God Keeps His Promises. Crosscheck It!

“Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told to her from the Lord.” Luke 1:45

I had just gotten back to the office from facilitating an open enrollment meeting for a company out in Tampa. Yes, I was a health insurance agent in a previous lifetime. My boss looked at me and asked me if I was okay. I was just over 7 months pregnant. I looked at him and told him I was totally fine. I had just been on my feet for awhile and was having some braxton hicks. He asked me to do him a favor and please go to my OB and get checked out. I promised him I would and off I went. They worked me in and my doctor entered the room.  She checked me out, looked me in the eyes and sent me directly to the hospital because I was in labor. Later that night our baby boy was born. 

As I was nursing him later that night a nurse came in and walked over to the bed. She immediately took him from me and laid him down and gave him oxygen as she called the doctor. We didn’t know what was happening. We found out he was struggling to breath, his skin color was off and they needed to take a closer look at what was going on. They whisked him off to the NICU as we waited in our dark room, wondering what was happening with our son. This tiny little being that wasn’t supposed to be here yet but who we were totally in love with already.

My husband and I looked at each other and didn’t know what to do. We cried, we waited and waited and then fear started to creep in. What was going to happen to our little boy? Why was he early, why hadn’t we heard from them? Why was this happening? We had already lost two babies before him. They didn’t make it to delivery and my OB told me not to get my hopes up with this pregnancy either. I probably wouldn’t make it to term. But here I was, I made it, even if he was a little early. My husband and I just looked at each other wondering why God brought us this far for this to happen.

Later we found out he had a hole in his lung and they were trying to address that problem. My husband would press but no one would tell us whether or not he was going to be okay. They told us he had what was known as “Wimpy White Boy Syndrome''. What??? That’s a thing? I immediately had little booties bought that said “tough guy”. They were way too big for his little preemie feet but I placed them in his incubator to stand against those words spoken over him. He is not wimpy, he’s our child and we’re fighters. We have royal blood flowing through veins. Days passed and I couldn’t nurse him, I had to feed him through a tube. I couldn’t even stroke his arm or rub his head gently as it may bring too much stress and cause him to go backwards. He needed all the energy his little body had. 

During that same time I noticed his ID bracelet had been put tightly around his wrist. I looked closer and it was so tight it had already cut through his skin and was digging deeper into his arm. I immediately let the nurse know and they fixed it. Can you imagine? The child I could barely touch had a bracelet on that had dug so deep into his wrist it was literally under his skin, but his mother couldn’t touch him. Lord hold me back because I was about to beat someone down. I wanted to know who had put it on him. I was ready to fight! 

We were in one of our darkest hours. . .

Now, here we are 13 years later and he made it through. He towers over me, his voice has changed, his legs are hairy and so is his lip. He was a tough guy after all. But, he didn’t need to do anything to fight that battle. He just needed to lay there and rest. What a picture. The battle was the Lord’s. Why our child made it and so many others don’t I don’t have an answer for. I can only tell our story. 

I tell that story to tell this story. The Lord told me this week to remember What happened in the hospital that week. This week my husband and I face yet another baby being birthed. This is not a typical baby. This baby has been in us for 7 years. A 7 year gestational period. Can you imagine? Finally, in June of this year, the Lord said, “it’s time to push”. We pushed and could see the beginning of Crosscheck It entering this world. A month later we launched and we can see this baby and nurse it and nurture it. But as happened with our son, it’s struggling to breathe. But we know our Heavenly Father planted this baby in us. He brought it to life and we can look back and know it’s going to make it. We have a promise to stand on. This time, as we face dark hours, we have a promise to stand on and the verse the Lord gave me way back in 2015 is Luke 1:45. It says, “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told to her from the Lord.”  You know that “her” was Mary, and this verse was referencing the child that would be planted inside of her that she would birth. 

Today we stand firm and believe all He promised will come to pass. To this day our son has a scar on his wrist from that hospital I.D. And you know what? I’m thankful for it. We can look at that scar and every time we see it we thank the Lord for His faithfulness. My son sees it and is reminded that he is a fighter and a survivor. Not just a survivor but a victor, an overcomer. He’s no stinking wimpy white boy. Death was conquered and what an incredible picture of our Lord my son can see every day. 

What did God plant in you that is deep in your belly and has not been birthed yet? What desire is so strong in you, you know He placed it there and your frustration level is through the roof with seeing it come to pass. Or maybe it has been birthed already and it’s a fight. We are struggling to breathe right now but we know we have The Great Physician working and doing things we don’t understand. We may be gasping but we’re still breathing. We may feel isolated, we may feel alone but, could it be we are really in an incubator being protected and nursed back to health? Maybe we'll incur a scar or two or three during this time but my prayer is we’ll all stand together as we move through this life and say to the enemy, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Gen 50:20).”

Here’s a song I’ve been standing on and I hope it encourages you too. If you’re not used to this kind of music it’s okay. I would encourage you to give it a try but if it’s not for you it’s okay too. But it is something to stand on and get your focus back on the one who is truly The Way Maker.

Song: Way Maker: https://bit.ly/3ln0UXa

Don’t ever forget...

God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good.