Thank You to My NICU Friends

Today I learned that wonderful things can happen even when you are walking through a desert. So much so, that you can even forget about the desert for a time.

This morning I was excited to be able to go into the hospital to work. It had been two weeks since the last chemo treatment and I was feeling well. I love my profession and find such a sense of fulfillment in being "God's Hands" as I care for His tiny babies and their families.
As I began to take report from the night shift nurse, I heard someone call my name. I turned around and I saw about 20 of my co-workers from both night shift and day shift standing there. When I walked over, Ann, our manager presented me with the most touching gift I have ever received.
It was a hand made quilt, nearly the size of a full sized bed. The quilt was made up of many, many squares. Each square was hand written with a different inscription and signed by my friends in the NICU. Each saying was different, but they all had one common thread that said "We Love you, We care about you and We are praying for you." The back of the quilt was made of a warm, soft fleece (perfect for the cold chemotherapy sessions) with a heart in the center also filled with hand written squares. The center of the quilt was made up of pink squares and in the center square was my favorite scripture verse "Lamentations 3:23".
What a wonderful gift!! I was so humbled I couldn't speak. The hours of time spent in stitching it together, the incredibly kind words written by each of my friends touched my heart. I kept thinking about how God just keeps blessing me so abundantly with good things. Not only does He bless me with a profession that I love but He gives me people to work with whom I can truly call my friends.
I wanted to share an e-mail I received just tonight. It is an example of just one of the many, many cards and e-mails I have received from my NICU friends:
"Dear Roxanne, If the sheer will, thoughts and prayers can help to cure you, then you've got it all "sewn up." They say you are judged by the company you keep.....wrap yourself in that company. The NICU family is remarkable. we love you and miss your "company".
XOXO, Karla.

Yes, God sometimes asks us to journey through a desert. But NEVER does He leave us to journey alone. He gives us good friends. He provides us with all that we need to make the journey. And some days life will be so good you forget you are even in the desert.

When God Restores What The Locusts Eat

This morning, I opened my e-mail and this devotional was there. It spoke directly to my heart and I felt the need to share it with you, because we all have valleys, deserts and locusts in our lives. It takes on various forms and names but they are still times of famine. I pray these words will bring you comfort and hope just as it did me.

When God Restores What the Locusts Eat
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Tuesday, March 10 2009

"I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten - the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm - My great army that I sent among you." - Joel 2:25
There are seasons in our lives that involve times of famine and times of restoration. Solomon tells us that He has made everything beautiful in its time and that there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven. (See Ecclesiastes 3:1,11.)
God brings about both the good and the bad. The seasons of famine have a divine purpose in our lives. They accomplish things that only these hard places can accomplish. But there is a time when those hard places have accomplished their purpose and He begins to restore. God did this with the nation of Israel after a season of famine and devastation.
Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten - the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm - My great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will My people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will My people be shamed" (Joel 2:23-27).
God wants each of us to know that there is a time when He will restore in order to demonstrate His gracious hand in our lives. He is a loving Father who tenderly guides His children through the difficult places. If God has taken you through a time of leanness, know that He is the restorer of that which the locusts have eaten. Wait patiently for Him to bring this about in your life. He will do it.

If It Costs Nothing, It Accomplishes Nothing

I love Sundays. I love being able to worship with other believers. I love to sing the hymns. I love the children's time. I love to sing the choir anthems. I love the sharing of praises and petitions and the quiet time spent in prayer. I love listening to the sermon in eager anticipation for what God wants me to hear. But mostly I love belonging to a church where we are family.
This morning Brent and his family came to church. As Pastor Steve called him up I was filled with gratitude. Our church family prayed for him when he left for Iraq. Not many Sundays went by that he wasn't lifted up in prayer for protection. Many people sent him cards and letters. And today this very same church family welcomed him home with a prayer of thanksgiving for his safe return. I believe that each of those prayers surrounded him while he was there and brought him home safely, a grateful young man. I am thankful for that.
There always seems to be one line in the sermon that speaks directly to me. Today it was "A ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing." As I thought about what that meant for my life, I realized that God sometimes gives us circumstances in our life that cost us a great deal. This battle that I am fighting has, and will continue to, cost both Carl and I in many ways. But how can He be glorified in this journey if there is no cost involved?
I know that nothing happens by accident and I pray that at the end of this journey God will have accomplished His purpose no matter the cost.