A small note of gratitude
On the morning of 25 July, 2009, I was very much more than just elated when my home pregnancy test finally showed a positive. This was a year after our wedding and a month after our doctors told us that a natural conception would be difficult for us.
Both of us were, then, normal church going Christians who wouldn’t regret missing a Sunday mass and never really bothered about sacraments or prayers. A year of unsuccessful attempts to start a family got us both really worried and the doctors' verdicts left us thinking ‘now what?’. This was when a friend of ours introduced us to someone, who would become our first spiritual elder. He told us about the importance of true repentance and confession, the significance of prayers in families and about couples praying together. A month after our journey in the path of renewal, we were blessed with our first child. Ten years later, I’m now a mother to seven, including our two angels in heaven, whom I miscarried in the initial months after their conception.
GOD IS IN CONTROL
What about your health? Don’t you want to have a job? How do you manage everything? Isn’t a large family a huge burden expense wise?
I hear these questions all the time, directly and indirectly. The only answer I’ve got for all these is simply “God is in control”. This was what He taught me during the last ten years. Many a times, when I was going through some tribulation, He would respond to my prayers, not by removing my troubles, but by making me face them. Though my pregnancies were devoid of major anomalies, there were certain conditions which I too had to face. My stomach muscles were weak due to lack of proper exercise. Each subsequent pregnancy would make it worse. My uterus would sag in the latter months of pregnancies and this made it difficult for me to walk properly. A placenta bit remained in the uterus after my first three deliveries, which had to be removed each time after the first three childbirths. This was one of the reasons C-section was opted for in my last two deliveries. Through all these experiences, God was just affirming that He is truly in control. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me." [Psalms 23 : 4]
GOD'S PLANS
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) and in 1 Samuel 2:30 our Lords says “ I will honour those who honour me".
I had lost my first job a month after our wedding. I tried, in vain, to get into something else. However, God’s plans were different. I registered for post graduation as a private candidate and completed it successfully within two years, without any arrears. Our second bundle of joy came into our lives during this period. After our third daughter, I assumed that God wanted me to be a full time mother cum homemaker. I was miraculously blessed with a job in a renowned CBSE school in Cochin. This was despite the fact that I was neither qualified nor experienced for a teacher job.
ALL THINGS CAN BE DONE THROUGH HIM
Once I began my teaching career, I longed to be as qualified as my colleagues. Going back to college, with three children at home, didn’t seem to be a feasible plan. During a counselling session, my spiritual elder told me that I would attain a B.Ed degree and also, get myself a driver’s license. I prayed and waited. Soon, I could enrol in a nearby B.Ed college. Three months into my course, we discovered that we were blessed with our fourth child. Being an expensive course, I asked my husband if I should discontinue it. The month in which the final exams usually happened coincided with month in which the baby was due. Though skeptical, we decided to wait and see.
The rest of the course was regulated by God. Even though I faced my regular difficulties in this pregnancy too, I could complete all my work on time and score a good grade in my first semester. For my teaching practice, God worked a miracle by arranging it at Rajagiri Higher Secondary school, Kalamassery. I completed it successfully two weeks before our baby boy arrived. It was a Csection, but by God’s grace, I had no extra fatigue or health issues. Our final exams were postponed by almost four months and I wrote it when our little Emmanuel was three months old. I re-joined my old school and a few months later, with God’s abundant grace, I even cleared the State Eligibility Test for teachers. I also learned to drive and got my license in this period. Psalms 37: 4 says “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
GOD ASSURES
God assures in Isaiah 43:1-2, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.”
I resigned after the arrival of our sixth child. She was conceived a few months after I miscarried our fifth child. A year after her birth, I conceived again but our angel returned back to heaven in my first months of pregnancy itself. I’m now home-schooling my kids and waiting to see God’s glorious plans executed in their lives as well.
Always remember the assurance the Lord gives through Psalms 127:3-5
Children are a heritage from the LORD,
offspring a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.
