Andrew & Jade’s Story
We got married in March 2016, and shortly after decided to move to Dubai. God gave us the scripture Luke 10:2: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few…” and we were both keen to get to work in the UAE.
After getting settled in Dubai in the summer of 2017, we were yet to find a church where we felt we could have impact and where we could make ourselves really accountable. That November, Jake Isaac was in Dubai and invited us to City Lights, where he was going to be leading worship. We received the warmest welcome as we stepped into Warehouse 5 and quickly decided to make this church our home, to make ourselves known to Dan and Starla, and to join a community group.
We enjoyed our first few years of marriage just the two of us leading very busy lives, being fully plugged in to City Lights, and eventually starting up a lively Community Group. It soon felt right to start trying to conceive, but after some time, we had no success. After both undergoing tests and checks, we discovered that surgery and IVF were required if we were ever going to conceive. This was very difficult news to hear, and we weren’t sure we could “feel where God was” at the time. We had also watched almost every other couple in our CG have children over the last few years, which was incredible, but it was difficult not to feel frustrated, envious, and impatient.
Thankfully, there were so many encouraging voices in City Lights of those who had walked the IVF journey before us—the Websters, the Mikaelians, the Oliviers, the Gerbers, to name a few—and they all spoke life over us and prayed with us. We’d received many words of encouragement over the years within City Lights about us being great parents and fruitful, and so we remained hopeful and prayerful.
We walked into Bourn Hall Fertility Clinic and felt peace and determination to grow our family. Andrew’s surgery was a success, but there was still a way to go. After three arduous rounds of egg retrieval and genetic testing, heaps of injections, lots of tears, and tons of prayers, God blessed us with a number of healthy embryos, and 18 months after our first visit to Bourn Hall, we had conceived!
We now gratefully hold our baby boy, Joel, who is an absolute treasure.
If it wasn’t for the last 8+ years at City Lights and for remaining plugged into the community, our faith journey would probably look quite different. We’re incredibly grateful for the amazing community, friends, and extended family we’ve been blessed with here, and we love growing our little family with City Lights!
