Scarlet Fever/Hard Times are Just Opportunities

Just to keep life interesting, there is Scarlet Fever and Strep Throat at my sister's house where Sarah is staying. Everyone in the house is on antibiotics. Sarah has a cold or bronchitis developing. The doctor is not too worried at this point since she is past her first trimester, although he would have been seriously concerned had it happened a short time ago. Devon recently reminded me of something my dad said shortly before he died: "Hard times are really just opportunities--opportunities to trust in God." Once again, I am amazed at God's protection and the power of prayer.

We are just a few days away before we can discover the gender of the babies. I am excited and nervous. The doctor asked Sarah to bring her support system since complications often show up at this time.

I have been thinking about Psalm 139. I love the passage:

1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

God has been involved all along. I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I do know that God has numbered the babies' days and planned their lives before they have taken their first breaths. They are indestructible until their ministries are finished. My mother-in-law pointed out that they have a ministry already. Every time she goes into the cancer doctor with my father-in-law, everyone wants to know about the babies. They have brought excitement and joy to many people, as well as united many people in prayer. They have definitely brought me to my knees!

Prayer Requests:

1. That God will heal Sarah and the kids who are ill
2. That God will encourage Sarah as she struggles with the morning sickness and difficulties of this pregnancy.
3. That the babies will be safe, healthy, and godly servants of Christ
4. That Tony and Sarah will be strong in the Lord
5. That Callie will be a patient older sibling who lives for God
6. That God will provide for their needs
7. That we will all be in the center of God's will

(Thanks for praying. I will post the news after we find out what she is carrying. I wouldn't mind a couple of each or all girls, but the thought of all boys makes me very tired! :) As my pastor says, either way that's just one short of a basketball team. Tom will be ecstatic!)