God has made everything beautiful in its own time.

—Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11 (NLT)

I will never forget this day. It was a warm sunny afternoon in the Pacific Northwest. Spring in Washington meant either rain or gorgeous clear skies. The crystal-blue sky that day brought us outside for a refreshing walk. My husband, Tracy and I were headed to the park near our house. We were twenty-five and were still dreaming of the future; something we had done since we were teenagers in high school. We felt like we had our whole lives ahead of us.

This day was different though. The excitement was beyond the weather and was a much-needed break from homework and routine we had been engrossed in. We had so many exciting things coming up in our lives, and endless things to talk and dream about. We were weeks from him graduating from college, and our grown-up life was about to really begin.

Our story began when we were sophomores in high school. His cousin and my friend were dating, and she had finally convinced me to go on a blind date and meet Tracy. I honestly got tired of hearing about how amazing he was, so I caved just to appease her.

Our first date was quite memorable. As we arrived at his house to meet up, much to my surprise, we walked through the door to a room filled with men! His brother, dad, cousins, friends—it seemed they were all there. I waited patiently while no one introduced me to Tracy!

His dad approached me with a huge smile and said, Hi, I’m your date. We still laugh about that until this day. With my stomach in knots, I looked up and saw what I hoped was Tracy. The most amazing big blue eyes I’d ever seen were looking at me with a smile and warm hello. I soon learned his heart was even larger than those eyes that captured me.

Before we knew it, we were dating and were inseparable. What attracted me to him more than anything was the light of the Lord shining so brightly through him it could light up the room. I wanted what he had. I didn’t know at the time what it was. I had never seen such life coming out of one human being. It was modeled not just in his words, but in how he lived his life and treated people.

After a few weeks of being together, I gave my heart to Jesus. I’m so grateful that at sixteen, I gave my heart to the man who still matters most in my life: Jesus! In one single moment, the Lord saved me and gave me a new meaning to life.

Tracy and I dated all through high school (different schools in neighboring cities, which added a challenge) and dreamed about our future together—college, families, where God would take us. Tracy was involved in music and football and ran for office at school. He was steady and strong. I was into fast-pitch and having fun, always laughing; I was there to be social. I added fun to his quiet nature, and he became my calm. We were so good for each other.

After graduation, I went into the working world, and Tracy went to college. Two years later, we were married and loved every moment of it. It was shortly after that when God showed Tracy His plan for his life. Tracy was called to the medical field to be a physical therapist. We are still thankful to God for showing us the goal early on because that kept us going when it seemed easiest to quit.

Those years were grueling. While other people our age were out to movies, dinners, and starting families, we were saying no to everything to get through school. We hardly saw each other and would dream of the days when we could have some time together. Time to really be a couple and have a family. It was God’s grace and strength that carried us through those years.

It was near graduation time, and all we heard from people in that field of work was that it was nearly impossible to get into grad school which was now required to get a job in physical therapy. We walked that season out through faith and trusting God because if we had listened to the other voices instead of God, we would have given up. Out of hundreds that applied for grad school, Tracy was one of the twenty-five people accepted into the program!

A couple of months before the end of the program, we went through a similar challenge of listening to God’s will for our lives instead of the voices around us in that field. Tracy could’ve chosen any area of PT, but he was sure God gifted him to work with kids in pediatrics. We repeatedly heard the two local hospitals are never hiring for that.

Before he technically received his degree, Tracy had received an offer; one from each hospital! He not only received his dream job before he graduated, but God blessed him with a second offer only three weeks after starting the job for the other hospital, and he was able to choose!

We were so excited that finally the day was coming soon when he would be out of school and we could truly be a family. No more homework, papers, finals, and all-nighters. God provided for us throughout those years in ways we couldn’t have imagined. I had a fantastic job at Weyerhaeuser, and prior to that, God always made a way that seemed impossible. From the moment we were married, we would talk and dream of the future, what it