Giving Thanks in a Storm

"[G]ive thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (I Thessalonians 5:18 ESV).

At approximately 2:30 A.M. on May 9th, 1996, I discovered that what seems impossible to us is possible with God. On that particular morning, in a hospital room in Nashville, TN, I gave thanks while experiencing a heart wrenching, dream-crushing reality.

When tragedy strikes, we must choose our response. As a pastor, I've been there when loved ones die unexpectedly. I've been there when spouses die of cancer and heart attacks. I've been there when a teenager dies of leukemia. I've been there and I have took notice. Some handle it well, and others not so well.

On this day, however, it was my turn, but this one was different. I've never been there when a healthy looking baby is born, only to be told three hours later that "there is a problem. She's hemorrhaging on the brain; there's nothing more we can do, and it doesn't look good."

Those words were ringing in our ears as the physician over the neonatal intensive care left the room where my wife had given birth to our first child. With the door closing behind the physician, our silence was broken by my father-in-law, a minister, saying let's pray.

When 8:30 P.M. arrived, some 5 hours after our daughter's birth, we were standing at the entrance to the Neonatal Intensive Care Ward (NIC). When I requested admittance over the intercom, we were told to wait for the doctor. Both physicians, the one who delivered our daughter and the NIC physician came out. Unfortunately, they gave us no hope. They said, "If by some miracle she survives, she would most likely live out her life in a vegetative state." They then led us in prayer and suspended all the NIC rules for us.

Shortly after my wife's parents took her back to her room for some rest, around 2:15 A.M., I was informed that a room had been set aside for me to use (We were from out of state.). At first, I declined its use, but after being told I had to put my daughter down to receive another blood transfusion, I accepted the invitation. My motivation, however, was not sleep--I needed some alone time with God.

When I entered the room, I knelt beside the bed. I acknowledged that God already knew what I wanted--I wanted a miracle for my baby girl. I reminded Him--as if He needed it--of how He had healed a woman in the Bible who had been losing blood for 12 years (See Mark 5:25-29). I told Him that if He healed my daughter, I’d give Him praise for it at every opportunity. But I also told Him, regardless of what He did, I would still love Him, trust Him, serve Him, and give thanks for every hour I had with my daughter. Yes, I gave thanks. For many years, the desire of my heart was to have a child. Now, at the age of forty, I had a daughter--if not but for a few hours.

Now, some twenty years later, I am not only thankful for that day and those hours, but also for every day afterwards. We took our baby daughter, Elizabeth Ann Fleming, home with us two and a half weeks later. She is now twenty-years old and a healthy college student, who last year won both the Math, Communication, and Trio student of the year awards at the community college where she attends.

I often look at her and give thanks. Giving thanks may not always be easy, but it is always possible. And giving thanks in all circumstances, not necessarily for all things, is also possible and most of all, it is God's will.