God's plan

In the immediate days that followed our son’s diagnosis with a congenital heart condition, I was wrought with worry, overcome with anxiety and debilitated with fear.

Thank God I knew what to do – seek Him!

I had had those awful feelings before (when my ex-husband left me while I was pregnant in 1997; I lost the child and later learned he had been having an affair). During that time in my life I sought Christian counsel, attended church and renewed my faith and commitment that Jesus is my Savior, and those were some of the best days of my life.

As part of God’s plan, I soon met my husband and within two years I had a new family including a new son, whom we named Christian because my husband I are are both Christians. We also have two other sons ages 9 and 11.

Christian, 12, has been a healthy child for the most part. Only for the past five years he has suffered from what initially was believed to be hypoglycemia (ruled out) and what last summer was finally diagnosed as migraine headaches. So last month’s revelation that he has a congenital heart condition came as a great surprise.

All part of God’s plan.

On March 26 I spent the evening in the ER with Christian who had a heart rate of around  200 beats per minute for several hours that day. It was a scary time for me but Christian was cool. The doctor performed what appeared to be a magic trick that involved a breathing exercise and pressure that took the high rhythm down immediately. Diagnosis was supraventricular tachycardia - SVT. And follow up at a children’s hospital was arranged. Normal heart rate for a kid is 80 to 120.

The next day Christian and my husband returned from the children’s hospital with a bigger diagnosis - something he apparently was born with; they confirmed the local ER's diagnosis of supraventricular tachycardia but discovered it is SVT using an accessory connection - a tiny piece of muscle, smaller than a hair, that bridges the atria and ventricles.

The condition is called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. I will not go into detail here about WPW or its complications but do know that Christian will soon have a procedure to hopefully get rid of the fiber. Please pray for healing and protection for Christian.

On March 28 I sought Christian counsel. I met with a pastor of a local church. I prayed. My family started attending that church, something we’ve done just a few times over the past decade, but never a month of Sundays.

All part of God’s plan.

Thanks to social media, I sought prayer on Facebook as I attempted to lay this burden at His feet, I emailed friends and asked them to place Christian on their church prayer lists. Thank God for the Internet!

We have been blessed. And I know that prayer works and I know that God has a plan. I am not in control. He is.

I also received Scripture from a friend that I want to share because maybe you are experiencing worry, anxiety and fear. Maybe you need to hear God’s Word or maybe you need to read words about God.

John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Matthew 11:28 "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is tailor-made and my burden is light."

Another friend shared this with me on Facebook:

God knows exactly where you find yourself, and He is faithful and steadfast. HE also knows Christian's body inside and out and has given doctors great knowledge. I will pray for comfort and peace as you discern the route to take for his complete healing. Be strong and take courage.

Today I have peace even though one month ago I was wrought with worry, overcome with anxiety and debilitated with fear.

All God’s plan. Praise the Lord!

An 8-year-old's Wish for 2011

I wish there was peace on Earth just like Heaven. No pollution. No devil. No harm. No madness. No revenge.

From superhero son's second-grade January Journal.

Awesome.

Merry Christmas

Do you remember the story about the four adult siblings, all adopted as children, who were reunited live on TODAY on Sept. 23?
Earlier that week brothers Randy Joubert and Gary Nisbet appeared on the show to tell the story of how they met in July when Joubert took a job at the furniture store in Maine where Nisbet had been working for years. After being told repeatedly how much like brothers they looked, Joubert confirmed in September they were indeed brothers who had been taken from their abusive mother 35 years ago and adopted by different families.
When their story hit the local media, a half sister Joanne Campbell came forward and reunited with the pair.
The three appeared on TODAY and announced there was one more sister.
That sister turned out to be Kathleen "Kat" Cooper who the next day met her siblings on TV.
Kat's blog was mentioned in one of the online stories I read. Curious about this woman I spent hours reading her blog and in the process learned she is a non-believer. At that point I felt compelled to send her an e-mail:

ME: “ I just spent too many hours reading your blog after seeing the link the national story (TODAY) about your long-lost siblings. I think you are blessed but just don't know it. I'm disappointed you don't believe in God … take care and think about what has happened in your life in the past couple of days and consider that God played a part in this.”

KAT’S response in italic(which is posted on her blog; she did not reply to my e-mail):
“ I really don't want to offend anyone, but I'm getting an overwhelming amount of emails from a lot of people who believe in the big dog up in the clouds, every single 1 of them is saying that this is proof of his existence, that they followed the story here, read, read my blog, and were extremely disappointed to learn that I am an atheist.

take care and think about what has happened in your life in the past couple of days and consider that god played a part in this

Sorry, no.
It's all just coincidence, just the way it goes, it's totally awesome, but completely random events.
No religious miracle, no god did it or god chose this time of our lives to reunite us, none of any of that mumbo jumbo holy man nonsense.
It would take a whole lot more than this to make me suddenly fall to my knees and believe in a magical dude in the universe.
I appreciate all of the comments, I really do, but this was nothing more than random events, super awesome terrific random events, but completely random.”

I am saddened that Kat doesn’t believe but I was pleased to see part of my e-mail on her post and to know so many believers contacted her like me to tell her they are “extremely disappointed.”

I am also saddened by Godless billboards that popped up across the U.S., including those in Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati, last month.
They say “Don’t Believe In God? You are not alone” and were placed by chapters of and funded by the United Coalition of Reason – an organization of nontheistic (atheist and agnostic) groups.
Apparently this organization wants believers to be aware there are people who don't believe in a god.

"The point of our national billboard campaign is to reach out to the millions of humanists, atheists and agnostics living in the United States," explained Fred Edwords, national director of the United Coalition of Reason. "Nontheists sometimes don't realize there's a community out there for them because they're inundated with religious messages at every turn. So we hope this will serve as a beacon and let them know they aren't alone."

In response to the billboard being erected in Columbus, media there interviewed random people on the street who all appeared to be believers.
Now the purpose of this blog is to remind believers that in the end times the Bible says these kinds of things will happen so we shouldn’t be surprised.
It is also a request that believers continue to spread the Word of God – in any way they can – and to celebrate the birth of Christ – a real “religious miracle” that was not a “random event” - this Christmas.
Merry Christmas!