Life by Grace Alone

Early on April 19th, 7 month old Henry went into surgery to have a passage for spinal fluid opened. There was no choice for his parents but to submit to such a seemingly frightening procedure. Henry came through it well. Henry is our fourth grandchild. He was named after Steve's father. Two days later at 4:30am the phone rang. Our fifth grandchild was soon to be born. This little girl was to be named Elizabeth with the nickname of Libby. The second Libby Doe was born about 9:00a.m. The first Libby Doe was Steve's mother. The afternoon of her birth we traveled to the hospital to see this little girl. What a gift. This mother of 2 active boys may have been blessed with a baby who fills her days with eating and sleeping. Libby Doe. We marveled that we were now going to be able to call a second person by that name. I was able with Aunt Jessica, cousin Grace, and cousin Henry to visit Libby and her family on Tuesday. Although her two brothers, Matthew and Jacob greeted us as if ...

The doctor had said Henry's surgery would last at least 2 hours, instead it was over after about an hour and a half. Steve and I had just pulled out of the driveway with Henry's big sister when we got the call that the surgery was finished. When we arrived at the hospital, Henry was being fed some food by his mom. He was eager for every spoonful. He looked like normal Henry except for the bandage on his head and a slightly subdued eagerness for every bite of pureed goodness. Henry soon was laughing at all the attention his sister Grace was giving him. The staff took great delight in him since so many of their patients do not seem as healthy and alert as Henry does. It's hard to know how many heartbreaking stories that could be told about some of the patients they have had, many with heart conditions. We are very thankful that Henry'surgery went well and hopefully he will not need a shunt. In 2 weeks Henry goes back for another MRI to see how well the passageway they...

Thank God His character does not change. My God's greatness, strength, and might as well as his love and mercy are dependent on nothing. How many times have we acted like He is love and mercy only when things are going well with us? It seems right for us to be perplexed as to why God allows awful things to happen to us.  If we are really living in light of an understanding of God's character, those moments will only be moments as we remember to rest on the truth of what our heavenly father is really like. Yes Henry does not fit the profile of a baby with hydrocephalus but the results of the MRI were indisputable. In order to keep him symptom free, he will have surgery on Thursday at 7:00am. God is still so great, so strong and so mighty but I can not dictate how he will reveal any aspects of His character. We are praying that Henry's condition will not require a shunt. If the doctor is certain he can open the passage way without nicking a major artery using a shunt will b...

Over the years I've developed at least a nodding acquaintance with great theological truths. More often than not those are not the concepts that I turn to when life overwhelms me. One day my husband and I were in the car with my granddaughter. Our lives had recently been dominated by someone who challenged everything we knew about God honoring relationships. Gracie wanted to listen to her cd and soon we were singing along to a Veggietales song.  God is bigger than the boogie man. He's bigger than Godzilla and the monsters on tv. Oh, God is bigger than the boogie man, And he's watching out for you and me. After singing through the chorus twice, it hit me with amazing clarity that no matter what this person's intentions were, we had given this person greater prominence and power than they could have in our lives. God is bigger than Godzilla, the monsters on tv or any personal boogie man. Some time has passed. Our granddaughter is now 5. Her little brother, Henry i...