The Potter's House of Camdenton
Beginnings- Be A Part of God's Story
Well, again, we're glad that you're here to worship with us this morning, and we've got a special treat this morning. As I said a minute ago, we've been studying and walking through the stories in the book of Genesis, and it's been such a wonderful treat to see God's plan unfold, to see God work in the lives of so many people, and it's been rewarding, I don't know about for you, it has been for me. And so we thought today would be a great opportunity to hear from some families from this century, from the 21st century, and specifically from our church family. So we've got two couples that are going to come and share some of their story with you this morning. And as you think back on the stories through Genesis, you know those people were imperfect that God used. They weren't heroes like we think of heroes, they had flaws, they had failures, and yet God used their lives and those failures and those good circumstances, those bad circumstances. And specifically we think of Joseph most recently as we've looked at that story, how he chose to believe God, even when his circumstances were bad and getting worse by the day it seemed. He chose to trust God, he chose to believe God. And as you listen to the stories this morning, I just encourage you to think about God's faithfulness, think about God's story and what it could mean for us to make God's story, our story, and our story a part of God's story. So we have two couples, Jason and Natalie Whittle and Elgin and Sarah Rees, and they're both going to share. And please give them your attention this morning. Good morning, thanks Brian, let's just let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, we thank you so much, we thank you for your love, we thank you for your provision, we thank you for the way that you seek us, the way that you continue to orchestrate your story behind the scenes, Lord. We thank you what you've done in our lives, what you continue to do at the Potters house, I thank you for the people who are here, the families represented, but we just thank you most of all for your faithfulness, God, for your Son Jesus and the finished work on the cross that you did, and so we just give you this morning, and we are in all of you in Jesus' name, amen. Yeah, we're not going to tell you our whole story because our story is really long. So we've been here, obviously, if you've been here the last few weeks, like Brian said, we've been going through Genesis, we've really looked at the story of Joseph, and if you haven't been here, just a super, super quick recap is Joseph was sold into slavery to the Egyptians by his brothers, not super, not super fun. From there, he finds favor with the potter for this high-ranking Egyptian, is made ahead of his household. From there, gets set up and accused of something that he didn't do, and then spends a ton of time years in prison before God decides to use him to come out of prison. The Pharaoh of Egypt, the king of Egypt, ends up pulling him out, asking to do something. He finds favor with that king, with the Pharaoh, and if you skip ahead to the end of it, we realize that throughout this whole time, God has been using Joseph and his life to, for one, save his own family, to save Joseph's family ultimately from this crazy drought that's getting ready to happen, or does happen. And then, even more than that, we find out that the Messiah is going to be coming through that line. And so it's this awesome picture of just what God is doing behind the scenes. He doesn't look good for a long time. And I'm sure at that time, we talk about just Joseph's faith and trust. And I'm sure during that, I'm sure there was times that he struggled. I'm sure there was times that he was wondering what God was doing. I mean, it was 13 years from the time he was sold into slavery to the time he became second in command of Egypt. So I'm sure there was times, but the text just continues to show Joseph's trusting God despite his circumstances. Even though he can't see it, he just continues to trust God in what he's doing. And so what does Joseph's story look like today for our lives? It's probably not getting thrown in a pit by our brothers. It's probably not going to be all of a sudden be second in command of a great nation. But sometimes we read our Bibles, right, or we hear these stories. And we think, well, that was way back then, and of course God showed up. But this is now. And in my life, it's really hard, it's painful. It feels like my life's fallen apart. It's not what I had planned for my life. It's not what I had planned for my kids' life, for my grandkids' lives. And it just doesn't make sense, and it just doesn't feel sometimes like God's there or that he cares. We talk about putting our faith and trust in Christ often, right? And it's a lot easier to do that when things are good. When things are hard, when things are falling apart around us, do we still trust? Do we really believe that God is good? I always love the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It's in the book of Daniel if you want to read it, but they're getting ready to be thrown into this fiery furnace because they won't bow down and worship the king. The king is commanding that everybody worships him, and they're like, "We're only worshiping our God." And so he gives them one last chance. You're