Loved by the Lord

Confession: I am not a supermom.

Confession: I often think I'm self-sufficient.

Truth: My Lord and Savior is good and gracious, and abounding in lovingkingdness.

Truth: I am blessed beyond measure.

The past several weeks have been FULL of reminders that I'm in desperate need of the Lord's mercy in my life.

Thankfully, the Holy Spirit convicted me recently about the lack of a Bible Memory discipline in my life. And so, I started memorizing several verses and taking seriously the verses that CBS encourages us to memorize in our Bible Study.

The first verse I memorized is from Isaiah 41:10

"So do not fear, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." 

Little did I know how I much I was going to lean upon the truths found in that verse only days before I filed it away in the front of my memory.

Two weekends ago, Rodney left for China. We made it through our first weekend without him, participated in our normal weekly routines (shopping, library, Awana, and CBS). But come Thursday afternoon, as we were pulling out of the church parking lot after Bible Study, I started feeling nauseous. I figured my blood sugar was low and I needed some food, so we picked food up on the way home. But as I sipped on a milkshake, the queasiness only worsened.

Long story short, I soon started throwing up. I immediately texted friends and family asking for prayer. To keep the story short I'm going to highlight the many ways the Lord upheld me and sustained me during the next many hours.

• My girls immediately fell asleep for their naptimes, something they had not done in two weeks.
• My friend Jaclyn came and picked up the girls only a half hour after they woke up from their naps and even agreed to keep them overnight
• My friend Kari came by with Gatorade and soup and kept me company until the early evening.
• And my friend, Christy, took her place and stayed into the wee hours of the morning, even after my mom had arrived from WI.
• My mom drove down from WI in the middle of the night (and in the rain!), even though she was swamped with her PhD homework and papers to grade. She canceled all of her important Friday meetings and served me all weekend, even though she ended up getting sick and falling even farther behind in her end of the year studies.

After almost 10 hours of throwing up, my contractions were regularly 3 minutes apart, which was particularly alarming since Rodney was in China and I was only 35 weeks pregnant! I had talked to my doctor hours earlier and he wasn't convinced that I needed to go to the ER. But around 12:30am, my mom and Christy helped get me into the car for the ER.

When I arrived at the hospital, the IV fluids and anti-nausea meds quickly began to do their work. Only my contractions weren't stopping or slowing as quickly as they had hoped. I was 2-3 cm dilated and then 3-4 cm dilated, which was concerning to the physician.  Finally around 6:30am, I stopped dilating and my contractions spaced to 5-6 minutes apart. I was cleared to go home.

Throughout the whole evening, I was comforted by Isaiah 41:10, and I was blessed by the Body of Christ in ways that I couldn't have even predicted. It was such a relief to not be alone, even though my husband was in China. It was a blessing knowing that my children were safe, loved and with a close friend. Abigail is still talking about her sleep-over with her friends. I was overwhelmed by the prayer support and encouragement of the people God has placed in my life.

Because my friend Jaclyn was watching the girls, my mom and I were able to get some sleep, truly a miracle since the painful contractions and vomiting kept me awake all night. 

My mom was able to stay through the weekend, leaving only when she started to become sick herself. And friends continued to pray for me and encourage me throughout the week.

Both of the girls did end up getting the sick, and it was even a blessing that they weren't sick at the same time.

And a friend from Bible study brought me several meals from Panera right about the time I was getting tired of eating soup and crackers and knew I wouldn't be making it to the store any time soon, especially with a vomiting 4 year old!

I am relieved and overjoyed to now have my husband home. I am thankful for renewed energy and strength. But I am also thankful that the Lord helped reminded me that He is all-sufficient. He is my provider. He is my sustainer. And He has placed me in the Body of Believers to bring Him glory and praise.