The Gentle No

<p>As the eldest child born to a single mother I was parentified at a young age. On the weekends when my mother worked as a nurse at the local hospital and all I wanted to do was be a kid I was responsible for my younger brother and sister. That included everything from getting them dressed to feeding them and making sure they were safe. Growing up I became increasingly more and more convinced that I never wanted children of my own. Instead I concentrated on establishing a career and experiencing a life that did not include children. That was until I met and married Luis. Then a shift occurred and my heart expanded to embrace the possibility. What unfolded next over the course of many years was an emotional and spiritual journey to conceive a child that required me to look into the depths of my very soul and ultimately to get real with God. In The Gentle No: Wanting What Wasn't for Me the reader is invited to experience a pivotal time in my life while considering this question: What happens if you never get the thing that you have waited and prayed for? Through disappointment and heartbreak this is a story that stands firmly on Romans 8:28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose.</p>