going to bow down to me, and they're like, "King Nebuchadnezzar, we're not going to do that because our God can rescue us." But even if he doesn't, even if he doesn't, we're going to worship him. And we usually don't learn these lessons, right, from a sermon at church. It's a lot easier, it's only when you're in the fire, and oftentimes it's not even when you're in the fire, it's when you come out on the other side, when you're all the way through it, and you look back, and you get a chance to see what God has done. And sometimes, sometimes we don't even get that. Sometimes it's not even this side of heaven that we get to see what God is doing. God was working through, for generations, generations passed away, and they just, different people stayed faithful, different people stayed faithful. And that's what he's calling us to do. And it's just not very easy, but the reality is that we all, all of us, don't read the Bible and think, "Man, that was just them, and that's them. And this is me." God is continuing to use you guys, and you and Nat and Elgin and Sarah are going to tell you a couple stories of just where we've seen God work and how God has worked, and we've seen it throughout our lives, and Nat's going to share with you one of those times. Good morning, Potter's house, let me lower this a little bit. Since I have been a mom, almost 23 years now, I have dreamed, since I've been a mom, that one day we would be able to take our kids on a mission trip. To be able to serve the Lord as a family, and for our kids to see what the whole world looks like, what the real world looks like outside of the United States, outside of our home and our neighborhood, but the majority of the world. And to be able to serve the Lord together. And so that dream came true this past December. All eight of us went to the Philippines, and we had amazing hosts, the Hagan family, was such an amazing host. They took us all over the land, all over this beautiful country. And while we were there, I was looking at everything we did. I was looking at it through a lens of I'm going to be leaving my oldest baby girl here. And it is a very beautiful country, and full of a very precious people. And it is a very underdeveloped country. And so I just began looking at it through those lens that we're leaving our baby girl. And the entire 13 days we were there, I had chest pains, a mix of poor health and anxiety and worry. And I used to think we were a pretty adventurous family and outdoorsy until I met the Hagan family. And we were walking on a bridge made of only rope and some wood straight into the jungle. So it was just an amazing experience. We'd love to share more sometime about that trip. But at the end of the trip, seven of us got on a plane, and one of us stayed in the country. And I began to have this dialogue with the Lord. Whoa, wait. This is not what I signed up for. Sorry, I can't cry. This is not what I signed up for when I encouraged my daughter to do this. Okay, let's see. And so started that dialogue with the Lord and began to, then I did some of my own research and some started to develop some of my own realities that were not God's realities at all. And I started to become overwhelmed with fear, worry, anxiety. But I am a child of God, and I know that I don't have to worry. I know I'm not supposed to worry, and I know I don't have to fear. And yet here I was, with a lot of worry and fear and anxiety. Thankfully, I remembered a passage, and in my fear and anxiety, I finally cried out to the Lord and asked him to meet me right where I was. And I told him, Lord, I know the truth, but I cannot shake this. I need you. I had to surrender, and I had to ask him to meet me. And if you have your Bibles, if you will turn to Psalm 34. So David is in front of a bimilek when he's writing this psalm, and he is pretending to be insane, and he's actually fearing for his life. He's overcome with fear. And he wrote this, and it says, I will extol the Lord at all times. His praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord, let the afflicted hear and rejoice, glorify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me. He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him. He saved him out of all his troubles. And it goes on to, there's a lot more goodness as that chapter goes on, but so God met me there in the fire and in the valley, and I did feel an immediate peace, and most of the time I could not even talk about it without weeping, just that feeling. It wasn't something that happened overnight that my anxiety was totally gone, but I felt him say, I'm here with you, and I'm walking with you in the valley. You're not okay right now, but I am with you until you are okay. And I know this because, if you'll turn to the right all the way to 1 Peter chapter 5, in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 7 says, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. So a lot of us may know this verse, do we really believe it when we are in the fire that he cares for us? And a sweet friend reminded me of this entire passage, 1 Peter 5, 6 through 11. If you don't mind, I'll read it, humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. The alert and of sober mind, your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, resist him standing firm in the faith because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings, and