Matt & I were married in August 2006 & we knew without a doubt that God had ordained our marriage. Matt is everything I never knew I always wanted. I have felt my share of heartbreak & I would walk through every second of it again knowing it would eventually get me to him. We had an amazing first year of marriage & I remember thinking, “If the first year is the hardest, bring on the next 50 years!” Over the next four years we have walked through things I would never imagine or could have prepared for.
In October 2008, we found out we were unexpectedly expecting. We have always known we wanted children (many), so for us this was a huge blessing. However, I have type one diabetes (was diagnosed in 1997 at age 12) so there were some concerns with how my body would handle an unplanned pregnancy. God was faithful and I had ZERO complications or problems from diabetes with my pregnancy.
In February 2009 we found out Matt needed open heart surgery to repair his mitral valve. He had not seen a cardiologist in 7 years because his MVP was considered very mild. He received a random email from UAB looking for people with MVP to join a medical study. Imagine our surprise when we were told Matt had a severe leak & would need to see a surgeon asap. I've come to know what it means to be surrounded by chaos & only feel sweet, sweet peace. I sat in a waiting room at 31 weeks pregnant while my husband was wheeled off into open heart surgery &my faith in my Lord never wavered. I had complete peace. That was not me. That was only God in me.
Then in April 2009, through a blood test my doctor didn’t even order he noticed my platelet count was low & consulted with my OB to follow up. To make a long story short I was diagnosed with an additional autoimmune disease, ITP. A normal platelet count is 150,000-400,000. When found mine were at 76,000. I saw a hematologist & had an IVIG treatment at 36 weeks pregnant. The treatment was supposed to “reboot” my immune system in the hopes my body would recognize my platelets & they would rise making labor & delivery safer for me & my unborn daughter. One week later I developed preeclampsia & had to be induced at 37 weeks. They did a CBC & we were expecting to be told my platelets were in the 200,000’s. They were 56,000. This meant no epidural… gulp. To make a very long story very short- 22 hours later Briley arrived. Upon which my platelets plummeted to 32,000. But God is good & He is faithful. Platelets began to rise within 24 hours & Briley was (& is) an absolute blessing. She never had one second of problems & was born completely healthy without any indication of the stress my body had been under. As a side note I was diagnosed with a third autoimmune disease 9 months postpartum. Despite a very high risk pregnancy that seemed to be complicated with everything it could be God kept me from total harm… yes, my medical chart probably seemed like a trainwreck, but nothing ever came from any of my health issues. God sustained me & protected me. He is good! If you read that & take away only one thing take away this: God had MERCY on us. He spared my life, he spared my husband’s life, & he spared my daughter’s life.
We welcomed our sweet, sweet girl into our world & felt like things were finally on the upswing. Satan saw we had not wavered in our faith in God nor had we stopped to question “why”… knowing that God has called us according to His purposes & His plans was enough. Things, we have learned, can always be worse.
In May 2009 my husband lost his job. It was a shock. We were hurt, we were scared, we were… a million emotions, but in the stillness there was hope. You see- on May 4th we had started a prayer journal. The FIRST thing we had written & given to God reads, “For Matt to be able to quit his job.” It had become very negative work environment, all the therapists were overworked, underpaid, and unhappy. It was very clearly affecting Matt outside of work...he would come home exhausted, frustrated, and just plain down. 11 days later God answered our prayer. Who am I to question HOW he answered it? Through that period of unemployment God provided for us in ways I could never imagine. No, things were not perfect. Things were not easy. Sometimes we forget to lay it at the foot of the cross. Life is so much harder when I try to carry it on my own. It was 18 long months before a job even opened up in Matt's field and praise God, he was hired for it. During those 18 months he worked his tail off starting a side contracting and landscaping business. God provided so much work for Matt and Matt enjoyed what he was doing. Losing his job turned out to be such a blessing to him- he was completely different and it was like a literal load was lifted off of him despite the fact that we were struggling financially. One of the biggest worries when he lost his job was our health insurance. We were able to stay with our same provider and pay through Cobra for 18 months from the job termination date, but after that we would lose coverage. We knew we couldn't let that happen... with three autoimmune diseases if I had a lapse in coverage I would never be able to picked up again. It was almost 18 months to the day when Matt was hired full time with benefits. Isn't God on time? We seemed to be walking hand in hand with God during that season of our life and He poured out his blessings upon us. Sometimes it was through strangers- we had a complete stranger send us a check for $500 after hearing our story. Friends and family allowed God to use them as well- whether it was taking us to dinner, buying diapers, sending Matt work referrals, hiring Matt for work, or just flat out sending us money. They went above and beyond anything we expected, deserved, or imagined. One friend (though she will never tell me where it came from!) showed up at my house with coffee cans full of loose change... to the tune of over $500. Through it all we prayed that God would give those who has blessed us back ten fold what they had done for us.
This doesn’t even mention the countless trials & tribulations we watched our families walk through as well. We have seen deaths & births, surgeries, cancer diagnoses, & more. We had a house on the market for 3 years and 10 months and because of that we accrued a lot of debt, but through Him we were able to avoid foreclosure. Through the period of unemployment we felt like we had to put our lives on hold for a lot of things we were ready for, but not financially ready for. It was sometimes hard to remember we were on God's timeline and not ours, but we can see now how involved He was. Our lives were not and are not perfect, but my God? My God is.
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