We are an impatient society. We want what we want and we want it now, right? So it can be so frustrating when we ask God for something that we really want. Not a new car or something frivolous, but something that’s really important. Maybe it’s a healing of some sort. Or in the case of my guest today, it’s a baby. She and her husband have tried and tried and God has said no, not yet. And then he told her to write a book.
And that’s a really cool story in and of itself. And so she thought, okay, I’ll do that. And then I’ll release it when he answers my prayer and he said, “Oh no.” Listen to the interview today with Jamie Lauing. She tells how she has gone through this most unlikely journey for her and how God has brought her to a place she could have never arrived at without his grace. I love doing these interviews. You know that I’ve been touched often by the guest’s story, but I don’t know that I’ve ever been touched as deeply as I have been with this story.
Vona: So Jamie, tell us what do we need to know about you?
Jamie: Well, first of all, thanks for letting me come on your show. I’m really excited to share. I am Jamie Lauing. I’m married to Tanner, my South Dakota sweetheart. We have one daughter, she’s 11. She’s my little clone. Amazing girl. She loves Jesus. And like I say, I’m going to be like her one day. She has such a hunger to know more, you know, about the Lord. And let’s see, I teach fifth grade. I have taught for eight years. I love it. You know, it’s like I gain more students, I gain more kids. I think I’ve had like 300 kids in my time, so they become part of my life. I’m born and raised here in Southwest and I guess right now I teach and I follow Reiland. She’s big into dancing and so I get her to and from all of her dance practices and things like that. So we’re just busy. But Oh, we’re loving it.
Vona: That’s awesome. You know, I should probably declare that Tanner is my cousin’s son, so we are related distantly, although we certainly don’t know each other. This is really probably the first conversation we’ve had. So you have a book that’s released about three months ago and you shared a little bit about that with me a minute ago and I would love for you to share that with the listeners today. I think it’s just really cool how the Holy spirit has kind of taken this and run with it. So tell us about that.
Jamie: It is really neat actually. I never intended to write a book. I don’t like to read. It’s not really something I’ve ever been interested in. And I guess about four years ago I was in Alabama at my sister-in-law’s house and I was having a really hard time with the infertility struggle and the Lord laid on my heart to go write it down. And so I typed my entire book out on the notes app on my phone and God told me to share my story and I was like, well, if I reach a few people that are going through infertility, that would be cool. And just to be able to encourage someone else. And so I posted something as a blog and it reached over 2,000 people in like 11 countries and it was super fast. So that was the first time I was like, wow God, cause he told me I’m using you for something big and you never know just how big and but the way I think it is in my idea of what big is, could you imagine how big it actually is on a scale of God?
Jamie: And so I’m really excited to see what he’s doing. He has taken my infertility journey, which I don’t see as anything besides just like my life. And he has used it to encourage other people to lift other people up and not even just areas of infertility. I’ve had several people who’ve read the book come and tell me, you can take out that word infertility and insert whatever struggle you’re going through and it still speaks to you. And so that’s something that only God has done with this book. I definitely never intended that to be a thing. And that just goes to show you what God can do when he tells you to do something and you follow what he told you to do, how far he can take it.
Vona: I think that is so beautiful and truly that’s the message that I try to get out and in the podcast is when he calls us to do something, we need to take courage and trust him and just go do it. Don’t ask questions. If it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t matter. Just do it, right?
Jamie: Don’t ask questions because they’re not going to get answered. Like when God tells you to do something, I think he just wants you to trust him and do it. And for me, that’s what’s been so hard is realizing that I’m really not trusting God. I’m really trying to do things on my own. And so over the last, it’s now been, this is February, is the completion of five years. We’re starting our sixth year, next month of infertility. And so over the last, those amount of years and time, I have been learning that. I need to trust God. And so that’s where he’s been bringing me through giving up control. I have a control issue. And when you learn just to let go and let God, I know that’s like a cliche or something that you hear someone say, but it’s totally true. When you can focus your joy in the Lord and not necessarily be so worried about what’s going on truly, like first Peter says, truly humble yourself and cast your anxieties to the Lord and let him do it because he cares for you. It really is a blessing when you can figure those things out. It took me a long time.
Vona: It is a journey and it’s almost like every time you come to a new challenge in life, we have to learn it all over again. At least it’s not something that we learn it and it’s like, oh well good, I’ve got that behind me.
