19 Apr 2016 Remembering God’s call – ‘Trust Me’

by Brittany Gilbert

Why is having faith so much easier said than done? In our eight years of marriage, we have experienced more faith testing moments than I would personally like to have. Each moment was centered on our children.

I’ll never forget finding out I was pregnant for the first time. I always thought it would be such a joyful moment, however, the other symptoms I was experiencing made me immediately full of fear.

The entire month that I remained pregnant was a big test of faith. There were moments when I could hear the voice of God clearer than any person sitting next to me, and all He said was, “Trust me.” I just received the worst news of my life so far and all God could say was for me to trust Him.

I’d like to say I passed that test, but I’m not so sure. That pregnancy didn’t end the way we hoped, but it grew my faith in ways I never knew I needed.

After a long seven months, we were pregnant again and everything looked oddly similar to the first time. The first several weeks were a waiting game of tests, ultrasounds and lots of praying. As soon as we found out, we called our life group and prayer warriors. We know that was what made the difference. One week we went to the doctor and were told to expect another loss, but the next week we were told we were having a miracle baby.

Prayer makes a difference. People standing with you in your best and worst times believing for hope and a miracle makes a big difference. I would like to say the rest of the pregnancy was smooth sailing, but that wasn’t the case. The end was plagued with preeclampsia, bed rest and an early delivery, but God was faithful and we had a healthy baby boy.

Two years later, we found out we were expecting again. The pregnancy had a few complications in the beginning that resembled our previous experiences, but we were prepared to handle them. What we weren’t expecting were the complications at the end and even after delivery. High blood pressure attacked again, causing an early delivery, and a back injury literally had me off of my feet for weeks after delivery. Talk about testing your faith. Not only was I just days post-partum, but I was also facing a potential back surgery and my baby was having breathing problems, forcing us to stay in the hospital an additional five days. I was an emotional wreck.

God has used our experiences to teach us so many valuable lessons. Being a parent has always been the biggest dream for me, and God wants us to trust Him with the things we hold dearest. I’ve never had to believe God for a miracle in my own life. I’ve never had so little control over my circumstances that I had to take a step back and truly trust that God will work things out for my good. I’ve also never been so impressed with the church and the way they show up to stand in the gap for the hurting when they can’t believe for themselves.

Already this year we have experienced this situation yet again. On New Year’s Eve we found out we were expecting. Per doctor’s orders, we started the blood work immediately to begin any intervention that may need to take place. For several weeks we were told to be hopeful but that things didn’t look good. Our doctor is a wonderful Christian man, but he couldn’t ignore the signs that pointed to an ectopic pregnancy. We were hoping to conceal this pregnancy for a longer time, but these issues had us turning to our prayer warriors again, and they showed up. Before we knew it, we had our team of pastors, friends and family believing for us when we were struggling.

Finally, around the sixth week of pregnancy, we had proof of our hope. We heard a heartbeat! All those weeks of blood work and tests were worth that very moment when our doctor told us we have another miracle baby and that everything now looks perfect.

Through it all, we’ve learned to trust God with not just the little things, but also with the things we have absolutely no control over. He cares about all of the details in our lives and not a single thing goes unnoticed. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance in what we don’t see. We can say that we have seen God work on our behalf through our faith and the faith of so many friends, family and church family.