Struggles and Blessings

"The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him" Nahum 1:7

I've heard this verse at least four or five times this week.  I have since memorized it and I have taken it to heart.  My husband and I are in the middle of a new church plant.  We are a small gathering of Slavic people that have a passion for a God that is good.  One that promised to be a refuge in times of trouble.  A God that is ever-present and One that we can trust.  We have a common vision and we wish that the people in our community would know how God has changed our lives, changed the way we look at the world and changed our whole existence.  He is a God that is reaching out to us, a God that loves us and wants to be known by us.

I can feel Him in our lives daily.  Through the blessings and especially the struggles : 

• I was immensely blessed with Nathan.  He is exactly what my heart desired.  The weekend I met him I was focusing on a verse from the Bible, "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." And God planted him in my life almost instantly.  I was ready to wait and wait but God knew better.

• I didn't understand why I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 20, but I knew that I could trust him through it and I would be okay.  It was scary but I was encouraged by the support of family and friends. 

• My pregnancy with Noah was considered High Risk.  There were so many doctors' appointments and so many ultrasounds and non-stress tests, and monthly blood tests. I had to keep constant tight control of my daily blood sugars.  God's hand was on Noah because we had no complications whatsoever!  He is a very healthy, happy, and wonderful toddler!   

• We felt His hand at work in our lives when he blessed us with a beautiful house that we would never been able to afford unless it had the fire.  We knew he blessed us when we were able to restore it within 4 months at minimal cost. 

• My dad was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  I knew I had only two options, I could either go through this with God, or without.  But either way I had to go through it with my mom.  I chose to trust that God knew what was going on, he saw the BIG picture and I would trust him and not despair.  I tried to be there for my mom emotionally and comfort her as my dad went through the treatments.

• Nate's diagnosis was a miracle.  If it wouldn't have been for the sudden sever chest pain a few days before Christmas he would never have gone into the ER. Even just the simple X-ray showed a fist-size growth in his chest.  Within a week he was diagnosed with Lymphoma and treatment was scheduled.  Within days of that X-ray the pain went away, weeks before any kind of treatment was started on Nate.

• We were told there was a possibility that we would never be able to conceive again since the treatments that Nate went through were very invasive.  We thanked God for Noah and settled in our hearts that he would be more than enough.  Yet here I am, pregnant with Nr. 2.

God IS good!  He IS a refuge in times of trouble! He most certainly cares for those that trust in him!!!

Looking back through all those trials and blessings I can feel my heart swell with appreciation and a feeling of hope fills my soul.  God has proven Himself to us over and over again.  He hasn't left us in the thick of it before, why would he now?