the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ after you have suffered a little while will himself restore you and make you strong firm instead fast to him be the power forever and ever, amen. So through this journey, I've had a renewed reverence for the Lord, he is God, the heavens and the earth declare his majesty and what he says goes, and I want to share how grateful I am that he has Claire right where he has her, and the same is true for each one of us, and in conclusion, my most recent discovery, after spending the last six to eight months in unrest, I'm now in a season of rest, and it's real rest and Sabbath rest. I'm learning, I've learned the word Sabbath is from the Hebrew word Shabbat which means rest, which means to stop, so stop the worry, stop the work, stop the hurry, and just to rest in his goodness no matter where we are, and God made the world in six days, and then he created the Sabbath, and God wasn't tired, God wasn't tired when he created the earth. He made Sabbath for each one of us, he made the Sabbath for every person, and so rest in him, and first Peter 5'7 cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you, thank you. Elgin and Sarah are going to come up, and they've got an amazing family, two of the sweetest little girls you have ever met, and we are going to be, you are going to be blessed, we're all going to be blessed to get to hear their story. There we go, can you hear me? Alright, okay, my name is Elgin, this is my wife Sarah, we have the privilege of serving as deacons here at the Potter's house, but as you all will definitely appreciate it in a little while, they never give us microphones. So Jay asked us to share a little bit of our story, I think the point, like Brian alluded to and Jason said, is that God didn't stop writing his story 2,000 years ago when we got the last of recorded scripture, he's continued to show up for his people, he's still doing that today, so we're going to take you through what we went through last year, and I say we're going to take you through it, I'm going to have to tell most of the story, I thought Sarah should have told the story, she's better at it, she's lived more of it, but she thought I should tell it, and as every man in here can relate, I present my case, she presents her case, we compromise and do what she wants, so I'll tell most of the story, and then as we go through, she's going to read some of her journal, her journal from this time is awesome, and really you guys would all be edified if we just sat here and read straight from that cover to cover, because this stuff, God was way more gracious through her at this time than he was through me, but we'll get to that in a little bit. So the first time that we were ever aware that Lydia might have any issues was that her 20 week anatomy scan, and all that was they detected fluid on her kidneys, nobody seemed too concerned, they just said we'll check it every couple of weeks, we asked if we should be referred to a specialist and they said no, it's fine, so we kept going back every couple of weeks, they kept seeing the fluid, we kept asking about a specialist, they kept saying no, until 35 weeks we finally went to see a specialist, and at this appointment they do a full body scan, and while we're in there waiting on results, the tech comes back in and she's taking more pictures and from where I'm sitting, I can see that they're specifically only taking pictures of Lydia's head, so we ask about it, she just said they needed clearer pictures, then the doctor comes in, he said yeah, the fluid is still on the kidneys, we'll need to monitor that, but he said there might be some fluid on the brain as well, we don't normally scan a baby's head at 35 weeks, their head's already down or whatever a baby's head does in there, and so we can't get a really good picture, and he told us that in his opinion everything would be normal and we would just need a follow-up scan, but he had just told parents that there was a potential issue with a kid's brain, so we were terrified, it was at this time that our church family really started to lean in for us, it was the following Sunday, the hills, wittles, and mckenzie's gathered with us upstairs here and prayed for us, Sarah's got a journal entry from that day I think. Can you guys hear me? So first I'm just gonna start by saying, before I share all of my journals with you, I've been journaling since I was, I don't, since I can remember really, it started as a diary, now it's more a journal, but I'm so thankful now that God placed it on my heart to make this a habit because this past year, going through Lydia's struggles and just like trying to make our new normal, it has been so, it's been such a blessing to me to have this journal on the days that I forget God's faithfulness and all He has done in my life, so as I read this, like I look back and I just felt so much presence from the Holy Spirit, so this one was from June 26, this was about a month before Lydia was born, yesterday morning before church I was reminded of the goodness of God and all He has done in my life, the hills, mckenzie's and wittles came alongside us and prayed for sweet Lydia's life, prayers for a healthy baby, I am so thankful for the community of Christians God has placed in my life and His constant reminder, He is with me, the prayers are helping and I