And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” -Gen. 22:14
God provided so perfectly for us from the start when Mom went in to the doctor after not feeling Isaac move, to find out that he had turned breech without her knowing. Providence gave us only one option - a C-section, and likely the only delivery Isaac could have survived. He was with us for 12 days, confounding all predictions of the doctors!
The Lord was all over the details, though He didn't let us get a glimpse of how He would work beforehand. Even in little things like my Canon T2i camera; I didn't realize the store was out of stock when I ordered it on April 1st. When I found out, I prayed the Lord would deliver it before He delivered Isaac, and that I’d have time to learn how to use it. It arrived 2 days before Isaac did!
There are so many other ways our Heavenly Father provided for us, but I'll list just a few here. The Monday after Isaac was born, a perky energetic nurse (one of our favorites - Hi Katie :) came back to work. During her weekend, she watched the Today Show, which she informed us she never watches. And on that Today Show was the story of baby Eliot who had Trisomy, and his video called 99 balloons. It is a beautiful short-film that the Lord sent along to meet us right where we were at. And leave it to Katie to make the doctors watch it too! (Thanks!) It touched all of us.
Another provision that meant so much to me happened the last evening we had with Isaac. I had bought a chocolate birthday cake to celebrate Isaac’s 11th day birthday. It was late and we were getting ready to take turns on the night shifts, but I wanted to get a picture of Isaac and his cake. We were so tired, Dad was ready for everyone to go to bed, but the reality that another chance may never arrive prompted us to do it. I’m so glad the Lord let me get some pictures that night, because a second chance never came.
Mom accidentally dipped him in the cake. :)
Providence was as steadfast as the trials each day brought, and God gave us so much to be thankful for. He gave us more time than anyone thought we would have with Isaac. He gave us nurses we felt comfortable with, who we appreciated and trusted. He guided my parents through decisions, and made many of them for us. He never gave us more than we could bear at the time, as my Dad said, "If anyone would have told us beforehand what we would go through, we would have said 'impossible.' But with God, all things are possible." He truly gave us the strength and grace we needed for each day, no more and no less.
He provided for us through our church fellowship, family, and friends. (You know who you are, and we thank God for how you ministered to us, and were such a witness of the true body of Christ to those looking on!) They visited us, brought beautiful flowers, cards, and wonderful homemade dinners to the hospital, which after the cafeteria food, we really enjoyed! Some friends of my parents who have walked down a similar road flew all the way from Virginia to be with us for a week during Isaac’s life. It was the most selfless thing I've ever seen, and we were so humbled and grateful for their strengthening presence and godly wisdom.
Our family's prayer through this was that God would be glorified, and that we would be testimony of His awesome power and all-sufficient grace, and that those looking on would see Him. We wanted Him to swoop down and rescue us, run away with Isaac and save him, show Himself victorious for all to see. He answered our prayers. The way He answered them was different than we in our humanness imagined, but we know it is far far better than our biggest imaginations could have fathomed. We know this because He is good. He scooped Isaac up in His strong arms, ran off with him to Heaven and saved him in the most ultimate way possible. He made sure we could never claim sufficiency in ourselves, and He carried us as we carried Isaac for 12 days. We know it could only be Him getting the glory, because we are so weak. His strength alone is made perfect in weakness, and His grace is sufficient! Praise the name of the Lord!
The Lord provided in all these ways through the prayers of His people. At Isaac's memorial celebration my Dad spoke and listed all the different places we knew prayers were being poured out for us - Indiana, Florida, Alberta, Virginia, Idaho, Minnesota, Wyoming, Texas, British Columbia, Arizona, etc...Dad told Isaac many times he must be the most prayed-for boy in the world. We are so humbled and grateful beyond words for your thoughts and prayers, brothers and sisters!
Thank you.
