Tender Mercies

25 Sept 2013 Wed. Los Vilos. When we got back from Illapel this afternoon Carolyn went into the house before me while I did a little tidying around the outside of the house.  Hna. Martinez, our land lady, in her visit last night, make it clear it was up to us to do whatever we wanted with all the jillions of little pots and coffee cups littering the yard full of cool-looking cacti, succulents, rubber trees and all kinds of other “indoor” plants that grow outdoors. 

I came into the house and noticed Carolyn in the bedroom kneeling by the bed praying.  At first I thought that maybe her meeting in Illapel this morning didn’t go too good and she was upset.  When she came out I could see she was crying.  I put my arm around her and asked what was wrong.  She pointed to her I Pad, which was open to a note from our daughter Melanie, the one with the serious pregnancy problem.  We knew she was seeing a specialist yesterday, to see if her bad situation also had another even worse complication on top of it.  

I immediately thought the worst.  I cautiously read her email.  To our amazement, the specialist said her situation had completely reversed and everything looked normal, and that she was cleared for a normal, instead of cesarean, delivery.  What?  I read it again.  Then I thought, she is just kidding and trying to just make us feel good for a minute or two.  But as I read and reread her email, and then after talking to her via Face Time, it was abundantly clear that our family, and especial Melanie's family we were the recipients of a real live miracle.  

Melanie had been told long ago that there was  no  longer  any chance that her problem could clear up... none ever had after that date...essentially zero probability that the baby would move and allow a normal delivery.  A cesarean was a sure thing, and the complications of sudden bleeding with her condition, endangering mother and unborn child was a high probability, as was the chance after childbirth of needing to do a hysterectomy that would prevent the possibility of future pregnancies.  She had gone to still another doctor, a specialist, to see if she was also at risk for a further complication her other doctors were worried about.  

We were not prepared to hear that everything had suddenly and miraculously changed since her last doctor visit a couple of weeks ago.  There really is no other explanation, than it is a miracle and blessing from God.  Any other rationalization as to how it could have happened seems to be an affront to God and his goodness and mercy.  

Thankfully, Carolyn’s prayer and tears, were prayers and tears of thanks and joy, and not of sorrow, concern and  worry.  We keep wondering why we’ve been granted such a tremendous blessing after so many months of constant prayers and so many fasts.  It is true we never gave up hope, and always felt  things would turn out OK in the end.  But it is also true that we were prepared for the worst.  The words “tender mercies of the Lord” fit pretty well in this case.

Our mission president told us a couple of weeks ago not to worry about it, that it would turn out just fine and that the Lord would bless us and her.  That turned out to be prophetic.  Thank you, Heavenly Father!