am filled with a peace that surpasses all understanding, I am reminded of who He is daily, I want to worship and glorify Him, He has blessed me so, He has brought me from darkness, He has given me freedom, I must trust Him for His glory, He is holy, He is eternal, He is all knowing, He is all powerful, He is fair and just, God is good. Alright, so the day Lydia was born Sarah started having contractions around five and by 545 we finally called John L to come stay with Amelia while we went to the hospital, when she got there Sarah was still clean in the house, I was making coffee and Sarah had a contraction that just knocked her to the ground and John L was so nice about it, she just helped her up and said okay sweetie, I think it's time to go to the hospital and but then after pushing us out the door she still stopped us in our kitchen to take our picture before we left, that picture was taken I believe at 6 a.m. on the nose and Lydia was born at 7 a.m. at the hospital, so by 7 15 I'm holding my new daughter drinking the coffee that I was making when John L got there, when she was born she had a couple of visible cosmetic issues but given everything we were looking at, we didn't really care about that, it didn't, didn't register that we should, later that day they did an ultrasound of her kidney that actually came back normal, so we go home celebrating an answered prayer the kidneys healed and were good to go, we went in for that follow-up scan the next week of her head and that's where things got a little interesting, they called us and said she had colossal a genesis which between the two sides of your brain you have a bundle of nerves and she doesn't have it, she was missing that, they did say we needed an MRI to confirm but at that point we got a referral for a neurologist and a geneticist because of the cosmetic issues with the neurological issues, so then when she's 13 days old we go to the doctor for just a wait check, we had noticed that morning that she was breathing really fast so we asked our doctor about it, she said yeah that's too fast and she listened to her heart and could hear a heart murmur, so she referred us to a cardiologist, now we're looking at a cardiologist, a neurologist and a geneticist and if you've ever gone through a medical referral process this all takes months, we've got a baby that's struggling to breathe so we're looking for another option at this point, so we asked the doctor what else we can do, so she called University Hospital in Columbia and got us admitted there, they were great there as soon as we got there within 45 minutes they'd done a chest x-ray, an EKG and an echo, couple minutes after that they're back in our room writing out heart conditions on a marker board and the cardiologist immediately calls our room and says you guys are going to the NICU, the pediatrician starts kind of preparing us for what we're looking at, she says we're going to be measuring our stay there in weeks or months, not days, so they load Sarah and Lydia up in an ambulance and take her to the NICU, so I walk in to the NICU after them, they've got Lydia laying in a dark room with her ears and the eyes covered, and at this point she's breathing between 100 and 110 breaths a minute, they tell us she needs heart surgery but right now the pulmonary pressure is too high to do it, so the only treatment for now is oxygen and time, and I forgot there, I was going to be able to see the picture, go ahead, August 4th, 3am as I said next to my daughter fighting for her life, I have no words, this has been the hardest past week of my life, I can not understand why my baby girl Lydia, she deserves so much more, I want to wake up from this terrible nightmare, how do I find light in such darkness, God is so hard for me to find right now, I am seeking but I keep coming up short, oh Lord why, how can this possibly be good, I am yearning for answers, please Holy Spirit be present here, we need a miracle, we need a movement, show us you are with us, give us hope, give us peace, give us discernment, give us wisdom, I feel numb, like my heart is hardening, Lord soften my heart towards you, I am angry, I am sad, I am overwhelmed, please save Lydia Grace and give her a long joy filled purposeful life, let us watch her grow up, please Lord I beg. I will tell you that that is a g-rated mild version of what I was praying at that time, I do not know if you are supposed to admit in front of a church that you have cussed at God but I 100 percent was during that time, then you have another one. August 7th, we have seen the work he has done in our lives, especially in our marriage the last few years, he has been preparing us, at any other time my faith was not on a firm foundation, my faith would have wavered but he has shown up time and time again, showing us restoration and faithfulness, in particular he has shown us how blessed we are with our church community and how loved Lydia is, we are so grateful and blessed, this is part of our testimony now, I pray in 20 years that Lydia is sharing her testimony and giving God the glory, Isaiah 43-2, when you go through deep waters I will be with you, when you go through rivers of difficulty you will not drown, when you go through fires of oppression you will not be burned up, the flames will not consume you. So now we are in the NICU and they start checking everything, turns out