"Wait on the Lord"

~ Psalm 27:13-14 ~

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Heartbreak and Blessings

Jessica Weatherford lies small and helpless on the opertating table, staring at a blue surgical sheet hanging inches from her face.

It blocks her view of the Caesarean operation on the other side, as a doctor delicately reaches for her baby.

A baby Jessica's been waiting for.

A baby she prays will live long enough to hold in her arms.

So begins one of the most heartbreaking stories I have ever read. This is a story of a young couple who experienced the unthinkable: the joy of finding out they were soon to be the proud parents of a baby boy, and then the sorrow of discovering that their first son would never live to see the outside of a hospital. You see, a severe disability, Trisomy 13, made it certain that little Zeke would not survive more than a few minutes - if that long - outside of his mother's womb.

But this is also the story of God's faithfulness and a mother's love. While most parents would have chosen to abort their child, Dave and Jessica Weatherford knew that God had a plan for their son's life, however short He saw fit to make it.

Psalm 139:13 - For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

As I read of this couple's struggles, their hopes, plans, and faith, tears streamed down my face. Theirs is a heartwrenching story. But I received a tremendous blessing from reading of God's faithfulness through every trial.

Their story gives a whole new meaning to Psalm 139. God has a plan for every life, even that of a severely disabled baby who lives for only 35 minutes outside of his mother's womb.

You will cry as you read of Jessica taking her baby in her arms, whispering, "Hi. This is Mommy. I love you."

But I can assure you that you will be blessed as I have been.

Part 1: Zeke's Gift - Love to Last a Lifetime

Part 2: Zeke's Gift - "Hi. This is Mommy"

A.W. Pink - The Family As the Foundation of Society

Mr. Phillips, of the Vision Forum, recently published a quote from A.W. Pink on his blog concerning the relationship between the strength of families and the strength of a nation. The main thrust of the quote - particularly the second paragraph - is that "a nation is but the aggregate of its families, and unless there be good husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, there cannot possibly be good citizens."

This marriage relationship is looked at in more detail in the first paragraph of Pink's writing. The quality of a marriage determines how the roles of father and mother will be filled and significantly impacts the entire lives of sons and daughters which will be born into that marriage.

I considered merely posting a link to the quote, but I wanted to make sure that you read it! In an effort to make it more easily accessible, the decision was made to copy the quote over to my own blog.

It is perhaps a trite remark, yet nonetheless weighty for having been uttered so often, that with the one exception of personal conversion, marriage is the most momentous of all earthly events in the life of a man or woman. It forms a bond of union that binds them until death. It brings them into such intimate relations that they must either sweeten or embitter each other’s existence. It entails circumstances and consequences that are not less far-reaching than the endless ages of eternity. How essential it is then that we should have the blessing of Heaven upon such a solemn yet precious undertaking, and in order to this, how absolutely necessary it is that we be subject to God and to His Word thereon. Far, far better to remain single unto the end of our days, than to enter into the marriage state without the Divine benediction upon it. The records of history and the facts of observation bear abundant testimony to the truth of that remark.

Even those who look no further than the temporal happiness of individuals and the welfare of existing society, are not insensible to the great importance of our domestic relations, which the strongest affections of nature secure, and which even our wants and weaknesses cement. We can form no conception of social virtue or felicity, yea, no conception of human society itself, which has not its foundation in the family. No matter how excellent the constitution and laws of a country may be, or how vast its resources and prosperity, there is no sure basis for social order or public as well as private virtue, until it be laid in the wise regulation of its families. After all, a nation is but the aggregate of its families, and unless there be good husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, there cannot possibly be good citizens. Therefore the present decay of home life and family discipline threaten the stability of our nation today far more severely than does any foreign hostility.

- A.W. Pink