It was the summer of 1983. My husband was in helicopter flight training for the U.S. Army at Fort Rucker, Alabama. We had rented a house for the few months that we were there.
One hot summer day I stood outside watering my beautiful Zinnias in our front flower bed. Gary and I had been married for four years. I remember the thoughts that ran through my mind as I stood alone outside.
“If only we had a little baby asleep inside,” I thought, “my life would be complete.”
A year and a half later, God granted my desire. Our first child was born in the old wooden military hospital at Fort Carson, Colorado. Aaron surprised us by arriving three weeks early. We were over the moon in love with our tiny little baby boy.
Never once as I longed for a baby did I consider the possibility of having a child with special needs. That blip was never on my baby radar.
Aaron’s first seizure happened during our second tour in Germany. Suddenly we were thrust into a huge unknown. He spent five days in the German Kinderklinik and then released into the care of our military doctors. This began our life with so many doctors and procedures and tests and medicines, all while making numerous military moves, raising three children, homeschooling, and serving in various churches.
Lately I’ve been thinking more about that dreamy desire I had for a baby. God honored that desire He planted in my heart, but certainly not in the way I would have chosen, quite honestly.
I love what Dale Davis said as he wrote about God’s sometimes unusual ways.
“God is always faithful, but He’s not always predictable.”
Our life has been anything but predictable over Aaron’s nearly 42 years.
But God has been always faithful.
I can say with the prophet Isaiah: “O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; for You have worked wonders, plans formed long ago with perfect faithfulness.” (Isaiah 25:1)
I didn’t know God’s plan on that summer day as I cared for my Zinnias and wished I was caring for a baby.
But I knew God then and I still know Him now, and with utmost certainty I can say that His plans for us and for Aaron, plans formed long ago, were and are wrapped in His perfect faithfulness.
So are God’s plans for you that know and follow Him.
Whatever unpredictable news has come your way, know that God has been, is now, and will always be faithful to you.
He Said What?! 