Tonight in his sermon, our eldest son made mention of thinking back on “God’s highlight reel in your life” as a means of strengthening your faith. It reminded me of one such incident in mine.
My wife was pregnant, about 3 months along. We went for an ultrasound – a technology that was still pretty new at that point, nothing like the amazing photograph-like things they can do now.
Like it was yesterday, I can remember sitting in the office afterward with the doctor as he gave us the scare of our lives up to that point. There was something a bit odd in the images, something that led them to believe that there might be a serious spinal abnormality. They weren’t sure about it, but if their concerns were true it was unlikely the boy would survive to full development in utero, and if he did he wouldn’t live long. Come back in another month and we could find out for sure, until then we should prepare for the possibility and be considering now whether we wanted to continue the pregnancy if the worst was confirmed.
As we’re leaving the office, the doctor tells us not to worry, that it’s likely just an imaging error, but that we should consider what option we wanted to pursue if the worst was confirmed. It was his way of saying “you need to decide before the next visit whether you want to abort this child if there is a problem”.
At the checkout as we prepare to pay, the receptionist says something along the lines of “Don’t worry about it today; let’s just wait and see what happens.” There was no comfort in her words, just a matter-of-fact statement.
We were first-time parents, in just our second year of marriage. We were scared out of our minds. But somehow God gave us the Grace to trust Him no matter what. 24 years later, we know that there was nothing wrong, and that child has grown into a bright, handsome, 6′ 2″ young man of whom we are very proud – and whom God used tonight to remind me that He is faithful.
I’d like to think that if the worst had come to pass, we’d still be able to say He is faithful. But I don’t know that. What I do know is that years later when we had our first and later a second miscarriage, we were stronger because of that experience. And though the first was especially difficult, I can’t imagine having to go through it without having learned that trust in those early days.
