Blessings

Today is Julia's 4th birthday. She was so excited this morning. She woke up early and came downstairs with a big smile on her face. I can't imagine life without Julia. I can't imagine a day without her.

5 years ago we found out that Melissa was pregnant. The doctor told us that she was approximately 5 weeks along and all looked good. We then went back for another check up and learned that there were some problems. The baby was not any bigger. After a series of tests and doctors appointments we were told that Melissa had a miscarriage and the baby did not survive.

Wow. This hit like a ton of bricks. A lot of thoughts went through my mind. Confusion. Frustration. Sadness. Hope. Rest. No matter what I did I couldn't understand. And I still don't. And I don't have to.

Today is Julia's 4th birthday. If we didn't have that miscarriage Julia would not be with us today. I wouldn't trade that for the world. Sometimes you have to go through sorrow to understand joy. Sometimes the difficult times of life are there to make the other times better.

This isn't to say that every difficult time is followed by blessings. Often times we can't see the eternal purpose of events in our lives. But sometimes we can. But when we realize that God is in control and He loves us more than we can possibly imagine things get easier. When we combine that with our experiences of seeing blessings through the storms of life we remember just how much God loves us!