Faithful

I'm back! It's been awhile since I blogged, but what can I say? The last two years have been a blur. Let's see..... In the last twenty-four months we have had all four of our children get married, our son gave his daddy a kidney, and now we have two darling grandbabies.

Through it all, we have seen God's faithfulness. I can't help but think of two years ago, when the specialists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, informed us just how sick my husband Paul really was with End Stage Renal Failure. Then, the process of finding a match - and to discover the MVD (Most Valuable Donor) would be our only son John Drake. In the midst of it all, our two daughters were engaged and planning to married the same summer as the kidney transplant. ;-)

I remember the tug-of-war in my soul. The "What ifs" plagued me. Then, in the midst of my own fiery furnance I read the reply of the three Hebrew children when they were thrown into a fiery furnace.

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Daniel 3:17-18

These verses helped settle something in my heart. Our God whom we served was able to deliver our family from this trial, but even if He didn't, we were still going to love and serve Him.

On June 12, it will be two years since Paul's surgery. Jesus has been with us every step of the way.

John married Natasha Stamman (Yes, I have my very own daughter-in-law.) this past April 23. (That's them in the picture above.) Paul was John's best man. Words are inadequate to describe the emotions I felt. Paul said it best when he spoke at the wedding reception, "John, you are really my "best" man. Than you for the gift of life."

Paul heads back up to Rochester for a kidney biopsy this month. We realize more than ever before that life is precious and you are only as healthy as your next checkup.
But we know, as the old hymn so eloquently puts it:

Many things about tomorrow. I don't seem to understand.
But I know who holds tomorrow and I know who holds my hand.

But we are thanking the Lord every day for the gift of life. We will celebrate Paul's second anniversary with thanksgiving and we will declare, "EVEN IN THE VALLEY GOD IS GOOD.... EVEN IN THE VALLEY HE IS FAITHFUL AND TRUE. HE CARRIES HIS CHILDREN THROUGH LIKE HE SAID HE WOULD - YES, EVEN IN THE VALLEY GOD IS GOOD!"

I don't regret a mile,
Dixie