Perspective.

Mother's Day 2011

Hours after this photo was taken, my mom and I were rushing Stella to the Emergency Room.  It wasn't the Mother's Day I had planned, that's for sure.  Stella came down with a serious and sudden case of croup that involved many episodes of severe coughing/difficulty breathing, lots of poking, prodding, nebulizing and injecting, and it finally concluded with us spending the night in the pediatric wing of the hospital for observation.

Oddly enough, when I opened the hospital bill for $1,846.67 (this being the portion our insurance did NOT cover) I was smiling.  You'd think the smile would have been wiped off my face as I read the total, especially since we have no money to cover the bill, but at the time I happened to be watching Stella feed the dogs from her tray of lunch.  Her peals of laughter and complete joy were a gift from God at that precise moment.  I thought to myself, "I would pay all the money in this world to hear that laughter, to see her genuine love of life, and to keep her healthy...and God will provide."

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 4: 6-7