that answered prayer about the kidney was a little bit of a head fake, that was still dilated, after a week or so she was stable enough to do an MRI, so they did that and they confirmed the colossal Around this time her pressure, her pressure had actually stabilized in her heart, so they wanted to try reducing her breathing support and then introduce oral feeding at the same time, we thought that was a lot to do in one day, but they are the doctors, she failed miserably at this and everything got worse, which was pretty discouraging. Our doctor at this time, he was an Indian man with no bedside manner and I ran into him in the hall that afternoon and I said, "Man, I think we just tried too much." And he said, "Yeah, we throw her up, see if she flies, she, boom." I was like, "What the heck?" He was a good doctor. Yeah, he was. I told him, if he said that to my wife, he wouldn't be a doctor much longer. So after another week, we were able to get genetic testing ordered to identify the cause of all of her problems. When that came back, we were told she had a gene deletion syndrome and in the databases that WashU has, they had zero other cases of her exact deletion. So she's literally one of one. Our genetics counselor had gone back and found two cases from research papers like 50 years ago that referenced it and one thing I'll say here is if you ever find yourself questioning whether or not we were created by God or whether you arrived here randomly or by accident, you should talk to a geneticist because the number of things that have to go exactly right for you to be walking around healthy is incredible. So we figure out that this one tiny missing section of one copy of one chromosome as well as spun her heart, brain and kidneys into chaos. >> August 12th, this is the day we found out Lydia, or her diagnosis. I woke up from a nap to this vivid realization, what if this is my purpose? I have often wondered what my true place in serving God is. What if God has put me here specifically to advocate for my girls so they can share their testimony to shine God's light? What if my testimony can help other special needs moms? What if my purpose is to turn what most people view as a tragedy into a beautiful story? God's story. He doesn't promise us perfect health and no suffering, but he does promise redemption. It doesn't always look the way we had hoped. I pray my eyes are fixed on him that on the hard days he is with me speaking to me. I pray he gives Lydia the fruits of the spirit that she is kind and meek, that she loves Jesus and loves others, that she shares her light to the world that God is good even in the darkest moments. >> So that next Monday, we're told that the pressure in our hearts down enough that they'll do the surgery and that we're going to St. Louis. So we start preparing for that and then as soon as we start preparing for that they come in and say the surgeon wants to wait longer to see if it heals on its own and he'll evaluate it again the next week. Now they start preparing us for the possibility that the surgeon may never recommend surgery and we may just have to stay put and treat with oxygen and time and that this could take months. >> August 14th. It feels like God has forgotten us. It feels like he doesn't care. Why God? It feels like he will never answer another prayer. Help me to understand God please. I feel so defeated, beaten down. I am losing strength. >> August 18th. Will the blessings outweigh the hardships? Will this cause a stronger marriage? Will this cause us to draw closer to God? Will this lead to the salvation of others? First Peter 1, 6, and 7. So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your face is genuine. It is being tested as fire test and purifies gold, though your face is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day that Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. >> Okay. So the next Monday they do another echo, send it to the surgeon. Now he says we're going up for surgery. So now they're loading her up on a helicopter and flying her to St. Louis. And it was these couple of days around the transition from Columbia to St. Louis. There was kind of a really cool way that God showed up that Sarah's got a journal entry about. >> August 22nd, day of grace. Yesterday God showed his goodness. One way I felt God's comfort was four straight shifts. Our nurse's name was Grace. Our last two nurses over the three shifts at MU were named Grace. Upon arriving to St. Louis, we were greeted by another nurse named Grace. Perfect for our Lydia Grace. Grace means undeserved favor. My Lydia Grace is my undeserved favor from God. Some of my thoughts from yesterday. God is asking me to trade a life that is comfortable for one that is impactful. What if Lydia being different is actually better than trying to seem perfect, realizing from the very beginning our need for a savior. God allows brokenness so his light can shine through. >> So we get to St. Louis. They let her rest for a couple of days and then they get her ready for surgery. The surgeon actually did explain to us that he was going to go into her heart but he may not be able to do the surgery if the internal pressure was too high. Apparently there's no way to measure that. But they got in, they were able to do the surgery. He came back and told us that so in your heart and lungs, it's one to one, the