Sunday, January 27, 2008

A Lot Can Change in a Week


We attended a baby shower from heaven tonight. And it was the kind of shower that waters your soul and “yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater.”

Just a week ago Kevin and Wendy, our friends and members of our church home group, were at the end of their rope and walking through one of the most painful experiences life can throw at you.

After years of suffering through the pain of not having a baby, they had decided to go the route of adoption. They jumped through all the hoops and had done all that is necessary to be qualified to get on a list to adopt a baby. Out of the clear blue they got a call and a birth mother in another state had chosen them to be the parents of a little girl. As you could imagine Kevin and Wendy were past excited. And their family and friends were excited with them.

They had only a few days of preparation and all of a sudden they got word that the birth mother was in labor. Sparing you all the hectic details, they flew out across the country at a moment’s notice to be at the hospital for their baby to be born. The little girl they had prayed for came and she was beautiful and healthy. But things started to go downhill quickly in the nursery at the hospital.

The little girl they had waited on for so long started to struggle to breathe and suddenly died. Utter joy and excitement quickly turned to utter despair and devastation.

But in spite of their pain, when they returned home Kevin and Wendy were determined that their faith would not be shaken. And their blood family and church family were also determined that they would not let them let their faith be shaken. To say a lot of prayers were lifted to heaven for Kevin and Wendy would be a huge understatement. Heaven was bombarded on behalf of this couple.

The prayers were answered in short order. Kevin and Wendy got a call this week with the news that they have been chosen by another birth mother to adopt a little girl who will be born in less than two weeks. I’m not sure how the adoptive process works, but I am fairly certain that birth mother #2 did not know what this couple has been through the last two weeks.

Incredibly, utter despair and devastation turned quickly back to utter joy and excitement.



I don’t pretend to know the odds of this couple being chosen twice in a two week period to be adoptive parents but I would think they would not be good. I do know people who stay on that list a long time and never get chosen to be parents.

There are definitely a lot of things I don’t understand.

But what I do understand is that we attended a baby shower from heaven tonight. And I also understand that no matter how bad or dark or hopeless your situation may seem, the God who is heaven can turn the bad into good, the darkness into light and the hopelessness to hope.

And He can do it in an instant.

Last Sunday night Kevin and Wendy met with their church home group in an attempt to cope with the greatest pain they had ever experienced in life. Tonight they met with that same group to celebrate the soon to be birth of their daughter.

My goodness a lot can change in a week.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

All us who read Bruce's blog should keep this couple in our prayers.

Anonymous said...

What a great story that gives us all hope. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Very inspirational for my husband and me. Thank you.