The 8-week doctor visit with our first baby was nerve racking. We've had several friends go through miscarriages both early and late in their pregnancies, so we were certainly aware of this possibility. When the doctor performed the ultrasound, there was no heartbeat.......and ours stopped briefly too. He told us that it might be too early to see the baby, everything could be just fine. Susanne needed to return every two days to have her blood taken so they could check her hormone levels. On her next visit, her "numbers" had not increased as they should. The doctor told her that the baby was not alive -- she had miscarried. We grieved for our child. But we grieved as people with hope...people who will bear fruit in a drought. Most people think that their children are perfect - well, I know that our first child is perfectly made and brought praise to his/her heavenly father during that brief life. Our son or daughter is still praising...still worshipping. I can't wait to join in!
Several months earlier, our friend Beth miscarried in the second trimester of a pregnancy. She was an amazing testimony of God's grace through grief. Weeks after losing her daughter, she lead our church in worship singing "You give and take away - still my heart will choose to say, Lord Blessed Be Your Name." She and her husband modeled the verse below as their leaves remained green and they bore much fruit in their drought. Beth was a great encourager to Susanne. She gave us the Willow Tree angel pictured here....it is named "Remember."
Thus says the Lord: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and will not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. BLESSED is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust IS the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."
Jeremiah 17: 5-8
2 comments:
Have I told you that I think you are big time? Thanks for your friendship!
Since I've just learned to "Face Book" - I just read your blog(s) - they are amazing. This one brought tears - not sad tears, but joyful tears because you're an amazing person and I LOVE YOU!!! Aunt Mary
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