9-11 a day that holds so many mixed feelings for me. On this day, 11 years ago today, I married my hubby Michael! A day that was filled with happiness! A few bumps in the schedule, but a great day! I think about that WHOLE day. From the silly gifts I scheduled to have delivered to Michael each hour leading up to the ceremony, held at a Embassy Suites. They were SO funny! I have the cards and description of the gifts in my memory book. I wish I could quickly get my hands on it to share more but I can't. Anyway, what a great day that left the two of us TOTALLY wiped out. We were so happy to be married and well, FREE adults. Meaning we were our own boss now. How silly that seems now, but I remember that being one of my thoughts as we left the Fraternal Order of Police reception hall on the south side of Jacksonville, Florida.
All that to say, we made it to the 11Th year. Talk about a bunch of bumps in the schedule. Not even 2 short years after being married, God decided to bless us with twin girls. Little bit of advice, if your on the pill, this DOES NOT MEAN you will NOT get pregnant. Case in point, I got pregnant with twins on the pill. Now to all those from high school that thought I was the crazy one to be scared to death of certain activities everyone else was partaking in...for once I WAS RIGHT!!! My luck would have it!!! So funny! God knew I was too hard headed for just guilt and shame to be enough of a lesson and consequence for me going against His rules! LOL
Michael and I learned quickly the reason for the SURPRISE of pregnancy. He and I were struggling in our marriage. We had our own jobs that we both loved and worked A LOT of long hours. Man to go back and KNOW what to do with the money when we had NO responsibilities and medical issues!!! Where was Dave Ramsey then? LOL Michael traveled to Roanoke for work we just weren't on the same road. But we were managing through.
Once I got pregnant, I began having a lot of complications. I had a pic-line placed early on, this is a feeding tube. I had home health nurses that would come to house, the whole nine yards. It was awful. Michael learned to hook me up for fluids twice a day. You want to learn to trust and love your spouse, be put in a place where you have to depend on him for everything, including him feeding you! I was in and out of the hospital so much, Dr. Gamble, NOW Dr. Kidd, decided best I just stay. Less paper work!!! So early on she kept me. I grew to LOVE Va Baptist and the Mother-Baby Unit.
September 4, 2001, I gave birth to twin girls. LeAnn McKay Justice 5.1 at 2:25pm and Terra Renee Justice 5.2 at 2:27pm. It's funny cause as soon as those girls were out of my tummy, I felt SO much better. Of course I had drugs, you kinda HAVE to with multiples cause of possible issues that could arrives. But thankfully the birth was the EASY part of the whole thing!!! Now 6 hours AFTER birth was painful but we made it through with the help of great drugs!
The days leading up to us leaving the hospital I stressed over having NEVER changed a diaper and getting the girls mixed up. Well I solved the last one easy, painted their toe nails BEFORE we left the hospital and decided to leave Terra's anklet on. The diaper thing, well I didn't change a diaper till the day we were leaving. I was SO tired, I hadn't slept in 30 weeks from being uncomfortable. So I took Dr. Kidd's (and every nurses) advice and left the girls in the nursery all night and well most of the time before we left.
But lets skip to just a short 7 days later. Michael, the girls and I were still asleep at 9am on September 11, 2001. When your doing feedings for two every 2 hours, feedings take 45 minutes...yea sleep was about the only other thing we could fit into the schedule. The phone rang, a family member telling us of the first plane to hit the TWIN (did you get that...twin) towers. I turned on the TV and watched in horror for, not just the day, but months. I was consumed. But I normally get consumed with such things. Like the Columbine School shooting, Princess Diana's death, just to name a few.
I was speechless. Michael had to go to work that afternoon and I DID NOT want him to go. I was scared. I would stare at the girls sleeping, which is all they did, aside from eating and filling diapers, and I couldn't help but think "what have a brought these two little ones into? How could I have brought two children into a world like this?" I then became consumed with the stories of the babies that were born that day. Not just all of them, but especially consumed with the babies born where their fathers were killed on that day. On THEIR birthday! The magazine article and cover that I read over and over, was put out by People Magazine about 6 months after the tradegy of 9-11. It had those mothers, with their babies in arms, on the cover. There were 2 sets of twins born among that group.
I titled today's post Hear Us From Heaven, cause I can not listen to that song without thinking about 9-11. It was mind blowing how I just managed to pick that certain Calling Levi CD when I got to the gym Friday to work out. I just swirl my thumb over the i-pod and whatever CD it lands on, I listen to that one or one next to it. It landed on Calling Levi Glimpse of Heaven on Friday. Read these words of this powerful song...
Hear Us From Heaven
Lord Hear our Cry
Come Heal our Land
Breathe life into these dry and thirsty souls
Lord Hear our Prayer
Forgive our Sins
As we call on Your name
Would You make this a place
For Your glory to dwell
Open the blind eyes
Unlock the deaf ear
Come to Your people
As we draw near
Hear us from heaven
Touch our generation
We are Your people
Crying out in desperation
Hear us from heaven
Hear us from heaven
Hear us from heaven
2 Chronicles 7:14 If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land
Yes SIN was the cause of 9-11, NOT God. Could He have stopped it from happening? YES! However, like many other things, God allows us to go through many a valley, to chasing us and draw us to Him. God is the reward in life, even in difficult circumstances. The sad part is, many call on God ONLY when their in trouble. O the blessings you are missing. The opportunities for God to show you He DOES answer prayer. Many treat Him like Santa Clause. Please just let me pass this test. Dear God, please let me make that green light. Lord, please let my team win the game. God, please heal me of this sickness.
I wonder in all of 9-11, how many heard the gospel for the first time at a funeral, memorial or whatever? How many survivors lived to truly turn their lives over to Christ and are now being used to share God's love and grace with others? How many who were already Christians but were effected and are changing lives by sharing how Christ helped them get through the grief, pain of being healed of severe burning (like so many suffered), and other effects?
Without a doubt, 9-11-01 was probably (hopefully) the worst thing any of us will ever see or experience. I can't help but think while I read those words "hear us from heaven", knowing that God DID hear us! He heard our cries! God's word says that God works EVERYTHING together for good. Have you thought, we personally might not know HOW or in what ways God brought good out of that day, but knowing that HE promises He will...I KNOW He did! Lets choose to think about this side of things!
Remember in the rubble of the twin towers, the metal that was in the shape of a cross? My God is more powerful than any human that tries to destroy His children, without first going through God Himself!
I'm doing my 9Th Beth Moore bible study right now, The Patriarchs. Last weeks homework ended with us writing our most difficult questions to God on this picture of books. There are many...examples
*Why does a child ever have to suffer abuse, cancer, death...?
*Why does God not have the mercy to allow one to come to know Him and accept Him as Lord, before he dies?
*Why is ONLY hind sight 20/20? (That was one of mine)
The blank books were standing between two bookends. One book end was God's Sovereignty the other was God's Unfailing Love. What would your difficult question be?
Psalm 21:7 For the king trust in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High HE WILL NOT BE SHAKEN (The bold print is mine)
God's love is unfailing. His sovereignty can terrify us only to the extent that we are uncertain of His love for us. WOW!
Candy Justice
