A Fight of Faith

As we travel down this road waiting for Addie's healing I keep turning to the story of David and Goliath. David a young shepherd boy comes to check on his brothers, who are out to battle. As he comes to the battlefield he sees a giant called Goliath come out and ridicule the Israelite army. The Israelite army becomes terrified and began to run away. This had happened for the past 40 days. David comes in and sees this and is decides he will fight the giant. Where all the warriors are terrified he claims victory because he knows the Israelites are God's chosen people and God will fight for them. 1 Samuel 17:37 "The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine." He is able to live in faith by looking back over the ways God has been faithful to him, and look forward to the promises of God. If God had been faithful in the past why would he stop now? David knew that God's character didn't change regardless of our circumstances, and neither did His power. There was many other voices David could have listened to, but he chose to listen to God's voice, the voice of truth. David went out against Goliath without armor, without a sword, with only God and a sling. He came out victorious! His victory was not his victory, but God's. The facts had the tables turned against David, but as Romans 8:31b says "If God is for us, who can be against us?"  Faith is a fight everyday to look past this world and into God's world, but the voices of here and now can be so loud! As I pray for Addie I pray for my faith to grow and for God to help me hold on. I want to have the kind of faith that David had here because that is the faith that can move mountains. Matthew 17:20b "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."I love the story in Mark of a father who brought his son to Jesus to be healed he say help him if you can and Jesus responds “If you can?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9:23-24. I have been there. I do believe that the Bible is all true and it is always true, but there are so many outside voices sometimes that this becomes my prayer. "Lord I do believe, I do trust, I am willing to follow and obey wherever you lead, but help my unbelief." I don't think it always come from lack of faith, but from honesty. There is so much around us that wants to pull us down, we are in a spiritual battle daily. The devil doesn't want us to stand up to the giants in our life because he knows that when we come out there with our faith he has no chance.  Ephesians 6:16 promises "In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." The shield of faith is more powerful than we know, so we must pray for an increase in faith and engross ourselves in the truth of the Bible. If we can manage that when the temptation to doubt or fear comes we have the answer. Jesus is the answer, His truth is the way to walk in faith knowing that what we see is not all there is! We are not promised easy lives but we are promised peaceful lives. John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." So as we go in our day-to-day I will hold on to the hope of the future and the promises from God regarding it.

Perseverance

Just getting home from the specialist and all I can say is I see why God has been giving me verses about perseverance. The good news is that the specialist could not see anything wrong with the heart, not that there isn't. This means it is just very trivial so we are going to wait until Addie arrives and do an echo on her a few days after birth instead. Also, the doctor today said even if the leak is there, it is not a serious condition and we would probably just have another echo 6-12 months after the first. So that is a blessing! The other good news is that she is growing at a normal rate for babies her age. She is 3 pounds and 6 ounces today which is right on schedule for 30 and 1/2 weeks! This was a concern with the placement of the placenta. The news that we are going to continue to pray about and persevere as we wait for healing are her arms, her feet, and her position. Her arms are still moving, but it is not normal the doctor today said part of that could be because of lack of space due to my uterus shape. He said best case scenario there is that some rehab after birth would build up the muscle she has lost from not being able to move as much as other babies. The legs are still clubbed and surgery is still probably within her first year. Yet, we know that with God everything is possible including complete healing. The position is breech and again due to the shape of my uterus turning looks difficult for her. They told me with my first he could not do it, but through the power of prayer he turned! So we will also be lifting that up in prayer.  I am clinging to the promises of God Hebrews 10 :23 "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." and Hebrews 10:36 " You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." HE has promised and HE is faithful. We are holding to His promises as we live in His will and so as 1 Peter 5:7 says "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." We are casting our cares on Him because He alone will carry us through.  I was reminded today of a sermon of Dan Bohi's that I heard where he spoke on 2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." He keyed in on the "glory to glory" part and how most of life is spent in the "to". We are in the "to" right now, but that is okay because that just means the glory is coming! We have called upon God and are continue to call upon God. We are waiting in expectation because He is our hope and our salvation!

Trusting in the Midst

God gave me a verse today Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful." I didn't know how much I was going to need it, but He did. Just a little while after reading that verse I received a call from the cardiologist telling me about my next appointment. This confused me because when we had left them last they said there was no reason to return. I called back and spoke with the doctor. The doctor said that as she looked over the imaging in slow motion she saw a small leak on the valve in left side. She also said it is typically on the right side so that is part of the reason they missed it earlier. I told her I had an appointment with the specialist tomorrow at 2. She said she would call him and update him on what she sees now. So tomorrow we head to the specialist to see what he thinks about everything. If he thinks it necessary we will keep the appointment with the cardiologist which is set for next Tuesday. Philippians 4:7 ^"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." He has given me this peace and I am walking in His truth and His peace. There is no place I would rather be! I will praise Him and I will trust Him. I am going to hold unswervingly to the hope of her complete healing that we have been professing from the beginning. God has promised and God is faithful. Please continue join us as we pray for complete healing for Addie.  John 14:12-14 "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." He wants us to believe He is who He says He is. He wants us to call upon Him so that His name can be glorified. It is only through the struggle and through our weakness that He can truly shine. So instead of despairing I am looking at this as another opportunity to allow God to get glory.  He wants all of us to turn to Him in everything so that through our lives we can be witnesses for Him, but to do that we must believe that He is who He says He is. We also must believe that the Bible is ALL true and it is ALWAYS true. What we know about Addie's heart may have changed but He hasn't! And He won't! So we will praise Him as we trust Him. Our God is faithful, forgiving, merciful, and loving. That is a God I can rest upon even in the midst of the storm. He is the one who calms the storms and controls the waves!

 This is the song that keeps running through my head. Thought I would share!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83aQC5ko_94

Suprise Ultrasound!

Due to some intense pain/pressure over the weekend I got an extra ultrasound today for Addie. The doctors have been watching my cervical length closely because my last pregnancy I dilated early. The cervical length is one of the issues the specialist, which I will see Wednesday afternoon, is always watching. So over the weekend I had been very uncomfortable and so the OB office wanted me to come in today for a quick ultrasound to make sure there was no early dilation. So of course since the pain had started we had been praying and God reminded me yesterday that He cares about every detail. Bed rest has been a possibility for this pregnancy so I was prepared for it to be dilating but I was reminded to pray about that. So today at the ultrasound would you believe that instead of getting shorted like they were concerned about it had actually gotten longer! God is working and He is faithful! I can't get over how He continues to draw us closer to Him, but also how He continues to show Himself and His word to be true. One of the devotions I read had this verse at the end and it is showing true in my life and Addie's. Hebrews 10:36 "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." He wants to do what He has promised, but we have to stand unwaveringly on those promises through the midst of it. So now we persevere and we wait on God. But we don't wait in our own strength we wait in His. "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31. Our Sunday School class yesterday was talking about wisdom and some of the Proverbs. Our teacher ended by asking us to come up with a proverb to pass on, or that we live our life by mine is "The Bible is ALL true, and it is ALWAYS true." So as we see progress in Addie and continue to hope with the expectation for total healing, we persevere in the Lord knowing He will continue to strengthen us each step of the way until He brings His promise for healing to completion. Day to day He is our hope and our strength! Can't wait to see what Wednesday's appointment will bring!