Like A Tree

Today we had an opportunity to go to church for the first time since the baby was born. Pastor Don McClure's words of encouragement were based on the following verses: "But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." (Acts 20:24) "...God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)

The message was exactly what our heart needed after finding out that Genesis might have diabetes. She will be tested tomorrow and we should get the results shortly thereafter. I told the Lord that I could not handle any more bad news, but if the tests come back positive it is because He knows we can. As we drove back to the hospital after church, I identified with one of the many fallen trees that we saw lying on the road knocked down by Hurricane Katrina. I recognized that I am a tree that was moved by the storm of having to leave the people we loved in Canada, having to move in with our parents, Pat not having a job yet, Caleb's heart disease, his surgery and difficult recovery, and now the possibility that Genesis might have a life long medical issue like diabetes. I don't want to be a tree that will get burned or mulched. I want to be one that can be picked up and replanted or kept in place with the aid of a string or wire. I don't want to be easily moved.

We know this is possible based on the words of the old prophet Jeremiah who wrote, "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8