Tuesday, October 6, 2015

God's Awesome Handiwork and Faithfulness

Psalm 139:13-16

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be."
  

 

I haven't made record of the faithfulness of God the past three months, and it would be wrong for me not to do that, because God has done so much more than I could ask or imagine in the birth of our firstborn son, Timothy Louis.

It was a long and hard delivery.  Contractions lasted on and off for a week prior to his birth, and then on Saturday morning around 8:00 a.m., July 18th, I started having regular contractions.  They were about five to ten minutes apart all day.  We finally went to the hospital about 2:00 in the morning on the 19th.  After the midwife broke my water, the contractions were unbearably painful until Timothy was born at 6:14 a.m. and after pushing for an hour.  I was exhausted from all the prior labor before we even went to the hospital, yet God gave me a strength I did not fathom possible.  And when I thought I could not handle one more contraction, God continued to give me strength to go through yet one more, and one more, and one more for several hours.  And when I thought I could not push one more time, God gave me strength to push again and again, and even increase my strength.  After Timothy was born, one would expect me to have some kind of shut down or breakdown.  But once again, God gave me supernatural power to deal with all the newness and demand of having a newborn, for the two days we were in the hospital, in spite of sleeplessness and trouble with breastfeeding.

After we got home from the hospital, God used my mom to take over to provide for our needs.  Her nursing care gave me the rest and meals I needed to recover--and it took all three weeks that she was here!  And after she left, God used the church to continue providing us with supplemental meals for nearly two months! This was a huge blessing to us, as cooking has been a great effort in all the adjustment of parenting and exhausting nights.

Timothy is two and a half months old, and God is providing in many ways--every single hour and day--and enabling me to mother this little boy in spite of my physical limitations.  When I have felt at the end of my rope in exhaustion, God has always providentially worked so that Timothy would have a restful day so that I could sleep and recover.  God has also given Michael much grace in the adjustment of fatherhood and the extra house chores he has taken on since Timothy's birth.  And God has given Timothy a contented disposition most of the time so that it does not require as much energy to care for him.

There is so much more I could say, such as how God has materially provided for us and our son through the generous, ongoing gifts people have given us and the many hours of time people have spent helping us prepare for Timothy's birth and then helping us care for him afterward.

I just praise my Father in heaven for doing the impossible and giving us a child that we thought we could not have or would not have the strength to care for.  And as the temptations of worry and doubt buffet me regarding how I will have the energy needed to educate and discipline him, I daily preach to myself God's commands and His promises ("Cast your cares on the Lord..."; "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding..."; "Do not worry about tomorrow, for today has enough worries of its own..."; "Consider the birds of the field: They do not sow or reap or store away in barns yet your heavenly father feeds them..."; "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well"; etc.).  And then I recount all the ways God has provided for us in His gracious faithfulness.  Will He let us down just because it seems to get harder and more demanding?  Is His provision limited?  Is the power He provides impotent?  "Oh you of little faith, why do you doubt?"

Finally, I want to praise God for the unspeakable blessing of making us part of His covenant family and for blessing our son by placing him in a family and church in which he will be raised under the Word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  In acknowledgment of Timothy's discipleship in Jesus, we are having him baptized on Sunday, October 25th at 9:30 a.m.  Everyone is welcome to witness this covenant before God and man that Timothy will be held accountable before God of the gift of light he receives and that if one day, he repents of his sin and looks to Jesus Christ for his cleansing, the symbol of the cleansing water of baptism will become for him a reality.  And if he does not embrace this grace of which he is taught, the water will be to him a symbol of God's wrath, even as the water was to those outside the Ark of Noah (1 Peter 3:18-22).  To this end, we pray that God gives him a tender heart toward the Word and redeems him for the Kingdom of Heaven at a young age.  Please pray with us!  There is no greater hope or desire that we have as Timothy's parents!
If you are not in the area and would like to witness this special service, you may see it on Ustream live with no commercials via Roku (type in keyword "Preakness" in a search) or go to:
http://preaknessvalleyurc.org/live-stream/