Faith On Friday

Well, it's still Friday Pacific time! It has been a long day and I almost decided not to write, but this is a treat for me at the end of a long day.

Currently we are reading in 2 Kings in our 90 days through the Bible journey. We are getting so much out of reading our Bibles this way. While there have been a few "dry" areas, I find myself each day looking forward to reading and even though I've read these pages many times through before, I still am waiting excitedly to see what comes next.

Earlier in the week we read about Hannah, the mother of Samuel and I knew that I wanted to share about her.

A little more than five years ago, I began the 1 Samuel Precept study. If you really want to learn from your Bible, an inductive study is the way to go. So, Wednesday night I am in bed and I am working on my assignment for Thursday morning. I just love Hannah. Not only did she face infertility just like me, but she trusts God. She stands up for herself even though her rival is cruel to her. She goes boldly before Him and pours out her heart. Her plea is so deep and emotional that Eli thinks she is drunk! She doesn't care, because she knows that her God understands.

And God's response to her is compassionate and awesome. He not only gives her Samuel, but many other sons and daughters. Hannah diligently follows through on her vow and Samuel becomes a prophet for Israel.

That night as I worked through the questions, looked up the cross references and thought about the circumstances. I began to see a pattern emerge and realized that God is in control. There truly is a time and a purpose for everything under Heaven and God knows each child before they are even born and knows when they will be born. As I lay in bed with my 35 week twin belly huge before me and little arms and feet kicking everywhere continually, I thought about His goodness to me and how He had "knit these babies together" in my womb and that even though Kaiser kept testing me 3 times a week and threatening dire consequences if we didn't make it to at least 36 weeks, that God was ultimately in control.

My sleep was sweet. I had D all packed to go with his Aunt Kathy for a "dry run" for when we had the babies. I still didn't have girl clothes since I had only known for about 10 days that the babies would be girls and I was wondering how I was going to accomplish that on bed rest, but didn't worry too much. Mine was the peaceful sleep of one who rests securely in his arms.

Early the next morning I rose to go to the bathroom and felt wet. Oh my goodness... 36 years old and I wet my bed! LOL That's what I thought. But as I rose I couldn't stop it from coming and the realization slowly came to me that my water had broken. The most amazing thing happened. A blanket of calm and peace came over me. Not so my Hubby. I was not supposed to have twins at 35 weeks. After all it had been drummed into our heads that 36 weeks was the goal for lung development! But I was confident in the Lord that my babies were being born exactly when He wanted them to be born and that He was in control. I called the hospital. I took a shower, tried to call my Mom, called my SIL and had her meet us at the hospital, got D up and ready... he was only 17 months old. God was in charge of everything. His bag was already packed to go with Aunt Kathy, so we didn't even have to worry about that!

It may not sound like any big deal but when your water breaks at 35 weeks, generally you are ill at ease, especially when you have a medical background and understand a lot of the implications. But I knew this peace was from God. You always know when it is the peace of God that passes all understanding because you find yourself in situations that you know just would not naturally be you. He blessed me so that day. It was like He prepared me to not be scared. And you know what? Those girls came out breathing great! The only problem was low blood sugar because I had not eaten since the night before.

Twila Paris is one of my favorite Christian artists and I enjoyed seeing her in concern in the 80s and 90s a couple times in Seattle and Bellingham. A song of hers comes to mind as I write this part of my faith journey...


God Is In Control - Twila Paris


This is no time for fear
This is a time for faith and determination
Don't lose the vision here
Carried away by emotion
Hold on to all that you hide in your heart
There is one thing that has always been true
It holds the world together


God is in control
We believe that His children will not be forsaken
God is in control
We will choose to remember and never be shaken
There is no power above or beside Him, we know
God is in control, oh God is in control


History marches on
There is a bottom line drawn across the ages
Culture can make its plan
Oh, but the line never changes
No matter how the deception may fly
There is one thing that has always been true
It will be true forever


He has never let you down
Why start to worry now?
He is still the Lord of all we see
And He is still the loving Father
Watching over you and me


watching over you...watching over me..
watching over every things..
watching over you..watching over me..
every little sparrow..every little things...