All Things Work for the Good

Image credit: Pixabay.com (2014), CC0 Public Domain[/caption] We all know the quote from St. Paul which assures us that everything works out for the good for those who trust in God.

We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Well, our family has seen this truth dramatized over and over again. My sixth child discovered she had gestational diabetes. (This disappears immediately after you give birth.) After living on a strict cleansing diet for six months to try to cure her migraines before pregnancy, she was devastated but resigned to another two months of eliminating anything that tastes good from her diet, constantly eating small measured meals, and jabbing herself with a needle twice a day to test her blood sugar.

Gestational Diabetes Worked Out for the Good

Simply because she has gestational diabetes, an extra ultrasound was scheduled which revealed that at 32 weeks pregnant, even though her son was not ready to breathe on his own yet, she was in silent labour. The doctors gave her two shots of a steroid to develop his lungs, told her to quit work immediately, and to only stand for a maximum of 10 minutes at a time. She was afraid to move and very upset. However as a result of one week of bed rest and two injections to develop his lungs, 7 days later, at 33 weeks gestation, their baby weighed at least 5 pounds and was in no danger of being born before another couple of weeks went by. It seemed that the baby would be fine. I set up the baby room while my daughter sat and folded clothes. With the car seat in the car, a bassinet set up by their bed, and one bag of diapers, she tried to relax and smile, happy that she had diabetes. Then disaster struck again in the labour room. This same daughter almost bled out when she lost a litre of blood in seconds. Of course, in a modern hospital, an emergency team of no less than ten people descended on her, whipped off all sheets, nightgown, and the screen in place for her emergency C- section -- which upset her husband. HE had to be dragged out and told why she was treated like a piece of meat, naked with doors left wide open to the public corridor. Life comes before propriety. My daughter felt herself slip away ... and even thought for a moment that she was dying. Actually, she was dying. Years ago, she would have died. In a developing country, she would have died as the result of a series of complications that no one could have foreseen. Yet God made sure all these potential tragedies worked out for the good in the end. Life is precarious. Life is fragile. Life is precious. In Italy, there is a beautiful expression which refers to the birthing of a child and sums up how precious life is: “Dare alla luce”- "to give to the light."