This particular faith story begins with a year and a half-long battle to get pregnant. It begins with a discouraged young wife and husband earnestly desiring to have a baby. It begins emotional ups and downs, fertility treatments, and failures. This is the story of my own family. It is the story of my wife and I and the eventual blessing of our first child, a beautiful, precious daughter whom we very much considered a gift from a gracious God.
I cannot express the joy that overwhelmed me when I came home from work late one morning (5 a.m.) and found my wife anxiously waiting on me so that she might tell me the good news: we were having a baby. Shortly after our daughter’s birth, however, we found that she had a rare and minor form of spina bifita and would need spinal surgery by the age of two.
The immediate days following were especially hard, but it was the months of doctors visits with catheters, blood drawing, and ultrasounds that were harder. It was the waiting. And then finally the hardest part was the actual handing over of my precious little girl, as she screamed and cried, to doctors who were going to cut her open. Even now as I type this I tear up. I never felt more helpless and terrified in my life. I remember thinking how important it was to be strong for my wife, but I also remember standing in a bathroom stall and balling uncontrollably.
What amazes me now, however, the most as I look back and reflect on this event, now over two years old, is the amazing confidence I had in God’s grace. He was a rock, a hope, and a tower of refuge in the midst of uncertainty and emotional chaos. Whatever happened I knew my God loved me and loved my little girl. Whatever happened I knew Jesus was savior. And whatever happened I knew Psalm 84:11 which testifies that God does not withhold anything good from His children.
I am thrilled to say that my daughter came through the surgery fine and is now growing and playing and living without any complications. I praise Jesus for guiding the skilled hands of doctors and for bringing her home safely. This event, though traumatic and difficult, has been, nonetheless, a testimony to the grace of God and His trustworthiness in caring for my family. So while I am not thankful for her spinal condition, I am so grateful for the lessons I have learned from it: God is trustworthy and gracious in all circumstances.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 