Episode 35: The Story I Never Could Have Written

Have you ever looked back over your life and realized that God was writing a story you never could have imagined?

Not because every chapter was easy.

Not because every prayer was answered the way you hoped.

But because, looking back, you can finally see His fingerprints on pages that once felt confusing, heartbreaking, or unfinished.

In this deeply personal conversation, I share the story of eight years of infertility, an adoption journey, a heartbreaking failed placement, two miraculous sons born just six months apart, and the quiet ways God was weaving together a story far more beautiful than the one I was trying to write myself.

Featured Quote

“Sometimes the most beautiful stories are the ones we never could have written ourselves.”

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About This Episode

For years, I believed I was living one story.

The story of infertility.

The story of waiting.

The story of unanswered prayers.

Looking back now, I realize God was writing several stories at once.

In this episode, I invite you into one of the most personal chapters of my life—from quiet mornings around a kitchen table with a Bible, a cup of coffee, and a bright red notebook, to preparing a nursery before there was ever a baby, to walking through an adoption journey that stretched my heart in ways I never expected.

You’ll hear about the heartbreaking adoption placement that didn’t become part of our family, the unexpected phone call that introduced us to our son James, and the astonishing discovery that the very night we brought him home, I was already twelve weeks pregnant with Tyler.

It still feels impossible to explain without smiling.

More importantly, we’ll explore what all of those years taught me about surrender, ordinary faithfulness, and trusting God with chapters that don’t yet make sense.

Because sometimes God isn’t simply answering our prayers.

He’s quietly writing a story that’s far bigger than we can currently imagine.

Key Takeaways

  • Surrender is rarely one moment—it becomes a daily practice.
  • God is often preparing our hearts long before He changes our circumstances.
  • Waiting is not the same as being forgotten.
  • Faithfulness is usually built through ordinary days.
  • Every chapter matters—even the painful ones.
  • Looking backward often reveals God’s fingerprints.
  • Families are built by love, not biology alone.
  • God’s imagination is far greater than our own.
  • We don’t have to understand the whole story to trust the Author.
  • The page you’re standing on is not the whole book.

Featured Resource

💛 Companion Guide: The Story I Never Could Have Written

Some stories deserve more than a single conversation.

This beautifully designed Companion Guide invites you to spend another hour over coffee exploring the stories that couldn’t fit into the episode. Through expanded narrative, Scripture, thoughtful reflection, and a signature exercise, you’ll begin recognizing God’s fingerprints in your own story—and discover how ordinary moments often become the places where extraordinary faith is formed.

→ Explore the Companion Guide

Continue the Conversation

Devotional 35: What Do You Do While You’re Waiting?

Earlier this week, we looked back at one remarkable story.

In this companion devotional, we slow down and discover that while we’re waiting for God to change our circumstances, He is often quietly changing us. Together we’ll explore why ordinary faithfulness is never wasted and how today’s quiet rhythms may be preparing us for chapters we cannot yet see.

→ Listen to Devotional 35

Continue the Journey

If today’s conversation resonated with you, you may also enjoy:

Related Resources

Together, these conversations explore waiting, surrender, adoption, grief, healing, faith, and learning to trust the Author with every chapter of your story.

Reflection Question

When you look back over your own life, where can you now see God’s fingerprints on a chapter that once felt confusing?

What ordinary moments may have been preparing you for something you couldn’t yet imagine?

And what would it look like to trust Him with the pages you haven’t read yet?

Final Thought

Most of us spend so much time asking God to change the chapter we’re living…

that we forget He’s writing an entire book.

There were years when I thought God wasn’t answering.

Years when I thought heaven had gone quiet.

Years when I couldn’t imagine how any of it would make sense.

Looking back now, I don’t primarily remember the waiting.

I remember the Author’s faithfulness.

The God who met me at a kitchen table.

The God who sat with me in an empty nursery.

The God who carried us through disappointment.

The God who surprised us with two sons whose stories began in completely different ways.

And the God who never stopped writing.

If you’re standing in a chapter you wouldn’t have chosen…

don’t assume it’s the end of the story.

The Author is still writing.

And the pages you can’t yet see may become the ones you’re most grateful for someday.