Faith Illuminated at the Doctor's Office



Stella at her pediatrician's office before the appointment.

My life as I knew it ended on April 3, 2010 at 9:36am.  The moment our daughter Stella was born my faith was illuminated in the greatest way - that light on my faith only shines brighter and brighter in the days since her birth.  Today she is six months old and we just came back from her doctor's appointment where I had another experience which magnified my faith in God - immunizations.  It's amazing to me how such a small thing can reveal so much about what I believe.  The visit was routine:  weight, height, asking questions, a physical, and finally the dreaded shots.  I watched as Stella played with the tags on her blanket, unaware of the pain she was about to experience.  I watched as her mouth opened wide in shock at the first shot, unable to make a sound in her state of disbelief.  I watched as the tears started to flow after the second, third, and fourth shots.  And I watched the same tears stop as she clung to my chest when the process was over moments later.  She gets her immunizations at nearly every visit; I'm grateful for them even with the pain they bring.  I'm even more grateful today for how this experience expanded my understanding of God's Amazing Grace.  It hurt me deeply to see my child in pain; but it also shed light on the greatness of God's sacrifice of His Son.  He sent Jesus to earth and watched as Christ endured both the daily joys and pains of growing up, serving in ministry, and living as a part of a broken world.  God also endured the greatest pain a parent could feel when His Son died on the cross so that we might freely live.  So today my small and temporary pain (or Stella's rather) helped me to realize more of God's great and lasting love, and for this I am thankful.

Stella sporting her cool purple bandaid.