Jamie: Yeah, no, you’re never like done with it. I feel like even though it’s part of the sanctification process where God tells you, okay, you have a trust issue, and you’re like, Oh, okay, well then can you trust him in this area? But then he brings you to something else and it’s like he puts his finger in that wound and you’re like, but I can do this one. You know? He’s like, that’s not what I’ve been teaching you this whole time. So it’s the sanctification process I think growing closer to being more like Christ every day.
Vona: That is so, so beautiful. So yeah, it’s interesting that you talk about the control and trust because that’s been a journey for me, too, since I retired three years ago and started my coaching practice. It’s been a trust issue because I have been trying so many worldly things to become a success at what I’m doing. And I love the fact that here you are, “Oh, I just wrote a book I didn’t really even want to. And God’s like, okay, here I go.” And I’m like, “God, I’ve been trying so hard.” And that’s his messages. “Quit trying.” Right? So I love that. And I wanted to share with you that I think it’s interesting because my word for the year is surrender.
Jamie: Oh wow.
Vona: Yeah. That’s a lesson that I’ve been learning.
Jamie: There’s that white might flag.
Okay. So the name of it is called In God’s Timing. It’s my testimony that is all it is. It starts at the very beginning. And what took me so long to write it is that I kept waiting for the ending for the, “Here’s my baby,” ending. And the Lord told me, not this past December, but the one before he said, “It is time.” And I thought that meant, Oh, it’s time for my babies. You know, you’re like, here they come. And it’s not; it was time for me to write the end of my book and the end of my book is not here’s my baby because I still don’t have more. I have my one 11-year-old, beautiful daughter, but she prays every day for siblings just like we pray every day for more kids. So the ending of my book is not that spoiler alert that me having more babies would not be an encouraging ending if I read my book, if it was written by somebody else, obviously if I read my book and the ending was here’s my baby, it would make me upset.
Jamie: You know what I mean? Instead of, because it’s like, good for you now. Where’s mine? Do you know what I mean? And so the ending that God gave me is, well, whenever he gave it to me, I was like, wow, this is amazing. Like it was way better than I could’ve ever imagined. But I kept waiting and that’s what took so long for the end of the book to come because I kept waiting for that baby again, trying to be in control of the end of the book, you know. So it really is just my testimony. It’s meant to be encouraging to others who are going through infertility or even who are not going through infertility as several people have told me, I had a resource officer at our school tell me that she picked up my book just to support me because I’m her friend and she was like, I’m not even going to read it and just going to buy it.
Jamie: And she said she ended up reading it and she was going to read one chapter a day. Well, she read the whole thing in one sitting and she was like, and I have learned so much and I’m a better person because of your book. So I’m like, well, you can thank God for that. Not me. I wasn’t even going to write this thing. I don’t even like to have feelings. So I definitely don’t like to share them. And they are all in my book. It is every thought and every feeling I’ve ever had out there. So it’s definitely a humbling experience.
Vona: Well, that is so beautiful. And I’m sorry, but as you were talking about, you know, in God’s timing and waiting and, and you know, here’s your baby and all I could think of was Sara; she was 90!.
Jamie: Oh God, please don’t give me a baby at 90!
Vona: (laughing) I really hope that isn’t how it turns out for you guys.
Jamie: It’s funny because people tell me that all the time and I’m like, no, boo. I don’t want to be 90.
Vona: Probably not. I don’t think he does that to people anymore. So, well that is a cool story.
Jamie: It is a cool story. And along those same lines, my plan for my life was to be done having kids by now. I’m 32 and I wanted to be finished, not just starting, you know my sister is living the life I had planned for myself and that was hard when, when you watch your sister grow up with the plans that you had. I mean, she’s got three kids, she’s got a six-year-old and she’s got a set of two-year-old twins. She’s a stay at home mom. You know, and she’s just living the best life. And I’m like, this is what I wanted to do. And almost from an envious kind of looking at her doing my thing. And then I had to learn that what God has for me, even though it’s not my plan is better because he tells us that his plans that he has for us are for our welfare, to bring you a hope and a future. And so I had to find peace in that knowing that God’s plan is greater than mine. And so that’s been really weightlifting something that makes me feel so much better
Jamie: About my journey. The fact that he is using me in this, it makes me never want it to end. If you, if I sit down and I think about, okay, I could have a baby or God could use me more, I really, truly, my heart wants God to use me more. And you know, and at the end of the day, can I have both? You know, so it’s just going to God in prayer, you know?
