Many of you are aware
of the struggles and trials our family has gone through the past few weeks with
O’Neal’s sister Stacy’s illness. While
it’s true these have been physically, emotionally, and mentally difficult days,
it’s even more true that God has been at work during every single minute. I am
excited to share just one of the examples of how God has been so good and
gracious during this journey. On January 10th we were told by the
doctors that Stacy only had about 24 hours to live (thankfully they were wrong and she's still with us!). Just six days from then
O’Neal and I were scheduled to find out the gender of our baby. Stacy was so
excited to know if she would have a niece or nephew and we didn't even want to think about the possibility that she might not be here to find out. That night I asked a nurse if it would be
possible to get an ultrasound done in the hospital so we could tell Stacy the
gender. I figured it would be a long shot and there’d be lots of red tape and insurance issues. It seemed our time was short and I was concerned it would be difficult to work out; I prayed that God would somehow make it happen so we
could tell Stacy this good news. The next morning my mother-in-law saw one of
the doctors…and not the one we expected to see that day. She
explained to Dr. Lowery the situation and asked what she could do for us. It
turned out that Dr. Lowery’s husband does sonography for OB oncology and he
happened to be working that day. (Although we know none of this was
coincidence or happenstance, but God orchestrating the situation.) Amazingly, within thirty minutes, Dr. Lowery’s
husband was standing outside Stacy’s door with a resident who had swiped an
ultrasound machine. Not only were they able to tell us the gender that day, but
they were able to do the ultrasound in the room with Stacy where she could see
for herself! It was one of the most special and amazing moments of our lives and we were all overwhelmed by the greatness of God.
Not only did God answer our prayer, but He did so in ways greater than what we expected. I was simply
hoping for an ultrasound somewhere in that hospital, never did I imagine we’d
get a machine in the room so we could all share this together! We share this story as a testimony to the depth of the Father’s love for us and
how He will lavish us with His goodness and grace, even in the darkest times.
We truly serve a mighty and loving God!
