I Choose to Trust Him!

Sorry, this one is going to be a long one.  But a lot has happened in the last couple of months!  I hope you will hang in there until the end!  Over the last few months we have really been able to see God's hand in our life.  He has been answering prayers right and left.  Not everything has gone perfect.  In fact, a few things have gone wrong, but God's presence has been very evident.  My faith continues to grow as I see His provision and care in our life in small and personal ways.

For example, in the middle of August, I started having severe tooth pain and I had swelling in my cheek.  I looked like a chipmunk.  I was able to call our good friend, who also happens to be our dentist.  He was sure it was abscessed and that I needed a root canal.  So he suggested I take antibiotics and we pray that I can make it until our planned trip on Sep 17th for our son's wedding on the 21st.  So of course, we wanted to make it until after the wedding!  The antibiotics did help, but after much thought and prayer, we decided to go back early so that we could get the tooth taken care of BEFORE the wedding.  So on August 30th we were on our way back to the States.  Turns out two teeth were abscessed.  One had to be pulled and the other one needed a root canal and a crown.  Praise the Lord that all that was taken care of and the pain gone a good week before the wedding!   God also provided financially in a mighty way to cover the costs of all this dental work.  Praise the Lord!  Also, since we came back early, once my teeth were taken care of, we were free to travel and spend more time with our kids and extended family and friends.  We are so thankful for that time. We saw God's hand of blessing even through a toothache.

Then the wedding came and it was a grand and beautiful celebration!  We are so thankful to the Lord for the wonderful time we had to celebrate the union of our son, Ryan, to his new wife, Gwen.  We are thankful for our family and friends who came to celebrate with us and for the new friends and family we now have!  It was such a special and God glorifying occasion.  We are so thankful to the Lord for providing both of our children with Godly, loving spouses!  Our family is growing!

After the wedding, we had 3 weeks to travel around and visit more family and friends.  We have such wonderful support and as we visited with people, we were overwhelmed with the way God has provided for us through such loving, caring, generous people!   Our hearts were overflowing as we prepared to head back to Guatemala.  We spent our last couple days in Chicago and got to have dinner with the newlyweds a couple nights in a row.  Wednesday morning, October 15th, was the day to head back to Guatemala.  We were ready to see our Guatemalan kiddos and get back into our life there.  Our bags were packed and on the cart in our hotel room ready to head down to the lobby to catch our shuttle.  It was about the time when Norman gave me the 15 minute warning that my stomach started to hurt.  It went from no pain to the worse pain I have ever had in those 15 minutes.  At first I thought maybe we could take the next shuttle in an hour and still be in time to catch our flight.  Surely this pain would go away in a little bit.  Five minutes later, I had given up going to the airport and I was begging Norman to call 911!   I was sure I was dying!  Well, at least it felt like it.   He left me moaning on the bed and went down to the lobby to tell them that we wouldn't make the shuttle because his wife was up in the room in severe pain begging to go to the hospital.  They then told him that we were the only ones going to the airport, so they could take us to the hospital just as easy and it was only 10 minutes away.  So off we went.  The ER people were awesome to get me back to a room in a matter of minutes.  It didn't take long to figure out what was wrong and then praise the Lord, administer pain medicine!  Turns out I had a hernia and part of my bowel entered the hole and was trapped.  Thus severe pain!  Surgery was needed.  We weren't going back to Guatemala that day.  In fact, our trip was going to be extended on the other end as well.  So surgery was performed and everything went very well.  After surgery I had very little pain.  The doctor recommended I wait a week and let myself heal some before flying back to Guatemala.  Praise the Lord for family!  The next day I was released from the hospital.  Norman's brother and his wife brought us Ryan's car we had left at their house in Peoria IL (3 hours away) so that we had a car to use.  We then drove 3 hours to my sister's house in Bettendorf IA and got settled in for one more week.  I am so thankful for family and the way they are there for us when we need them!   Again, we saw God's provision in a mighty way!  If the pain had started even a half hour or hour later it would have taken a lot longer to get me to a hospital where they could help me with the pain.  If the pain had come several hours later, I could have been in the air in a plane.  I don't want to even think about how that all would have played out.  Not treated, the condition I had can be life threatening.  Even treated, the part of the bowel that is trapped can die fairly quickly, requiring part of the bowel to be removed and far more extensive surgery.  Praise the Lord I was able to get help quickly, the colon didn't die and they were able to repair the problem quickly.  We were thankful for a place to stay, for extra time with family, and as a bonus, turns out the extra week we were there was the peak time for the fall colors of the leaves.  We saw such beauty that week!  God is so good.

So on October 25th, 10 days later than planned we fly back to Guatemala.  Two days after we were supposed to get back, the Directors left for Costa Rica for some training and some R&R.  They left the staff in charge and they were doing a great job.  We had an awesome home coming with lots of love and hugs.  We jumped right back into life in Guatemala.  Well, I jumped in with 1 foot.  My energy level isn't quite back to normal, so still taking it easy.

On Wednesday, a blood curdling scream echoed through the compound.  Someone was hurt.  One of our little 6 year old boys was accidentally poked in the eye with a stick and he was bleeding from inside his eye.  One of the workers rushed him to the clinic in town.  They could tell right away that there was nothing they could do for him here, he needed a surgeon.  The hospital an hour away couldn't help either.  It became apparent that he needed to get to a specialist in Guatemala City and quick.  Guatemala City is a 5 hour drive from us.  Praise the Lord for the ministry of Adonai International Ministries who are our good friends, have a plane, and are a half hour drive away in the town of Canilla.  Guatemala City is only 30 minutes away by plane.  We called them and they had the plane waiting.

As all this was happening I had an overwhelming peace.  God is going to take care of this, it is going to be okay.  I prayed all the way to Canilla that the doctors at the clinic were wrong with the severity and that it wouldn't be that bad and that God would heal him.  But when we got to Canilla and the Doctors from the States who were there visiting looked at him, my hopes were dashed.  He had lost the liquid inside his eye and tore his iris.  It was serious and without a miracle, he would not gain back his eyesight and he might even lose his eye.  I was crushed.  I was sure God was going to pull through again the way I wanted Him to.  But He hadn't, at least not yet.  So I had a choice.  Do I still trust Him even when things don't go the way I want them to?  Do I remember all the things He has done for me and the way my faith has grown?  Do I choose to reject the peace that passes all understanding when things don't go my way?  Sure, I was crushed, sure it was heart wrenching, but I know that God loves this little boy more than I do.  He has him in the palm of His hand, and I chose to trust Him even though my heart was breaking and tears were flowing.

They were able to do surgery and repair the iris.  He still couldn't see any light after surgery.  The fluid lost in the injury has to regenerate itself.  The odds are not in our favor that he will regain his sight.  But we have a God who specializes in miracles and we are hoping and believing for one.  But no matter what happens, we know that God is in control and He has a plan for this precious little boy!  It was easy to trust God when the problems were quickly fixed and taken care of, but do I trust Him when things don't go how I want them to?  I choose to trust Him!