Thursday, April 3, 2014

Testimony Part 2

 Part Two of Kim Braddy's testimony! God is faithful!
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 I immediately knew that this was not a healthy pregnancy due to the symptoms that brought me to the Dr in the first place.  A series of tests showed that the pregnancy was no longer viable.  A few days later, I went to the hospital for surgery.  When I woke up, the OB told me that I had been pregnant with twins in one of my fallopian tubes. While I was saddened that they had stopped growing around 6 weeks, had the Lord allowed them to continue to grow, my fallopian tube would have soon ruptured and I could have died.  He told me that they removed my fallopian tube and this would significantly reduce my fertility. 

 A month later, I conceived our last baby.  So much for reduced fertility!! About 10 weeks into this pregnancy I had a lot of bleeding that continued for several weeks and made for a complicated pregnancy where my life and the life of the baby growing inside of me were at risk.  This time, instead of freaking out, I was able to look back at the faithfulness of God in my life and say, "OK God, I am weary of this, but you are good and your plans are good so lets do this, whatever your will may be."  I'm thankful to say she is healthy and happy and our family is doing great.  So how does this story have anything to do with blessings?  I used to sing the song, "Blessed be the name of the Lord" and there is a line in this song that says, "you give and take away, but blessed be your name".

  When life is good, this is so easy to sing.  The question is, can you sing it and mean it in the midst of the storm?  It is by God's grace that I can say yes!!  God was so faithful to walk with me every step of the way.  I was so often comforted by the verse. in Isaiah 43 - "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."

 God does not ever promise in His Word that I will have it easy in this life but He does promise to walk with me when it isn't!  And what a blessing that is!!!  My hope is in a God who does not change even when my circumstances do. Hebrews 13:8"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."  That is a blessing!!  I always think about how that probably isn't the worst thing I will go through in my life and how I can look at an uncertain future with joy, hope, and confidence instead of fear.  Because the God of the Bible is faithful!!  This is a blessing to know.  When I look back on this child birthing season of my life, I miss the intimacy I felt to the Lord during those trying times but through these times, He has taught me that total dependence on Him is for my good. 

 It is by God's grace that I am not angry and bitter, but hopeful.  And God continues to use this in my life...

2 Cor 1:3-4 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."  The Lord continues to allow me to shed tears and share hope with friends who have gone through this same thing and that is a blessing!  So now, when I think of blessings...I don't just think of the obvious things that the Lord has graciously given me but I think about what a blessing it is to know and walk with a faithful, compassionate, loving, unchanging  God who uses all circumstances of this life to shape us and make us more like His Son.  I look forward with great anticipation to the day when I will be with Him for eternity and He introduces me to those 4 sweet babies that we did not get to hold this side of Heaven. 

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