Miscarriage: Our Journey

In the midst of our chaotic summer, we were blessed with a unique opportunity to share our journey through miscarriage with the great people at Group Magazine. This fall, Group will be launching a brand new digital magazine called Unfiltered: Helping Youth Workers Thrive in Life. Our story is part of the premiere issue. For any Group or Unfiltered users finding their way to this blog, I wanted to give a list of links to my blog entries that directly relate to miscarriage or it's aftermath. The journey is often dark and lonely, but God also lavishes His peace, joy and never ending grace on those who seek Him.

Heaven
In this world...
Expecting
My Psalm
Christian
He Does
Offering
Routine
Trust Jesus
Walking on Water
Spring is Coming
Baby Boy
Waiting in Expectation
I Trust You
Lessons from the Shunammite Woman Part I
Lessons from the Shunammite Woman Part II

An Epic Adventure

Yes, it's true... the Earlys will be heading to Iowa on an adventure that only God could orchestrate. Although many of the details are still unclear, we will soon be moving to Des Moines, Iowa to serve at Valley Church. Brandon will continue to serve in his area of greatest passion and calling--youth ministry. I will take some time away from working outside the home to care for our family. A truly epic adventure is full of twists and turns, ups and downs. We are definitely experiencing heartache as we say good-bye to family and many dear friends. We have been through so much during our 13 years in Rockford and have been blessed with deep and meaningful relationships with so many. As we grieve these losses, we also look forward to the new people, places and ministry that God has waiting for us. Through all of this, God has been so faithful to lead and to guide, to comfort and encourage. I think God is once again allowing us to really live out the phrase I so often find myself saying, "We don't understand, but we trust." Please pray that we would continue to listen to God and trust Him with all the details of our move and transition. Right now, we are specifically praying for the sale of our home. He is so good and faithful and we trust Him to take care of us in His perfect timing.

 Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

The Voice

Have you ever been to a youth league soccer game? I have experienced this madness many times. Let me set the scene... Two teams of 12 little boys showing off their cool soccer uniforms and kicking each others shinguards; balls flying every which way; kids waving to their friends playing on the next field; parents shouting advice from the sidelines; kids swatting at bugs; younger siblings being scooped up by their parents as they attempt to run across the field. And this is just the first minute of the game! It is complete chaos most of the time.

After one of these overstimulating games, I hopped in the car with my 7 year old. We drove in silence for a few minutes until I decided to take hold of a teachable moment. "Owen, you have a really great soccer coach. He knows a lot about soccer. I can tell he likes the game. He does a great job of teaching you different skills and then he reminds you to try out those skills in the game. I also can see that he cares about you. He talks to you a lot and gives you special things to work on. He really seems to know the things you are good at and the things that are tricky for you. He tells you good job when you d try a new skill and reminds you when you forget something he has taught you." Owen's response... "uh huh." I decided to plow ahead. "Do you know what I noticed today? Sometimes you don't hear your coach. Sometimes your coach is telling you to do something, but you don't hear him because there is so much noise and other stuff going on. There was even one time when he was trying to tell you good job, but you were too busy being silly with your teammate. Owen, you need to learn to listen for your coach's voice. There will always be noise and other distractions, but if you really listen, you will be able to hear him. You want to know what he is saying. Remember, he knows soccer and he knows you and he wants to help you. Owen's response... "okay."

 Although I really do want Owen to listen to his coach, my deepest desire is for him to learn to hear the voice of Jesus. It is the voice that leads us beside quiet waters and guides us in paths of righteousness. It is the voice that calms the storms and the voice that heals. It is the voice of peace and truth. As this world becomes increasingly creative in ways to attract our attention, there is a constant, still small voice that beckons us to come and listen and live.  

Matthew 11:15 He who has ears, let him hear.

A Little Child

As the boys were getting ready for bed tonight, something out of the ordinary happened. I heard sobbing in the bathroom. I peeked in and Owen was in tears. He's a pretty tough kid so I knew something was going on. I asked him what was wrong and he asked me if he was going to die. After some conversation, I found that this was a little boy who was fully understanding the impact of sin in the world and in his own life. I affirmed that his feelings of sadness were right on. Blessed are those who mourn. We talked about how it makes God sad too and that's why He sent Jesus. We talked about Heaven. Owen asked some great questions--some I could answer and some I couldn't. Owen expressed how much he wanted his friend at school to believe so he could go to Heaven too. I am humbled by Owen's pure heart and reminded that our time here is limited. I am also reminded of how important it is for us as parents to be in the Word and to always be prepared to engage our children in spiritual conversations. These conversations are always welcomed in our family whether we are at home, in the car, or even on vacation. As Brandon was tucking the boys in to bed, I heard him praise Owen for asking such great questions. As Owen continues to seek, I am so thankful to know that our God will never fail him. He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:2-4

Alway Expect a Trial

I tried to prepare ahead of time, but it just wasn’t coming together. My boss had asked me to share a devotional with our staff that morning and here I was sitting at my desk 10 minutes before our meeting with nothing to share. It’s not that I hadn’t thought about it. Many ideas had floated in and out of my brain in the past 24 hours, but nothing seemed to stick.

