Refined by the Fire

Tomorrow is our second big appointment at UCSF. We'll get another ultrasound (hopefully more 3D pics of Maddie's beautiful face) and another echo. Afterward, we will meet with a doctor from the CDH center and find out what happens next. Praying that this is a very boring appointment in which they just take a bunch of measurements, maybe give us some good news, and then send us home.

One thing that has struck me about "meeting" so many other CDH families is how many of us are believers. And from what I've learned, I mean real lovers of Christ. Not people who started going to church when they got their diagnosis. Not people who call themselves Christians because it's politically easy or correct or because our parents did. But real families who truly know and believe that He is in control and are trusting His will and His love with our babies, even though we know His will may mean our babies become Angels before we are ready for it to happen.

Isaiah 48:10 reminds us that God refines us in the fire in order to purify us, grow us and ultimately make us more Christlike. We know this means more humble, more forgiving, more patient, more loving. It means that some trials are there to make us into the person and people and community we all really want to be.

All of this just makes me think that God has chosen each of these babies, has allowed CDH to enter the lives of each of our families, for a bigger purpose. That each baby has something to teach us about sacrificing ourselves for the love and well being of another.

They don't have a choice. They won't know a single day of rest and peace and contentment for years. They may never know a day where they feel "healthy". But they fight. And they learn to love. and they learn compassion and empathy. such a rough start to turn into someone so imperfectly perfect - refined by the fire.