When I called on Yahweh Rophe

Our son had an eventful start. He was born prematurely, and at one point, he wasn’t expected to make it. I begged Yahweh Rophe to heal him.

We were living in Bolivia. From the start, my pregnancy was an adventure. I started bleeding at about 9 weeks, so I went in for an ultrasound. (I had to walk through tear gas to get to the appointment. Bolivia was going through a lot of upheaval back then, so demonstrations, blockades, tear gas, and rubber bullets were pretty common. Little did I know that it was a pretty common thing for professors to demonstrate during the noon hour at the Plaza del Estudiante, and the police would retaliate with tear gas. Just another day in paradise. That experience set the tone for the rest of the pregnancy.)

I was diagnosed with placenta previa, so it was a high risk pregnancy. Everything could go fine, or the placenta could rupture, and I’d bleed to death.

One of the many unexpected blessings the Lord gave us was that a neonatal team from the US just happened to be in La Paz. I got enrolled in the study: oxygenation of the placenta in Andean descent and European descent women. We had no idea how much we would come to rely on that team.

Everything went smoothly, all things considered, till Valentine’s Day, 2001. Lew and I had gone to lunch, and we were walking out of the restaurant. A taxi driver took the corner too sharply, and Lew got hit. He bounced onto the hood of the car and rolled off. Thankfully, he was fine. But the shock of it started me bleeding again. A lot.

I went on bed rest and got two rounds of steroids in. But two weeks later, on March 1st, things took a turn, and Christopher was born by emergency C-section.

Unexpected blessings:

• During those two weeks, there was a taxi strike, and the road to the clinic was blocked. But when we needed to get to the hospital, the strike had been resolved.
• He was born in the best private clinic in La Paz, but there was only one ventilator. Thank God, no other baby needed it.
• The neonatologist from Colorado was with us every step of the way.
• Friends in the ministry came alongside us, taking care of Annie and doing whatever was needed.

Christopher was holding his own for the first day, but then he went downhill fast. They intubated him, but the prognosis was grim. Eight weeks early at sea level isn’t that bad. Eight weeks early at 12,000 feet where there’s 30% less oxygen? That’s a problem.

Meanwhile, people all over the world were praying for him. Family members were working to get him evacuated to the states.

The night he coded, Lew and I prayed. I remember looking at Lew and just thinking, “How will we get through this is we lose him?”

Did I have an assurance that Christopher would be healed in this life? No.

But what I did have was an overwhelming sense of peace that, no matter what happened, I could trust the Lord Who Heals.

It wasn’t a “keep your chin up, God’s got this” feeling. It was an absolute inability to worry. Absolute peace that was NOT MY DOING.

A few weeks ago, we looked at Abraham’s willingness to obey even when God told him to sacrifice his beloved son.

When God showed up and stayed his hand, what do you think that did to Abraham’s faith?

My faith went from the textbook recitation of , “I believe THAT God is Sovereign,” to a soul deep, “I believe IN the Lord Who is Sovereign.”

Sometimes it takes walking through the valley of the shadow of death to know He walks with us.

So what did happen? He got through the crisis, and when he was a week old, he was evacuated to San Antonio.

His first plane ride was on a Learjet. He spent a few weeks in the hospital, but you’d never know he had such a rocky start.

But sometimes the Lord says, “No. You won’t get the outcome you’re asking for.” Why?