Footprints in the sand

  Yesterday, I wrote the beginning of the story of Emily. Today I'll tell you more.  Better get your kleenex.
  
"Do not look around you in terror and be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you, and I will hold you up and retain you with my victorious right hand of rightness and justice." Isaiah 40:10

   Several times, that verse has come to me. Each time it came unexpectedly, but just when I needed it.  The first time I heard it was before Emily was born.  It was fresh in my heart when we found out that she had Down Syndrome.
   15 months later, Emily got sick.  That in itself wasn't unusual. She'd had frequent ear infections, but this was different. She refused to eat and was short of breath. The diagnosis:  morgagni's diaphragmatic hernia. She had surgery, then spent the next 12 days on a ventilator. Three days after being weaned off, we finally went home!. 

                                  With every "cursing" comes the "blessings" ! 

    Emily was in St. Louis Children's Hospital.  The staff was amazingly wise and kind and took special care of Emily's medical needs and my emotional needs.
    When my sick time benefit ran out, my co-workers donated their vacation time so that I could have a full paycheck while I stayed there for the 15 days.
   On Sunday, my mom and I went to a church service in the hospital chapel.  The chaplain  opened the Bible and began to read... yup, you guessed it... Isaiah 40:10.  It felt like God was speaking directly to me. He said, "I will hold you up and retain you"
   I personally experienced the poem.  "Footprints in the Sand"   The last part says:   
        "my precious child,I love you and I would never leave you. 
        During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of  footprints,
        it was then that I carried you."
 That word best describes how I felt during the most frightening time of my life: 'Carried'.  There was  absolutely nothing I could do about the situation but rely on God. I felt like a  little girl, being carried in her father's arms.

   That lesson changed me. Even now, when situations arise, I remember how God took care of us, I lean back in his arms and know He's still taking care of me.  I know, that I know, that I know, in the deepest part of me, that I am His child and that He, as my Father, with love, in His desire for me to be the best me, prepares me for challenges, helps me through those challenges and celebrates the victories.
   So, was it a cursing? or was is a blessing?