Friday, May 12, 2006

All Things Work Together For Good


" 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." (Rom. 8:28 KJV

You know, many Christians and even many Pastors believe that God does not perform miracles today, and that they are a thing of the past. Well, I know that my God is a God that changes not. He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. I want to share a testimony of my daughter. She is 6 1/2.
A little over 6 years ago, my husband and I left for the hospital, I was in the beginning stages of labor. We were going to go have our second child. My pregnancy had gone great and I was going to try to have a natural birth. My son had been a C-section 5 years earlier. After many, many hours of labor,(over 36), I was finaly dilating and excited that it would soon be over. It was at this time that the Doctor noticed that the baby was showing signs of distress and decided we needed to do an emergency C-section. I was rushed to the operating room and Nicole was quickly delivered. My husband held her briefly and they whisked her away to clean her up etc.. At this point she seemed fine. A little while later, while I was in recovery with my husband by my side, they came and told us Nicole had been rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit and that she was not doing well. Boy, talk about a real excitement buster. A little while passed and the Doctors came to visit us and let us know what was going on. Nicole had aspirated her muconium(the first bowel movement they sometimes have inside the mother). This is much the consistency of tar. It had caused her lungs to "stick together."Nicole's life was hanging in the balance, they told us she may not live. It was a moment to moment thing. My husband was able to see her but I could not. I still could not do much moving from the C-section and also developed a bad e-coli infection. This was truly the most difficult time in my life. I felt numb. I felt betrayed by God. "Why me?",was often in my thoughts. I also felt more helplessness than I have ever felt in my life. This was my child, my baby, I am supposed to take care of her.I had no choice but to put my trust in God. My husband and I gave our daughter to God. We actually told Him that we trusted Him completely and we wanted Him to heal her, but if He wanted to take her home we understood. WOW, was that a hard thing to do, but the best we could do. The nurses told us that Nicole was the worst case of muconium aspiration they had ever seen. I did not get to hold my baby until she was 10 days old. For the first few days we could not even touch her. Nicole spent 5 weeks in the intensive care unit. We finally brought her home. But what we brought home was a baby that the doctors said would probably never walk or talk. Nicole had brain damage as a result of her lack of oxygen . She came home on a feeding tube and also had crossed eyes.
We had a true lesson in living one day at a time. I always trusted God and knew that He was in control, but I will not lie. Many times I would wonder,"Why me?, Why my baby? What did I do to deserve this?" The answer is nothing. I don't know why. We had many many therapies each week. Nicole progressed very slowly and you always wondered if she would reach the next milestone. ALWAYS, when we would feel discouraged and wonder if we could take anymore, God would move. She would roll over, or crawl. I remember the first step. She was 2 years old. WOW what a day! She did not talk until 2 1/2 to 3 years old. At around the same age Nicole had a follow up MRI, and guess what? The brain damage was gone. Unexplainable by the neurologist. Explainable by me. GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD! HE STILL DOES MIRACLES ! He does it in His time. It was a rough first few years, but Nicole is now all caught up to her peers. She NEVER is quiet and she loves to dance for Jesus. Every time I think to myself,"Will she please be quiet!" A little voice reminds me what could have been. Every time she dances in any open space, (the grocery store, the mall ) I am also reminded of what could have been.
I am writing with tears in my eyes so grateful for all that God has done. Nicole forever changed my husband and I's outlook on life. We could have chosen to be angry at God for putting us through it, but God truly does work all things together for good. Our hardship and difficulties with our daughter caused us to reassess our lives. Our marriage, which was quickly failing, is better than ever. God is in control. I can truly say that I am thankful for what I had to go through. I came out a better person on the other side. God really does know what He is doing, even when we don't understand.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." --Hebrews 13:8

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It would be awesome to believe that God hears and answers our prayers when we are in dire need. Its great that it worked out for you. But maybe the neurologist was wrong, maybe he was preparing you for the worst case scenario, maybe your child’s brain healed on its own, or maybe God healed your child but...

If God does heal every once in a while, what do we do with all the horrible diseases and birth defects in the world? Lets just take one example: people born attached at the head. In poor countries there are people growing up and living this way. I really can’t imagine a more horrific, demeaning existence than that. Why would God allow that? It seems obvious that this world is running on its own, whether a God exists or not.

How do mosquitoes, wood tics, tape worms, leeches, earth quakes, tsunamis, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes fit into God’s design? Surely he could create a world, fallen or not, that is free of these things. So we are separated from God because he is holy and we are sinful. Well what did Jesus do? Did he not conquer sin and death? Did he not bridge the gap between us and God? Yet for some reason God still allows this crap. Well God’s going to fix these things when Jesus comes the second time. Um hum. Maybe its time realize that the God hypothesis simply doesn’t fit.

Grafted Branch said...

Thanks for sharing this testimony! I also had a sick child in her infancy and know what it is to commit her to God, not knowing if He will give her to you again. I'm thankful that I had the experience in which to draw close to God. Of course, to me in that trial, He was pleased to say, "yes."

Like the blog.

Anonymous said...

Thank You,

Your testimony has blessed me and inspired me to give complete trust to God in all things...joys and trials.

God has blessed you with a miracle...and I pray for continued blessings!

Becky said...

baa,
God hears all of our prayers. I can not explain why there is so many things wrong in this world other than to say that when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, sin entered the world. We live in an imperfect world. All of us have a body that will die one day, but our souls will live forever. They will live in eternity with God, in heaven, or in eternity seperated from Him,in hell. God is a loving God, He is also a just God. He will punish those who disobey Him and rejest Him. He provided a way out of that eternal punishment through Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection. Just as we have laws, and consequences for breaking them, so does God. Everyone has broken one of the ten commandmentas at one time or another.If you were in jail, serving your time for a debt that you owed and they told you you had been pardonned, your debt had been paid, you were free to go, surely you would be thankful and accept that gift. Jesus did the same for us through His death and resurrection. It is our choice whether we choose to accept Him or not. God does not force Himself on anyone.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing your testimony! I also commend you for your reply to baa. I for one am thankful that I am not programmed like a robot....that God allows me to choose so I can experience His wonderful saving and sustaining grace from day to day. I would not want to go through this world without Him! Sin has consequences and rather than man "evolving" and becoming more progressive, it is evident that man is in fact regressing and in dire need of a Savior.......all creation groans until the day of redemption. Romans 8:18-39 I do not know why different people experience different things.....why some have to suffer and some do not. Again, mankind's choice to sin brought about many consequences which we must live with, but it is when we are weakest that we are prone to search for truth....and that is that Christ came to pay the debt that we never could have paid! He was the ultimate sacrifice of love and he had victory over the grave. I pray that your story brings others into the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!!!! Keep pressing toward the mark!!!!