Tuesday, November 10, 2009

God Brings His Children Together

God brings His children together to encourage and build one another up--in His perfect way!

In my former church I served with an inspirational group of ladies on our Women's Minsitry team. It was the morning of an amazing event combining many women from various churches in our area. Much preparation had been done; much prayer had gone to the Father. That morning I had been praying at home that God would use not only the event, but he would use each of the team members in a specific way. God impressed upon my heart that he had someone for me to minister to and that I would know immediately when I met her. With that, I curiously went to the church.

There were many details to finish as I arrived. Our featured singer, Angie, arrived bringing with her her sister, Charlotte. I darted over to them to introduce myself and make them feel welcome. As I shook hands with Charlotte I immediately knew she was the one. But how and why? What was God doing?

Well, the women began to pour into the foyer. There was excitement filling the room as women began conversing. The event had begun. Everything was in place. I began to look at all the ladies, but realized that Charlotte was nowhere to be found. I wondered where she had gone. Then I thought, if I were with my talented sister (who gives concerts often) and knew no one, where would I be? Answer: In the car!! As I looked outside, I was right! It was now that I must respond to God's earlier prompting.

I tapped on the car window motioning to come in. She unlocked the doors. We began small talk and then I asked her if she was ok. She began to explain that she had recently lost a baby
due to a virus she had when she was pregnant-- CMV (Cytomegalovirus). My heart flipped and huge lump rose in my throat. I had CMV when I was pregnant with my son. But he lived. We shed tears together as I shared with her our common bond. My heart broke as we prayed together--praying that the Lord would bring healing to her heart. She didn't know if she wanted to risk going through it again.

The Lord of the Most High intimately brought two women together who had shared sickness, fear, and confusion--one was given a child, the other a child was taken. As the day ended I had so much emotion. I felt devastatingly sorry for her, guilty for me, yet, blessed because I had my little boy. The Lord seemed to remind me that I will never completely understand His ways. It was not for me to understand, but it was a time he had ordained to bring His encouragement to two of His children. Charlotte needed to be cared for and prayed for; I needed to know that what I went through could be used for God's glory helping someone else (and to never forget the miraculous healing of my son).

Almost a year later, I received a card from Charlotte. She was at home with her new baby! The Lord had blessed her with a child. As my heart pounded with joy and the tears rolled down my face I praised God for being Who He Is!! The most amazing, loving God! From that encounter, I learned that God truly arranges our circumstances. I simply must be sensitive to what He is doing and saying. Isn't He GREAT!

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I was in my last trimester when I became ill. I was admitted to the hospital and told of the potential severity of cmv to my baby. My husband and I were given an appointment with a specialist. He was very straight-forward in telling us that babies with this (in the last trimester) can have severe complications for life (deafness, blindness, nervous system problems, etc.) or death. As I told him our desire to do anything to help our newborn, he told me there was nothing anyone could do; the damage was done. Not accepting this, I went on to tell him all the things we would be willing to do to help our son. Finally the doctor said, " Mam, if your baby is going to die, he is going to die. There is honestly nothing I can do." You can imagine what that did to a mother's heart! But it was at this point that I gave God control over the situation. Bo and I would simply and desperately pray for God's will concerning our unborn child.
Cody was born in late October....a perfectly healthy baby! The Lord had his healing hand on Cody. I know He has great plans for him!