I have many reasons to believe in Him and many situations, big and small, that point to no other deduction. I won’t post them all, for I don’t have that much time, but here are the top big ones that have lately occurred in my life.
1. My fifth child, Nathaniel, was born with brain damage. Those two words alone can make one tremble and fear. And when you hear that, in connection to the newborn that you just gave birth to but haven’t seen yet? You can double the fear factor. Nathaniel had a stroke before he was born and was having seizures because of it. He was in the NICU, 2 1/2 hours south of our home, for 9 days after birth. There were many things that went on in that time and beyond it. Nathaniel will be two in about 1 1/2 months. How is he? He’s as normal as can be! He is talking (or at least trying to), he walks, runs, jumps, laughs, understands, plays with toys…in short, he’s like any other 2 year old. The seizures have stopped, he is no longer on medication (and hasn’t been since he was about 5 months old), and he is a joy! His doctor said that he has benefited from having so many older siblings, for they keep him stimulated. And you can be sure he attempts to keep up in every way with them!
2. When I married my husband, I wasn’t sure if I really loved him or not. There were many reason for that, reasons that prevented me from knowing the truth for the first whole year of our marriage. I know how foolish it sounds to admit that, esp. when coupled with the fact that I knew going into our marriage, that divorce was not an option. It took the birth of our first child to open my eyes to the reality of what true love is and feels like. Then, I could say with confidence, that I am completely “head over heals” in love with my husband. God is no fool. He knew what He was doing when He put us together. Adam know me to such a degree, that it’s often scary! He knows my weaknesses and loves me in spit of them, all the while gently filling in those weeknesses with his strength. He lovingly corrects me when I need correction, he holds me when I need to be held, he laughs at me when I need to be less serious, and he always tells me the truth (except the question that I asked him last night. I asked if I still looked pregnant. He wisely abstained from that one!) whether I want to hear it or not. These last few months have been very hard on me and he stood by me with such strength, endurance and love…there is no way all that came from him by himself. I believe that Adam has sought God to give him that love for me and He has done so. God also knew who He created us to be with and we complement each other is so many ways that it’s impossible that we “happened” to meet “by chance”.
3. Our 6th child was born with Pulmonary Hypertension. That’s one of those words that most people (including us!) have no idea what it means, but it doesn’t sound good. She, too, was taken away from us after birth and flown to the NICU 2 1/2 hours south of our home. When we arrived at the hospital, she had been intabated and was on drugs to keep her comfortable and not waking up. This time, Adam was with me the entire time (for with Nathaniel, he had to go back to work 2 days after he was born). She was born on a Friday and the doctors were telling us she is so sick, that we need to expect to be here for a couple of weeks. As with Nathaniel, there were many people praying for her and by that next Wednesday, 5 days later, we were going home!. The doctors and nurses couldn’t believe how quickly she had recovered.
4. Once, when Grace (our 2nd child) was still nursing through the night, there was a time when she was very fussy. It was very late at night (or very early in the morning, which ever way you look at it, we should have been sleeping!) and she wouldn’t calm down. She didn’t want to eat, be burped, need a diaper change… nothing was working! Finally, after more than an hour of her being fussy, she calmed down. But came down with a horrible case of the hiccups. She was so loud with those! It rivaled her crying! After about 30 minutes listening to those, I prayed for God take them away so we could both sleep. Before I had even said “Amen”, she was quite and asleep. The other night those hiccups came back. While Damaris wasn’t as fussy as Grace was, she was just as loud! Before it became a long wait, I prayed the same prayer. And again, she was quite and asleep before I said “Amen”.
5. Adam and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in March. Even before we were married, we talked about having our own business. But the Lord has always said “no”, even though we kept asking and even went to see some buildings here and there. At the end of this last summer, He gave us the green light to our dream. So here we are, a family of 8. We live on one income (which is a good income, but not a large one), in an economic time that is very rocky and God is giving us the green light to start our catering business (which is Dewings Catering and Confections, if you can stand a little advertising about it). Not only that, but He has said “yes” to our taking the living room (which is a large 16 x 20 room) and converting it into the kitchen for said business. He also has given us the ability to have money in our savings account and pay for this kitchen. We still have much more to go, but God is good and He will get us there. It may not be on our time table, but we will get there.
So there you have it. It may not prove 100% that there is a God and that He listens to us. But it proves it to me. And maybe it will help someone else, too. God is there. Talk to Him. He listens.