blood going from the heart to the lungs and back. In Lydia's it was six to one, which was why she wasn't able to breathe. She was able to close one hole in her heart but she had two more that were going to require further surgery when she was bigger probably between ages two and five. We were so relieved when we saw her. She had gone for this whole three or four weeks up to now. Her breaths per minute had always stayed above 100. That morning before the surgery, it was 100 breaths a minute. Early after the surgery, it was like 55 to 60 breaths a minute, which was like the top end of a normal range for her age at that point. It was just crazy how much different she looked. She started gaining weight immediately and they started talking, I mean within a day or two, they were talking to us about being discharged. We just had to show that she could eat orally and gain weight for four days in a row. So as we were waiting for her to gain weight, there was a lot of ups and downs and I was getting discouraged. It's funny, this was written on August 29th of 2023 and it was about Joseph. It's funny now how God works like in all the little details. August 29th, I am currently doing a study that Faith Jackson gave me on Joseph. I am reminded that Joseph had blessings even in Egypt. God was there every step along Joseph's journey and he is with Lydia too. Isaiah 45, I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness, secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord. Elgin reminded me that the Israelites were soon to forget God. He rescued them from slavery and then they were soon to complain. God gave them only enough manna for that day, no more or less I can relate. I need to remember how far we've come and all that God has done in this past month of what feels like slavery. I am looking ahead to the promised land and I feel like I am starving but God is giving me exactly what I need to sustain me for today. I need to focus on that and take one day at a time. Ever mind me when I forget, help me to stay focused and have endurance. Give me peace and strength. So like Sarah alluded to, there were some ups and downs. It was really just a couple of false starts on the weight gain because you really do have to do four days in a row if you don't gain any weight for one day, they start the four days over. And they are measuring by grams, not ounces or pounds so it's pretty exact. But finally the Sunday of Labor Day weekend we were being discharged and here's what Sarah wrote while we were waiting. September 3rd, 32 days of sleeping in a different bed, 32 days of wondering when we will go home, 32 days of not putting my daughters to sleep in their own house, 32 days of monitors, blood draws, x-rays, echoes, surgery and countless other procedures, 32 days of heartbreak, 32 days of God shining his light on a dark situation, 32 days of God sustaining me, 32 days of constant prayer and worship, 32 days of God's glory. God has already shown so much light through her life. In the past month, my faith has been tested and of course there were moments I felt angry and questioned God. He never stopped reminding me of his promises and giving me manna for today. He is my comfort and my strength in the darkest moments. This is my Egypt and he is leading me out. I will continue to trust him when I don't see it. I will keep believing, I will keep worshiping. Our Lydia Grace is a fighter. So with Lydia's stuff, it's really just kind of the beginning of the journey for her. I will say as of last month, the heart stuff is pretty much behind us. They told us those last two holes would require surgery between ages two and five and that they wouldn't get better on their own because it was congenital and caused by a genetic condition. Apparently God and Lydia had other plans because those holes have closed enough on their own. This you won't need any more surgery. We don't know what her development is going to look like but nobody else does either because there is no one else out there. She is in a lot of therapy and making really good progress. All we want is for her to be able to know Jesus and experience joy. For those of you that have been around her, she has got the joy thing down. I have no doubt that she will come around on Jesus as well. So, as soon as we got out of the NICU, I was reflecting on the prior five weeks and I had written some things as well, not as good as that. And I have actually still got them saved in my phone and the file is called "Lessons from Lydia's Field Trip" which if you remember, Brian brought that up in a sermon a couple months ago that some people learn in the classroom and some people learn on the field trip. And as soon as he said that, I thought, "idiot, why didn't you listen in the classroom?" But here are a few of the things I had written from that time. So, suffering or your family's suffering is not a result of your sin or their sin. Remember this for yourself and for other people when they are struggling. I struggled with this when we first got in there thinking that, "Is all of this my fault? Is this something I did earlier in my life?" In John 9, the disciples asked Jesus if a man was born blind because of his sin or his parents sin. And Jesus responded that it was for neither, it was so the glory of God could be displayed in his life. I know there are going to be earthly consequences to sins