Vona: Well, I don’t know if you’re familiar with Priscilla Shirer, but I did one of her Bible studies years ago, and I love her message because, in this particular study, she has a lot of really great messages, I love her, but she talks about when we, when we want something and we have a plan for something in our life, God doesn’t want to just give us that one little thing. He wants to give us more and more and we can’t even imagine all that he wants for us. And really, that’s what this podcast is all about. He created us for more He designed us to live a fabulous life. It just doesn’t always look exactly like we thought it was going to look. But his beautiful ending is so much better than ours ever could be.
Vona: And you know, it’s funny because even in my coaching I’ve had this idea that I was going to do all this coaching and do all these things and it hasn’t turned out the way I thought it would. And then I realized that he gave me this podcast and I love this podcast. I actually, what really helped me realize how much I loved it was I had another coach who was trying to help me figure out how to profit from my coaching, tell me that I just needed to quit the podcast because it was getting in the way of my coaching. And I was, “Oh my gosh, no, I can’t do that. I love my podcast!” And I was telling another friend, she suggested that maybe podcasting your thing and you’ve been looking the wrong direction the whole time.
Jamie: It’s really neat. It’s really neat when you realize that God’s on your side and that he’s guiding you. And even though it’s not the direction that you want to be over there. Yeah. That’s where I was supposed to be. You know, God’s bringing you over here and he’s paving the way for that. And so that makes it worth it to know that you’re your but a spec on God’s map and he cares that much for you. It’s really incredible.
Vona: It is. And when you really stop and think about it, it’s humbling and it’s a little bit overwhelming. You know, like when you start to be blessed the way you are.
Jamie: Yes. I watched a video by Francis Chan. It’s called the Awe Factor of God. It’s a video on YouTube and it’s about three minutes. But that’s where I get the idea you can see it in your head of just how tiny we really are. He brings you out galaxies and galaxies and galaxies. And before you know it, the earth is not even visible. You know and God still cares for you. And so to me that’s, that’s like, you can’t even wrap your brain around that. That’s crazy.
Vona: And what’s really cool is if we can live our life for him now, it’s almost like this life is that tiny speck compared to what we have on the other side of eternity. That’s very awesome. So it’s funny because usually one of the questions I ask my guests is, “has there ever been a time when you were longing for more?” And your story is just, I mean, it’s obvious. You’ve talked about it, but is there anything that you would like to share about that? Just that, that longing that you have within your heart?
Jamie: I guess what I would really like to share is the lesson that I learned from it, you know? I allowed myself to get so down, so depressed over it, over not getting my way is really what it’s really what it was. And not that I didn’t, not that I ever turned from God, but I think I got to a point where I stopped listening and I built up this what I call the great wall of pride. I named it. And it allowed me to not necessarily feel the feelings that I felt, the sadness and the things, but because I had that wall, it also kept me from feeling the love that God had for me. And so I would’ve just put that out there for you to please rely on God and if he’s going to bring you to something, he’s going to bring you through something and it is definitely easier to go through whatever struggle you’re in with God.
Jamie: If he’s there for you and he’s carrying you through, it’s just like the footprints in the sand story where there’s only one set of footprints and you’re like, “where was God?” And he said, “I was carrying you.” If you would allow him to, he will. He would love to. There’s nothing more he would love to do. And it’d be with his son or daughter and their time of need. So I would just encourage anyone who’s listening to just give it to the Lord and go to him in prayer ask God, “what can I do? What do you want me to do here?” And his answers for me were to, “rest in me and trust in my plan. Literally Jamie stop doing anything and just let me do it.” And so it was hard doing nothing It is so hard, believe it or not. But yeah, I think longing for more.
Jamie: I think God made us to crave something. I think God made us to crave him. And even though there are blessings out there, like more children and God wants us to have those, that’s why he created us to be fruitful and multiply. But I think first he wants us to find out what his will is for us. And that’s the verse that God’s been giving to me recently is Hebrews 10: 35 – 36. I don’t know what it says like verbatim, but that’s what it says is for you to do the will of the Lord so he can give you what he has promised. And he has promised me a son. And so I’m really excited that he’s got me rolling on the same path that he’s on. I am blessed to be on this journey. I never thought ever I thought I would be happy to be going through infertility, but it has truly been a blessing.
