Good Days

It's been almost 7 months since Addy was diagnosed with diabetes and the downward health spiral began.  I'm tempted to think about all the health challenges that have happened to my kids over the past 7 months and get sad and feel bad.  But one thing I have learned during the past 7 months of trials is that I don't have to dwell on how I feel. It's not about how I feel, but what I know.  When I dwell on how I feel, I feel crummy, depressed, and tears well up in my eyes.  When I think of what is true, that God planned all my days, made my children just the way He wanted, that I have an eternal inheritance that is WAY better than anything earth can offer, I can face each day, each moment, with joy.

I know that God loves me and has planned out each of my days.  My faith has increased so much over the last seven months. God has done some incredible things through these trials and I praise Him! This morning I was reading one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 139. One of the reasons I like this psalm so much is because in the last nine years, four people have been formed in my womb and this psalm describes it incredibly.
  

This morning when I read this psalm I had to read over this section a few times.  So comforting was it to meditate on how each of my children are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Addison has diabetes, celiac disease, thyroiditis, and is fearfully and wonderfully made.  Luke has celiac disease and is fearfully and wonderfully made.  Brooke's hair is falling out and she is fearfully and wonderfully made.  Chloe is allergic to wheat, nuts, and milk, and she is fearfully and wonderfully made.  God saw them being made in secret as he wove them in the depths of the earth.  He saw their unformed substance and every one of the days that were formed for them were written in his book when there were still none.

Who am I to question what God is doing during this time in our lives or say that it is bad?  I can look back at the past 7 months and say, "It was good!  Look at what God did through this!  Praise God for it! He is good!"  And I can look forward into my kids' lives and say to them, "I can't wait to see how God is going to use you! God can use you guys in special ways because you have these things about you that most other people don't have! I know because you have diabetes God has something great planned for you Addy!  Luke, God is going to use your celiac for something great for the kingdom.  You may loose your hair, Brooke, but there are some things you can never lose, and I pray that you will find that which you can never lose.  Chloe, I know God has big plans for you and will use your allergies to glorify Him!"

I can focus on the challenges we face, or I can focus on the opportunities God has given us to reach out to a hurting world.  It's the same for everyone.  Everyone has trials and unique ways to share in the sufferings of Christ. In John 16: 33 Jesus says, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."