on earth. But if your kid is sick, if your child is born with a rare genetic condition, it's not because of something you did, it's not because you're not faithful enough with your quiet time or whatever, and it's not fair to put that kind of pressure on yourself or others. Number two, it's okay to be mad at God, he can handle it. Like Jay says, "You can't ruin God's day." I happen to be reading Job around the time Lydia was born, I'll give you guys a little tip, if you know there's a major event coming up in your life, don't read Job. He spends about half the book mad about what he's going through, and my scripture references on these points were one half of Job, one third of Psalms. And Psalms, I mean, Natalie read an awesome one, Psalm 231, "Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." If you turn over, it's on the same page, 22 1, David says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning?" I've been around churches a long time and I have never seen that verse on a coffee mug or on a t-shirt at a conference. Number three, while it's okay to get mad at God, you can't stay mad at God for not fulfilling a promise he never made in the first place. Nowhere in the Bible did he promise me a healthy family. If you read the Bible honestly, your only realistic conclusion can be that you will have trials and Jesus will get you through them. In John 16, he says, "In this world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world." Number four, pray boldly, God can do it, God will do it, but even if God doesn't do it, I will serve him. And this is exactly what Jason brought up with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Number five, you don't need to give God an out when you're praying. I quit praying if it's your will. His will is going to be done for him, going to be done anyway. Pray for him to heal, try to change his mind. In Exodus 32, God was going to burn up the Israelites after their little golden calf experiment. But Moses intervened and asked him not to, and the Bible says God changed his mind. You don't know if your one prayer is the thing it takes to change God's mind if you don't pray it. Number six, ask for help when you need it. People who love you feel helpless too, and it's okay to let someone else do something that you usually do. Pete Carroll used to tell his football teams that the three most dangerous words you can say are, "I've got this." That's way more relevant to us, all as Christ followers, than it is to a football team. Number seven, offer help and prayer when someone else needs it, even if or especially if they don't ask. In Galatians 6-2, Paul says to bear one another's burdens. And both of those last two points, one thing I want you guys to do, if you're not, is you need to be involved in a small group here. You can't go through all of this stuff alone and just sitting in a room with 300 people is not going to cut it either. Our small group showed up for us in such a huge way while we were in the hospital. They took care of our house, our dogs, they brought stuff to us, they came and sat with us, I really believe that I'd be telling you all of this in a different way today if it wasn't for our small group. Number eight, find praises every day, even if it's just one little thing, and some days it will be just one little thing. Galatians 4-2 says, "devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart." Sometimes you have to be alert to find the things to be thankful for. I specifically remember a couple of days where in the NICU where my only things to be thankful for, where nothing got worse today. Number nine, pay attention to everyone around you. You're going through this for a reason. If you're only focused on yourself, you might miss it. One thing Sarah and I talked about almost every day in the NICU was that what if the reason for all of this is so that we can come in contact with one person that Jesus wants to save? If we really believe he will leave the 99 to save the one. Number ten, we don't get to tell God how to reveal his glory. I felt like God hit me upside the head with this one in the NICU when I got to the end of Job. For 37 chapters, Job and his friends questioned God and God just listens to it and then he finally answers and I love the way he starts it for action like a man. So basically, put your big boy pants on. And then the cadence of everything he says for the next chapter is awesome. It just affirms his position as king. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Who determined its measurements? Who shut in the sea? Have you commanded the morning? When we were in the hospital, I kept praying that if God would heal Lydia completely, I would give him all the glory and that's not what happened at all. Healing didn't come. He's kept getting worse. But he kept showing us his glory in just small ways. And he's still showing his... And he's still showing his glory through her. I'll tell you, I've talked about my faith. I've been asked about my faith more in the last year than I have in my whole life. And if you really want to see God's glory personified, watch Sarah love and advocate and fight for Lydia. I get to see his glory through her every day now. Man, made it to the end. The thought we wanted to close with is that we don't think that what we've gone through with Lydia is any harder or easier than anything you guys