Jamie: God has brought me closer to him through this. He has shown me how I can rely on him through this. He has brought my husband and me closer together. He has taught me so many things and that is what my book is about. It’s not just about like, Oh, today was a horrible day. You know, it talks about the things that God has taught me through this. He’s taught me about being a submissive wife. He’s taught me about love, how to love my mom, how to love my daughter. You know, it’s just been about love. When you can feel the love that God has for you and he can pour that into you, you can pour that out onto others. And so I believe that’s what my longing has for more. I have wanted more kids and now I just want more. God, I more kids too. I don’t ever want to not have more kids. That’s been this whole purpose, but I do long for more. God, I just can’t get enough.
Vona: That is so beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing that. And what I love is though, while he’s giving you that, that hunger, that thirst for more of him in the meantime, while you’re waiting for your son, he’s given you those fifth graders and it gives you a new batch every year. Right? They’re all different and they all need you.
Jamie: It’s funny, they do. We, we have a bond. We do. I have a sweet boy. He, I was actually thinking today, I need to go eat lunch with them tomorrow because he doesn’t have a mom. I don’t know where she’s at or what that is. But his dad works away. He’s got a wonderful dad and his dad works away and he’ll ask me, he asked me yesterday, I believe it was yesterday if I could go eat lunch with him. And I was like, maybe I should not go today. I just have the biggest headache. So I was like, tomorrow I need to go eat lunch with him. Cause that means the whole world to him just for me to sit now with him for 10 minutes and have lunch, you know. So. Mmm, definitely God puts those people in my life too, so I can minister to them. I think that’s part of my ministry. God’s got me counseling little 10-year-olds who are going through big problems, adult problems.
Vona: I’m also a huge fan of Beth Moore and in one of her Bible studies, she speaks to women who God doesn’t bless with children. And she speaks about the fact that even though they may not have been given children to birth from their womb, he gives them children in other ways. That’s what I’m seeing you with your kids and maybe that’s just the place holder.
Jamie: I’ve definitely learned a lot, even if that’s not what the purpose was like teaching has taught me so many things and putting up with these different, Oh man, they’re all different. 25 kids in there, not one of them is at all the same. And so that’s taught me so many things as well. Lots of patience and lots of time. But man, lots of love. You know, every day when my kids come in, I tell them good morning and I give them a fist bump. But sometimes they come up with their own little handshake. I’ve got about five of them that have a different little, you know how they do the little fists thing and they blow it up at the end.
Vona: I do that with my one-year-old grandson.
Jamie: This little boy comes in every morning and it gives me the biggest hug. And I think, I wonder if you’ve had one besides me yesterday, you know? And so I’m thankful to be able to be that person in these kids’ lives too.
Vona: Absolutely. teachers don’t get nearly enough accolades for the impact that they’re having on our future. My son and his wife are both in education and we are not going to have that conversation here. I want to thank you for loving our next generation. Well, I love it. That’s really awesome. How can people find your book? How can they find you if they want to learn more about you?
Jamie: Well, my book is called In God’s Timing. It’s on Amazon. I think if you search up my name Jamie Lauing, you’ll find it easier that way than typing in the title because there are several variations of the title out there. I would love to know how to pray for people. I left one of the books at a doctor’s office that I was at and it just says, “If you read my book and it speaks to you. I want to know how I can pray for you.” And so I would love to get emails at lauingoutloud@gmail.com. This is how I want to know how to pray for you. So email me, I’ve been in contact with several people through Facebook messenger that have found me on there.
Jamie: And so that’s been really exciting. People that I don’t know, there’s a sweet girl from Houston that messaged her, mom messaged me on there and we’ve actually become somewhat friends just from, you know, her mom heard about my book and she wanted us to talk and we did. And so it’s been a really neat experience. But if you want to know about me, I’m not very social media-oriented. I have a Facebook but I’m not very active on it. You’re welcome to come friend me. I’m pretty sure it’s Facebook and then the forward-slash and it’s lauingoutloud, but you can search me up on there.
