An abundance of grace…

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Today’s post is a little detour from the domestic arena… Today is our youngest daughter’s birthday… my baby turns 6!!!

She is sweet and animated, dramatic and a total goofball as you can see from this photo.

Every year on her birthday I have promised to share about the miracle I saw come to fruition.

At my 20 week ultrasound when I was pregnant with “Jujubee” (one of her many nicknames), we were told that she had double clubbed feet.  Now this was something we had experience with.  Our oldest was born with a right clubfoot (this is where the foot is turned in sharply and the person seems to be walking on their ankle).  We have no family history of clubfeet and when I became pregnant with our 2nd kiddo (“Blondie”) we did some genetic testing in which they thought it was just a fluke.

Lying on the table as the ultrasound tech showed us the close-up of her feet I knew it was true.  I remembered the x-ray pics of my son… the toes turned in and the heel raised.  I was overwhelmed with emotions… how could we go through this again?

If you were see my son today, you would never know of the trauma he went through the first 18 months of his life… he doesn’t even remember.  They never notice his clubfoot at the 20 week ultrasound, so we were shocked when he was born.  As a first-time mom I was overwhelmed with becoming a mom and now I needed to figure out how we were going to help my son with his birth defect.

Thankfully we were referred to the best pediatric orthopedic specialist in our area.  At 2 weeks old he had his first full leg cast put on.  Each week we’d come back as they would cut it off (which he’d scream for) and the Dr. would gentle manipulate his tiny foot a little in the correct direction and recast.  The first 3 days after his cast were put on were miserable as his foot was aching from the new position.  This continued till he was almost 6 months old… when he went to a brace.  At 9 months old his Dr. told us that the cast and brace had manipulated his foot to the correct position, but his heel still had not dropped.  At 10 months old he had surgery where they made snips in his Achilles tendon to lengthen it.  Surgery was followed by casts for the next 2 months and then a brace for another 3 months.

So when we heard the news about my daughter I didn’t know how I could walk through that again!  I was overwhelmed… but I knew instantly that her middle name would be Grace, because I was desperately in need of God’s grace to do this again.  My husband on the drive home said some poignant words… “we’re going to pray that God heals her!”

And we did… family and friends prayed… our church prayed.

I knew God was more than capable of healing her.  I’ve been to church all my life… I’d been on mission trips and seen miracles… I’ve read through the bible numerous times and know of all the miracles Jesus did… BUT it was hard for me to believe He was going to do it for me.  For me it was easier to just plan for the worst and let a small part of me believe in the best.

Then… one Sunday in church… a few weeks before she was born we were singing “How Great is Our God” by Chris Tomlin and I heard Him speak to my spirit that He was going to heal her so that people would know how great He is!

In the days that followed my faith fluctuated… did I really hear Him?  Maybe I just had indigestion?  Hormones of pregnancy?

On the morning of July 19th I had a stress test at the hospital (I was going between 3-5 times a week because of low amniotic fluids).  The nurse didn’t like the way she was responding to contractions, so I was staying and going to have the baby that day.  She was breech so I had to have a C-section. When the Dr. pulled her out I heard the miraculous words I was hoping to hear… “well look at that…

her feet are perfect!”

So each year on her birthday I will recall God’s miraculous hand that healed my daughter’s feet. 

I don’t know what you are going through right now, but I know that in our lives right now there are areas that seem IMPOSSIBLE.  When I look at them with my eyes and I don’t see any way that this is going to work out… but I know that with God all things are possible.  I know that sickness, financial issues, relationships, disobedient children… you name it…

it’s not too big or too hard for GOD.

God graciously healed my daughter, but even if He hadn’t… His grace would have carried us through.

Here’s a video of Chris Tomlin singing “How Great Is Our God.”   I encourage you to listen to it… be reminded today of who He is…

and

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my littlest princess!!!