have gone through. For everyone in here, the worst thing that's ever happened to you is still the worst thing that's ever happened to you. We just want you to know that these two things are both true. Suffering is normal and Jesus is good. David was anointed king as a child, but he wasn't appointed as king for another couple of decades. The only way to describe that period of time is conflict and war. It's true for us too. And we're saved, we're anointed, but then we're not appointed until either we die or Jesus returns and the way to describe that time is going to be conflict. But come what may, you have to remember that Jesus is good. So it could be anything. If you're betrayed by someone close to you, I'm sorry and I hope you can find forgiveness and reconciliation, but Jesus is good. If you lose someone you love in an accident or someone is injured in an accident, that's terrible and I hope our church can help you find comfort, but Jesus is still good. And if a doctor comes in and says it's cancer or it's terminal or your child has a genetic condition that we've never seen before, it's heartbreaking, but Jesus is good. That's all we had today, so we do want to just thank all of you. You guys all prayed for us. You cared for us. You continue to pray for us and care for us in Lydia. And we just love you guys. [APPLAUSE] Difficult stuff and God is good all the time, God is good. You know you prepare to say something after this and it falls to me to do a wrap up, but one of the things that I know that we want to convey here, number one, these two stories are different, they have a different dynamic, they're stressful and difficult and hard in different ways, different people, different families, different circumstances. But yet I hope you saw in both those stories the common denominator was God's involvement and the faith of the families. And I hope you remember, as we've studied Genesis, that is also the common denominator in those stories. Yes, the people in Genesis that we've studied, sometimes they failed, sometimes they were victorious, but God was involved and they chose to believe God at one point or another. And it's also important for us to remember that being a part of God's story, as both of these couples mentioned, is not just a thing that was true 2,000 years ago. They both mentioned, and I'll say again that God's story is still being written. And He longs for each one of us who are believers to be a part of that story, He has made us a part of His story. Sometimes the only thing that keeps that from showing is the fact that we're not paying attention to what He's doing, or we're focused on us instead of Him. And you saw beautiful pictures of that with both of these families choosing to trust God. Remember Joseph chose to trust God even though his circumstances were bad and going to worse. He chose to trust God even when he didn't know what God was doing. You notice at the end, because he had a close relationship with the Lord and he remained close to God the whole time, he was able to notice what God was doing as it was happening and gave glory to him. And you saw that as well with these families here today. So our point, God's story is still being written. He wants us to be a part of that story and be looking for those things. Instead of asking why, and sometimes we've got to ask why, because it's too hard, right? I heard that today as well. But to not stay there and to choose to ask what instead of why, and what are you doing, God? Show me what you're doing so I can be a part of it, so I can participate with you. That's what God wants. He wants us to participate with Him in His story. He wants us to be a part actively, not just a bystander. So I want to remind you, some scripture in Psalm 139, some of you familiar with scripture may know where I'm going here, but Psalm 139, 13 through 16 says this, "For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb." I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body, and here's the part that I want us to hang on today. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. God has got a plan. It's a beautiful, perfect plan. And He's using imperfect and flawed us to accomplish that plan. I pray that we can look for God in our lives, look for what He's doing, ask Him what He's doing. Sometimes, especially in the hard times, let God tell His story through us. Can we do that together, let's stand and pray. Father, thank You so much for this day when we gather around the stories of our friends and saw a glimpse of what You're doing, what You have done, what You continue to do. Lord, help us as we go through this day and the days ahead that we remain close to You, that we draw closer and closer and closer to You so that when You move, we notice it. We see it. When You move in our lives, and even if it's a difficult thing that You're doing in our lives, Lord, help us to ask what instead of why. Help us to say, Lord, what are You doing? Show me what You're doing. I want to participate with You. Father, we love You. We've seen Your faithfulness in Your Word, we've seen Your faithfulness in our friends, and we see Your faithfulness in our own lives. Father, bless us, Your people. Make us a people of Your story. Thank You for Your faithfulness in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Thank You. You're dismissed. Have a blessed day. [BLANK_AUDIO]