Vona: All right, that is so cool. I love, I love the name of that and I will put the link in the show notes so people can find you as well. So do you have any last thoughts for our listeners today?
Jamie: I don’t know. I just pray that you’re encouraged. I just pray that you would take it to God. I do. I pray that you would let God lead you and that you would listen to what God has to say. And here’s the other part of that, you have to weigh your thoughts. Not every thought you’re going to have comes from the Lord and that can put you in a dark place. If it’s not a thought that’s from the Lord, I just pray that you would put it to death, don’t even think about it ever again. You know, that’s something that was hard for me to overcome in the beginning was I’m not good enough and that’s why God hasn’t given me more kids and cause Oh, I’m faulty; you know, I am not perfect.
Jamie: I wish I was though, man. I’m far from it. And you know, all my friends and my sister and my sister in law had two sisters-in-law. I mean I’ve got to count, I think I have eight nieces and nephews and six of them have been born within the struggle. And so it’s been quite the struggle. But God’s brought me to a place where I can appreciate them. God’s called me to be their aunt. And so that’s a blessing. They’ve been amazing kids. I love them all dearly and so I just pray that you would put your joy in the Lord and not in your circumstance, cause our circumstances and they’re not always good.
Vona: Oh, that’s very beautiful. Wise words to live by. So thank you so much for sharing this and thank you so much for being a guest on the show today. I have just been really blessed to get to know you a little bit. Thank you so much for this and I wish you all God’s blessings and whatever he has in store for the next.
Vona: Wow. There were so many lessons in that. Isn’t it beautiful how God can take our biggest struggle and turn it into a way to learn to love and rely on him to know that he loves us more than we can ever imagine? Such a beautiful, beautiful testimony and I just really want to appreciate you for being here today. There’s one more lesson that I really think in addition to her story and talking about God’s timing and all of that. The additional lesson that I really think is so important for all of us to hear that was woven into her story is the fact that she is taking the place in the schoolroom that God has given her and using that as a place for showing his love and I really believe that that’s what it’s all about. When I talk about longing for more, it’s not more stuff.
Vona: It’s not more clothes and cars and prestige and all of that. It’s more of him in our lives and more of sharing with others. The beautiful gift of knowing him and the fact that she is sharing that with her children in her classroom is just so, so beautiful to me. And I really think that that’s what our calling is. I know it is. It’s, it’s in the Bible. We are called to share this beautiful, beautiful gift that he has given us with the people in our lives. And I also know that in the world as it is today and the hurtful things that people say and the judgments that we get for speaking our faith, it can be hard, but I really, really believe that we need to take courage and do just that to help people to encourage and support people to do that.
Vona: I’ve created what I call a mastermind community and basically it’s just bringing Christians together to help them get through the daily struggles of their work world. I’m going to group people based on their life experiences and where they are and what kind of work they do and what their interests are and all of that. But the bottom line is to be able to not only how do you time management and how do you do this and how do you do that, but how do you have the courage to maybe discipline someone in a godly, loving way or how do you deal with that challenged employee in a godly loving way? How do we truly live our faith out in the day to day world? I call the mastermind community Living Your Faith and it really will improve, I believe your home life, your work life, your relationships.
Vona: It can really bring you to a closer connection with God and everyone in your life and if you’re interested, if this is something that you would want to learn more about, I encourage you to go to my website at vonajohnson.com/mastermind. It’s an application process. Not everyone gets in. You have to really want it and you have to be able to show that you’re in the right place to be able to do that. The other part of the reason for the application is to make sure that we get matched up with the right people in the groups. So please go there, check it out, have a conversation at the end of the whole process. If you decide it’s not for you, that’s fine. I appreciate you taking a look at it and, and no questions asked. So anyway, there you have it.
Vona: A beautiful, beautiful conversation with a beautiful young woman and I truly do just pray that her story of infertility and trusting and waiting In God’s timing will bless her over and over again as I hope her story will bless you over and over again. Again to find her, you would go to lauingoutloud@gmail.comor on FaceBook at laugingoutloud.
So thank you for stopping. I know your time is precious. If you know someone who would benefit from this message, please, please share it with them. Leave a comment on iTunes, share it on Facebook, whatever works for you. Just get the word out. People need to hear this story. They need to know how loving our God is. So thank you again for stopping by go be blessed and live your more.