And then I saw it. Of all things, it was a mug I had received from the fireman who had just visited our program to talk to the kids about fire safety. It had railroad tracks on it along with the phrases “Always expect a train” and “Any time is train time.” That was it. This was the message God had for me to share.

I headed upstairs with my new mug in hand. When it was my turn to share I held up the mug and announced… “Always expect a trial. Any time is trial time.” I used John 16:33 to share the good news, bad news message with the women. In a nutshell, I reminded everyone that we live in a fallen and sinful world, so trials in our lives are guaranteed. The good news… we can count on the One who has overcome the world. In the meantime, we need to prepare. It is crucial that we are spending time in God’s Word and in prayer. We need to be ready because… “any time is trial time.”

 In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Lessons from the Shunammite Woman Part 2

I learned a lot from the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4 (see previous post), but then I discovered that she makes headlines again in 2 Kings 8. Here it is in NIV…

Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the Lord has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.” ² The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.

³ At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. ⁴ The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.” ⁵ Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land.

Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” ⁶ The king asked the woman about it, and she told him.

Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.”

I was so excited when I read this! That horrible experience that the Shunammite woman went through was more than just a heart check. God redeemed that tragic incident in her life and used it for her good—to bless her and her family abundantly at just the right time! I guess I knew that, but to see it played out in Scripture reminded me of God’s love and goodness and grace.

To the God of grace who redeems our broken dreams and is working in ways we can not even fathom, to Him be all the glory and honor and praise forever, Amen!

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Lessons from the Shunammite Woman Part 1

I recently read through 2 Kings for my Bible study. I was excited to revisit the story of the Shunammite woman that was first brought to my attention by Phil Vischer creator of Veggie Tales in his autobiography Me, Myself & Bob.

2 Kings 4:8-37 tells the story of a woman from the Biblical city of Shunem. We know that she was “well-to-do” with a knack for hospitality. Upon recognizing that Elisha was a “holy man of God,” she and her aged husband built a room on their roof for the prophet to stay whenever he came.

To thank the woman, Elisha announced that she would have a son. The woman objected, not because she didn’t want a child, but because she did not want to get her hopes up. She had given up this dream years ago.

Fast forward one year and, just as Elisha said, the woman was holding a newborn son in her arms. Her dream had come true. Now, fast forward a few more years… the child goes out to his father in the field and tells him that he has a headache. He is taken to his mother and ends up dying in her arms.

Was this some sort of cruel joke? Why would God allow her dream of having a child to come true and then snatch her dream away? This is the question Veggie Tales creator Phil Vischer was asking in Me, Myself & Bob. God had given him a big dream. He wanted to do big things for God through media. He aspired to be the Christian Walt Disney. It looked like he was on his way to achieving this dream. God was doing amazing things as Veggie Tales exploded in popularity. Then it all fell apart. Eventually, Phil Vischer lost everything. His company went bankrupt and all he had worked so hard for was gone. What was God doing?

We know that God does not look at what man looks at. God looks at the heart. Perhaps God was looking into the hearts of the Shunammite woman and Phil Vischer to determine who or what they loved the most—God or their dream? When we suffer the loss of a dream, we have the opportunity to declare our allegiance. Who or what matters most to us? Will we cling to our dreams or will we hold fast to our God?

So, how does the story end? As Phil Vischer suggests, sometimes God gives us our dream back and sometimes he doesn’t… and that’s okay. The Shunammite quickly heads out to find Elisha who returns to Shunem with the woman and does a miracle. The boy’s life is restored. As for Phil Vischer, Big Idea and Veggie Tales are gone, but he is currently creating for his new company Jellyfish Labs. Perhaps God is giving him new dreams. The lesson we can learn in all this is that God plus nothing is enough. There is no dream, no ministry, no achievement that can add to who God is in our lives. He is enough… He is everything!

As important as this lesson has been in my life, I am so excited about what God taught me a few chapters later through this same woman. I’ll post again soon with the amazing sequel of the Shunammite’s story!