God's Faithfulness

Tuesday night both of my beautiful babies woke up with high fevers and coughs. We spent much of the night consoling and trying to keep the coughing at bay. Wednesday we went to the doctor and Mellie had a 103.8 temp and Robby had a 101.8. Neither of my kids has ever been that high. I felt so bad for Mellie. She was so sweet trying to talk to me and losing her train of thought. Most of Wednesday they laid around watching movies and PBS kids. I, unfortunately, did not get hardly anything accomplished since I, too, was tired and the requests for juice and water were nonstop.
We also had another scare on Tuesday night when our dear friends and coworkers called to see if we could stay with their children while they went to the emergency room. Our church's youth pastor, Jeremy, was experiencing some sort of heart arithmia where the top part of his heart was beating faster than the lower part. I'm sure it was very scary for them. The only thing we could do was pray. Jeremy and his wife were preparing to lead 80 some kids to a large youth conference 6 hours away. Of course, they were unable to go. During this time, my husband Bill was asked to take his place. I knew they needed someone to go, so I told him to go and that we would be fine. As Bill prayed he just felt uneasy about it. At the last minute he told our new Senior pastor that he just couldn't go. He didn't know why, but he couldn't. Marvin, our Senior pastor decided he would go.
As we have prayed through this we have seen how Satan has really tried to attack the staff at our church since the new pastor has arrived in November. Everyone on staff and their families have been sick- mono, flu, stomach flu, rsv; you name it they have had it. We have been making a lot of positive changes and moving forward in ways that have had a very positive impact on people's lives and someone is getting scared. It seems like he is trying everything in his bag of tricks. For those of you who know me in the real world, know that I do not overspiritulize things or run around saying "It's satan's fault", but there comes a point when you just can't deny what he is trying to do.
On the flip side, you just can't deny what HE is trying to do. God has turned all of this for His glory. Pastor Marvin going to the youth retreat is huge. He will have an opportunity to see one of the largest events in our denomination and get to know the youth of our church in a deeper way. Some of these kids only come to youth on Wednesdays and never even see P. Marv. The youth will get to see a real and genuine man who loves God and them in a way they never could just from the pulpit. Bill might have gone if our kids had been well and P. Marvin would have missed this opportunity. And none of this would have been considered if Jeremy had not had to go to the hospital. Now, I'm not saying God made everyone sick, but I do think He uses what satan has created for evil for His own good. God knows what He is doing. Even when we can't see it He is still in control. He is so faithful.
The kids are doing much better now and Bill & I might still be able to go to our favorite little B & B near hear for our romantic Valentine's get away. I will let you know.