Blessed Be the Name of the Lord!

Four years….

Four years ago, today, our dear little daughter entered her heavenly rest. I admit…I’m struggling with it a bit right now. I miss her. I wonder what she would be like. What would she be learning now? Would she be funny like her sister or more serious like her older brother?

Today, I really feel the loss. There will be no first trip to Disneyland. She won’t excitedly show me her first lost tooth. I won’t teach her to add. We won’t bake cookies together. There will be no secrets to tell me.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.

I can honestly say that my faith has never wavered due to the loss of my daughter. I do wonder why her time with us was so short and I would do anything to have her back with us but I trust in the Lord’s perfect plan and, like Job, I can declare, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

During her short life and in the months following, we were so thankful to see God’s work in our own lives and the lives around us. We literally had people from all over the world praying for us, thinking of us, helping with meals, and even contributing to our mounting medical bills.

Some wrote to us with stories of recommitting their lives to the Lord as a result of following our story. Some wrote with stories of forgiveness and reconciliation. Some told us how their prayer lives had been renewed as they were on their knees for us.

After Katherine died, the medical bills began to roll in. All told, they amounted to right at $1 million dollars for her six weeks with us. But, the Lord provided there as well. Her condition coupled with the fact that she never left the hospital qualified her for California Children’s Services. That program took care of the vast majority of the expenses.

But, I want to testify to the more of the Lord’s goodness where the finances were concerned. Some friends of ours made our needs known to a broad audience. Money began to pour in. They raised enough money to take care of the delivery portion of Katherine’s birth that our insurance did not cover.

Another friend had contacted me via e-mail and excitedly told me to look for something in the mail. She was sending something. I waited with great anticipation and, soon, an envelope came. It contained an amazing letter from my friend and a money order for just under $500. She told me how a teen aged daughter of a dear friend of hers had heard of our story and was so moved that she had to do something. She sought permission from a local store manager to hold a bake sale in Katherine’s honor in front of the store. The money order was the fruit of that sale. Just a few days before I opened that letter (and a few weeks after her passing), we had received a bill related to Katherine’s treatment in the mail that was just under $500. What an amazing provision.

We can clearly look back and see how He has provided for us again and again from the spiritual to the physical to the emotional realm! We praise Him because He cares for us. We long to join our Katherine in heaven and to behold the One who has not abandoned us!

My prayer for you, friends is this-in your life, when the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, you will bless the name of the Lord. He is Good and His steadfast love endures forever!

(PS...I want to also offer my love and prayers today to my friend Amanda. Amanda's Abigail would have been 13 today. Amanda, I love you, I remember Abigail with you and I pray that the Lord will wrap His loving arms of comfort around you.)