The day started with my good friend Holly going in to the hospital to have her sweet daughter Kirkley. I was getting updates throughout the day on her progress, only to learn she was to have a c-section around 4:30 that afternoon. Kirkley was born without complications and was/is a beautiful little girl! Happy 1st birthday Kirkley!
Turner and KirkleyIn the midst of updates from Holly's family, around 2:30pm I received a phone call from my Sunday School class with information that one of our class member's two children were missing. There was a search party out trying to locate the two young boys, and our Sunday School class was being mobilized to pray. Within a few hours we received the devastating news; the two young sons and their father (who was trying to save them) drowned in the pond behind their home.
I remember feeling so confused and conflicted that evening - on the one hand I was rejoicing with the Muncie family, but on the other I couldn't help but grieve with the Delgado family. I was and am still reminded of the scripture Job 1:21, "...the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." In one 12 hour period, the LORD gave a child to one family, and took three members of another family. It was definitely one of those times when it's easy to question God's goodness and His purposes, though that's not necessarily the right thing to do.
Another ironic thought... Mark reminded me tonight that 6 days after April 14th last year, on the day I played the piano at the Delgado funeral, Mark and I left the church and drove to the doctor's office to see Turner and check for a heartbeat for the first time. If you know our history, this was a major milestone for us and we rejoiced in the blessing of miraculous life that was only about 4 weeks old at the time.
Of all the lessons I have learned in the last year, this one stands above the rest - as Christians we MUST cling to the knowledge that God is good and is a loving God. And that His purposes are much higher than our desires - as hard as that might be to grasp when we (as well as others we know) face trials of many kinds. We are created for the purpose of bringing glory to God. I am learning that God sometimes bring glory to Himself through giving life and showering His children with bountiful blessings, sometimes it comes through allowing death and difficult trials.
Sometime today I will call to wish happy birthday to Kirkley, and I'll offer up a prayer for Angela and Braxton Delgado. Celebration of life and remembrance of death. And God in His amazing omnipresence will be with them all.
2 comments:
In all of our celebrating, I forgot that was the same day. How tough a day (and all days) for that family. Thanks for the reminder to pray for them! Thanks too for the birthday wishes!!
What a very touching, thought-provoking post. I appreciated your reflection very much.
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