Some
of the sweetest fellowship we have with our Lord comes in times when we are
hurting the most. Our Father is loving and compassionate and certainly does not
leave nor forsake us when we hurt. Instead, He is right there to hold us and
comfort us.
A
couple of years ago, my wife and I experienced a particularly rough season. We
were praying about whether or not we should adopt again. It was then that my
wife became pregnant. We were excited and began to make appointments with a
doctor. Shortly into the pregnancy my wife miscarried. That was tremendously
painful. It was very deep and very personal. We had suffered the loss of a
baby. I cannot remember ever watching my wife grieve so deeply. We had a ton of
questions for God. We did not understand why. God seemed distant. Since we
could not, in that moment, sense God’s presence we began to recall what we knew
to be true about Him. We knew that he promised to never leave nor forsake us.
We knew that He promised nothing could separate us from His love and that He
causes all things to work together for the good of conforming us to be more
like Jesus. Reminding ourselves of who He is, through His Word, helped us in
those moments when the pain created a fog around our hearts and we could not sense
Him.
We
healed a bit and shortly thereafter my wife became pregnant again. Again, we
made appointments with a doctor. We were certainly a lot more fearful with this
pregnancy. Only a couple of months had passed since the miscarriage. However,
we started making plans, thinking about names, a boy name and a girl name. We
couldn’t help but walk through the baby section of stores and talk about what
we liked. Then, it happened! Another miscarriage! Again, we were wading through
what seemed to be an abyss of hurt and confusion. All of the pain from losing
the first baby was so fresh and now it was compounded with grief of losing a
second baby. These were our children, and though we had not seen them we loved
them. Again, even though some days we did not want to, we reminded ourselves of
who God is and of His promises.
On
one of those days, it was snowing outside, a rare Georgia snow storm. My grieving
wife was looking out the window at the snow. Suddenly, a bug landed on her. My
wife would normally scream and swat a bug. But this was a lady bug, a lone lady
bug. I guess all of her friends and taken cover for the winter. This one was
certainly out of place. It was then that my wife heard from God. He reminded
her again that He was there, that He had not gone anywhere. He reminded her
afresh of His unfailing love for her. He reminded her that he wants her to run
to Him, to draw near to Him. Like that little lady bug, he had not left but was
right there in the storm. God sending that little lady bug was the beginning of
tremendous healing for my wife and I.
I
thought about that this week during our recent snow storm. Especially, as I
stood outside and watched my wife play with our little girl (our youngest child by adoption). Lydia’s name is
filled with significance. Her middle name is Hope. It is a reminder that the
Lord Himself is our hope, even when we feel hopeless. Her first name, of
course, came from the Bible. Most of the time, however, we don’t call her Lydia. We call
her Lydie-Bug. Yep, she is our lady bug. She reminds us of God’s faithfulness
during the storms. And it was a glorious moment with the Father this week as I
watched my wife and our Lydie-Bug laugh as they sled down the hill in our yard.
He is good, folks!
