Praise God, I have passed another test!

As mentioned in my last post Gordy and I just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We decided to get away for a relaxing weekend at the ocean, I'm happy to say that it began that way, but sadly didn't stay that way the entire time. When we left Thursday night everyone was healthy and happy and I was hoping it would stay that way the entire time.

When I called home Saturday morning to see how things went Friday night I found out that Luke was sick, he was up through out the night with lots of congestion and oxygen problems. I was so disappointed to hear that he had a very high heart rate and was on 2 liters of oxygen. Natalie was feeling confident that she had things under control, I gave her a few suggestions and let her know I would be calling often to keep in close contact with how things were going. I immediately told Gordy the bad news and we joined hands and prayed. I wish I could say that God answered our prayers immediately but that was not the case, instead it would be a day full of prayers and waiting on God for His perfect timing to heal Luke. Sound familiar?

As the day progressed Luke just didn't seem to be getting better, but I still did not have peace about going home, I kept feeling like the Lord was saying "do you trust me Sue?" I remember calling at one time and one of my relatives answered the phone sounding extremely concerned saying that Luke was doing horrible and wondered if we should come home. Once again I asked Natalie if she wanted us to come and she said that she had it under control, I prayed and didn't feel like we should go home yet. Long story short I told Natalie to put Luke into his bed around 7:45 and begin his food very slowly with his food pump, because he really hadn't kept anything down all day, I also told her to give him his muscle relaxant medication right away to help get his heart rate down. Praise God I can say that within a short amount of time his heart rate was down to normal and he was on much less oxygen. I went to bed that night with peace in my heart knowing that he had made a turn around.

The next morning I got up and told Gordy I wanted to take one last walk on the beach, but before I left for my walk, I called home to hear that Luke was doing amazingly better, he was on no oxygen and his heart rate was back to normal. I had a great time walking and singing praises to God feeling confident that I had passed the test that God had set before me, was it easy NO WAY, was it worth it DEFINITELY YES!

I had not taken my Desert in Stream devotional with me, but read July 26 the Saturday posting when I got home and how appropriate it was to my day, here it is:

By faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. Galatians 5:5
There are times when everything looks very dark to me-so dark that I have to wait before I have hope. Waiting with hope is very difficult, but true patience is expressed when we must even wait for hope. When we see no hint of success yet refuse to despair, when we see nothing but the darkness of night through our window yet keep the shutters open because stars may appear in the sky, and when we have an empty place in our heart yet will not allow it to be filled with anything less than God's best-that is the greatest kind of patience in the universe. It is the story of Job in the midst of the storm, Abraham on the road to Moriah, Moses in the desert of Midian, and the Son of Man in the Garden of Gethsemane. And there is no patience as strong as that which endures because we see "him who is invisible" (Heb. 11:27). It is the kind of patience that waits for hope.
Dear Lord, You have made waiting beautiful and patience divine. You have taught us that Your will should be accepted, simply because it is Your will. You have revealed to us that a person may see nothing but sorrow in his cup yet still be willing to drink it because of conviction that your eyes see further than his own.
Father, Give me Your divine power-the power of Gethsemane. Give me the strength to wait for hope-to look through the window when there are not stars. Even when my joy is gone give me the strength to stand victoriously in the darkest night and say, "To my heavenly Father, the sun still shines."
I will have reached the point of greatest strength once I have learned to wait for hope. George Matheson
Strive to be one of the few who walk this earth with the ever present realization-every morning, noon and night-that the unknown that people call heaven is directly behind those things that are visible.

I hope and pray that you will allow God to teach you how to trust Him during your darkest days, the rewards of trusting Jesus are amazing!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi