Rocking My World

“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. 
Is anything too hard for me?”
―Jeremiah 32:27, NIV

Our daughter’s Down syndrome diagnosis propelled us into a world we’d never have chosen for ourselves. Pink bows, rosebud bouquets, and bubblegum cigars weren’t enough to chase away the heartache that consumed us. However, the light in our daughter’s eyes, the absence of the heart murmur so prevalent in children with DS, and her overall physical strength gave us the hope we needed to press on. We left the hospital resolved to take our little girl home, love her as we did her sister, and trust God with her future.

Those next few days were a roller-coaster ride, a torrent of contradictory emotions. A joyous event, filled with pain. Trying not to think, yet doing nothing but thinking. Offering prayers of gratitude, yet continuing to ask for miracles: miracles that would change the diagnosis, miracles that would somehow make everything different.

In the days that followed, I thumbed through mounds of books from the library searching for any tidbit of information about Down syndrome. I was overwhelmed with the scores of birth defects and abnormalities that can occur during pregnancy. My thoughts soon turned from Why me? to Why not me? as I realized that to receive a Down syndrome diagnosis on the scale of “what could have been” was a blessing.

Ten days after our daughter’s birth, a neighbor insisted on keeping our girls for the evening so my husband and I could enjoy a much needed respite. We made a pallet on her living room floor, placed our newborn on her tummy, and left, grateful for moments to exhale. We enjoyed our alone time, but our daughter and the challenges that lay ahead were never far from our thoughts.

When we returned to our neighbor’s, she met us at the door with uncontrollable excitement. “Your daughter flipped over from her tummy to her back!”

This had to be a fluke. What baby does that at ten days old? “Normal” children take sixteen weeks or more to achieve this milestone. I would definitely be watching her every move in the coming days.

It was no fluke. Our daughter kept rolling over from her tummy to her back. It was the miracle I’d prayed for; the miracle I needed. God’s message was very clear: “Everything is going to be fine. Turn her over to me. Trust in me, and I will do the rest.”

God was answering our prayers. He was making everything different. Not by changing the diagnosis, but by changing our perspective. Humanity places limits on our abilities, but with God, there are no limitations.

God’s unexplainable peace flooded my soul. He’d turned my world right-side up again. My job, for now, was to hold that world in my arms and rock her.

Now it's your turn to "get down."
Is some unexpected challenge rocking your world? Remember, nothing is too hard for the Lord. He’s got this!

I welcome your comments.


Keep your sunny side up,
Starr

Day 4 of a five-day series which first appeared at www.zookeepersministries.com