Unshaken

My head is swimming with thoughts about my great God as I reflect on the events of the past five days.  I would have never expected that Sunday, at 28 2/7 weeks gestation, I would be facing the beginning signs of preterm labor which would lead to two trips to Labor & Delivery, three shots, and two nights in the hospital.  My plans of how I would productively spend my week alone without Abel and Amariah most certainly did not include entering into preterm labor, living in a hospital bed for two days, and being sent home on bedrest and contraction-stopping medication.  But just as the Bible says, "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails" (Proverbs 19:21).

I guess I'm not here claiming that God "purposed" for me to have issues with preterm labor, but I do believe that He is at least using these circumstances to bring about His purpose.

I've been thinking about the requests which I have been making known to God, a couple of which include

• I praise You for Your wondrous design for pregnancy and for the ability of the female body to be with child(ren!).  I ask, God, that You would enable me to carry these babies to full term and that they would be born of sufficient weight and in perfect health.
  
• I thank You, God, that You have blessed Travis and me with a beautiful family.  Lord, for the sake of all my children, please allow that these babies be dismissed from the hospital within a couple days of delivery.  May there be no need for a stay of any length in the NICU which would undoubtedly tear me either from my home and my family or from my new babies.
  

And, further, I've been thinking about the fact that only God knows exactly how these prayers will be answered.  As I think about the sovereignty of God and about His ability to work in and through the most unlikely of circumstances, I realize that perhaps God knows that my body will require bedrest if I am to carry these babies to full term; that perhaps God knows that my babies need me to rest in order for them to receive enough of my body's resources to be born of sufficient weight and in perfect health; and that perhaps God knows that my babies need the steroid shots I have been given in order to avoid a stay in the NICU upon their birth.

Indeed, my faith is not shaken by the change of plans or by what can at first glance seem like unanswered prayers; but it is instead strengthened in knowing that God is hearing my prayers and that He is working things out according to His plan--not mine.  I am blessed to be the recipient of His true and trustworthy promises, namely those of Psalm 55:22 ("Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.") and Philippians 4:6-7 ("Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.")

It is in Him alone I continue to trust; it is to Him alone I continue to pray; it is by Him alone I continue to be sustained; and it is because of Him alone I continue to be unshaken.