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12/13/2020 0 Comments

Planting Seeds in Storms (Week 14)

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​Do you ever feel like the second you plant seeds, a storm comes through and destroys them? Like, the seeds of your efforts don’t have time to take root before the storm washes them away?
 
I’m thinking about the day-to-day efforts... like the second you get the house cleaned, or finally make your way through the to-do list. However, there are also bigger seeds— seeds of personal growth, career, and family. Often, no sooner than we plant them, a storm comes and threatens to wash them away.

A couple years ago, my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our first baby. We watered our new family seed with care and preparation through, what seemed like, a healthy pregnancy. When she arrived, however, the biggest storm of our lives came too— we found that our daughter had suffered a brain injury in the womb.
​Bigger and bigger storms seemed to come as we tried our best to navigate her complicated, but beautiful, life on this earth for three months. We planted seeds of faith, in spite of the incessant storms.
 
When I think about people who have weathered storms, I think about Ruth. When her husband died she was left to take care of her mother-in-law who was also a widow. In their days, it was very difficult for widows to survive (Ruth 1:5). She had a decision to make: either leave her mother-in-law to go back to her old home (and, likewise, their false gods), OR stay with Naomi and stand firm in her newfound faith in the Lord.
 
Ruth chose to stand firm, be loyal, and trust in the Lord’s plan for her life. (Ruth 1:16). She planted seeds of faith in her trustworthy God, in spite of her uncertain future.
 
In stark contrast to Ruth, in Judges we read about Samson, who was born with great power. He was favored by God and given unbelievable strength. However, Samson planted his “seeds” in the shallow soil of his own might. He chose to trust in his own power, instead of trusting God’s. When storms showed up in Samson’s life, he got into more and more trouble. In the end, Samson returns to trusting in God and is used to bring judgment on the Philistines. However, it cost him everything. 
 
As for Ruth, God not only gave her wisdom and strength to weather the storm, but He also placed her right in the lineage of King David and, ultimately, Jesus.
 
As for my husband and I, our seeds planted in faith in God helped us remain in peace, even as we laid our newborn baby to rest.
 
It doesn’t matter your position or status on this earth— storms will come. No one is immune to the trials of this fallen world. Your ability to weather the storms of your life doesn’t come from your will or your strength, but from trusting in God’s will and planting your seeds in a solid foundation of faith in Him. He is the trustworthy soil we can count on to stand firm. The words of the psalmist, David resonate with me when he says: “My flesh and heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).
 
Continue to plant seeds in your life, but plant them in faith-rich soil, fertilized by endless worship to the One who can weather any storm. His will is always greater than our own and will help us to weather any storm that may come our way. 
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About the Author

My name is Danielle Biddy and I live with my husband and two bulldogs in North Georgia. I am an occupational therapist working with children with special needs. Our daughter Caroline was born in March of 2019, but passed away three months later due to a brain injury sustained in the womb. Her beautiful, short life taught me so many lessons about being a mom of faith, including lessons of overcoming trials by relying on hope, gratitude, and love for our Savior. 

We are now expecting our rainbow baby, a little boy named Jace. We look forward to watching God’s plan to continue to unfold for our lives.

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9/20/2020 0 Comments

Battling Beasts (Week 2)

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​In 2019, we found ourselves in the NICU with our first born daughter. The second she was born, I realized that this whole “parenting thing” was out of my control.
 
I had given thought to what we would need.
We took the hospital tour. 
My carefully typed-up birth plan was carefully packed into my hospital bag.
 
Too bad that well-thought-out birth plan didn’t include bullet points for “emergency c-section” or “NICU stay”.
 
Whether you’ve spent time in the hospital with your child or not, I think every mother can say that parenting is unpredictable. Situations arise in every parent’s life that can make you feel out of control, scared, desperate, or hopeless. It’s almost like the Lord put out of control, scared, desperate, hopeless people in the Bible for a reason...
Take Job, for example. In the first chapter of the book named after him, we watch Job lose everything: his animals, servants, andhis children. I’d say “out of control, scared, desperate, and hopeless” would apply to his situation.
 
While talking to Job, later in the book, the Lord references a beast called a leviathan (Job 41:15). While we don’t know much about this animal, we know it was fearsome. As parents, we may not have to deal with giant beasts with gnashing teeth, but we do have to deal with situations that scare us half to death. Like Job, one of my “beasts” was child loss.
 
Maybe your beast is simply feeling overwhelmed with everyday responsibilities.
Maybe your beasts also include watching your child suffer through an illness.
Maybe it’s a child who’s taken an undesirable path.
 
So how do we beat these beasts? For the leviathan, the Lord says that nothing on this earth was it’s equal (Genesis 41:33). Man-made items such as a sword, spear, dart, javelin, etc. were powerless against it— it seems that taking matters into our own hands won’t do the trick.
 
Remember Abraham? He tried defeating his “beast” of infertility by having a child with another woman (Genesis 16:4). His man-made solution only messed it up further. Fortunately for him, his blunder could not stop the Lord from fulfilling the ultimate purpose that He had for Abraham and Sarah’s lives by giving them a miracle son of their own (Genesis 17:19). 
 
We see Job fighting his own mental beasts in chapters 3-37, before the Lord finally answers in chapter 38. He begins ministering to Job by asking Job fifteen different questions (v. 1-20). These questions weren’t meant to belittle Job, or even reprove his grief. They were questions the Lord knew Job already had the answers to, that pointed to Hispower over the beasts of this earth. This moment of reflection taught Job that the key to defeating his “beasts” was to take his mind off of his feelings, and fix his trust in the Lord.
 
No matter what “beast” you are facing, there is nothing outside of the Lord’s control. The Bible doesn’t give us specific answers on how to do this “mom thing,” but it does tell us to TRUST. Trust in the One who is powerful to perform miracles. Trust in the One who can restore our lives. Trust in the One who can change our feelings from out of control, scared, desperate, and hopeless to, under the Lord’s control, brave, confident, and hopeful.

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About the Author

Danielle Biddy is a wife and occupational therapist who works with special needs children. She and her husband live with their two bulldogs in North Georgia, and are expecting their rainbow baby in March 2021.

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