God has a Plan.,..

So many times in our lives, we set some kind of plan for ourselves: get a certain degree from a certain college; graduate and get hired at a company making a set salary; finding a spouse that fits some pre-conceived mold; getting a house in a particular city / location; raising X number of kids; and retiring at a certain age living off of a certain amount of income for the rest of our life; so on and so forth. However, these plans do not always come to fruition - either as we had planned or as we had hoped they might be. When our plans get changed, we do not always have the answers as to how they got changed or why. As I have personally witnessed in my life, it might take many, many years before we are shown why our carefully laid plans were altered. After enduring one such major change in my plans, I came to the realization that God had a plan for me all along that was much more beneficial to me (having a relationship with Him) than what I previously had as 'my plan'.

Kimberly and I, together, fervently believe that God has a plan for us and we pray and remain open to the changes in our lives that are set before us.


This belief was tested very dramatically late last night as Kimberly's body began to terminate the pregnancy.

We made the tearfully scared phone call to the on-call doctor and told him everything that was happening and he sadly agreed that it sounded like a miscarriage. Since there is not much of anything that doctors or medication can do once the body begins this process, we decided to stay home instead of going to the hospital. We already had our 12-week appointment set for Tuesday, so they moved it up to first thing in the morning.

We were staying up late unable to go to sleep when Kimberly had this strange urge and asked me to get my Bible and read to her. I was a bit dumbfounded, but thought it was a good idea - albeit, I had absolutely no clue what part of the Bible could possibly help with a couple experiencing a miscarriage. Kimberly reminded me that her mother Donna had mentioned how good Romans 8 was (while we were visiting them at Christmas) and neither of us could remember what it said, so we opened it up and I started reading. We were both very amazed and relieved with what all of Romans 8 says, but especially so with verse 18:

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

This is also the chapter that says in verse 31:

"If God is for us, who can be against us?"

And verse 38:

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

All we could say was... WOW! After reading all of this we both felt peace about the situation. We also believe that God has a plan for us and we intend to be a part of His plan.

The next morning when we showed up at the doctor's and did the sonogram, they found that the fetus only measured 1.7cm at 12 weeks (it was 1.4cm at 8 weeks and should have grown at least a couple inches since; at 1.7cm, it would have only been estimated to be 8.5 weeks old instead of 12). He also could not get a heartbeat.

We since came home and prayed again and are hoping that her body will finish the process without us having to use certain medications or surgery to complete the miscarriage. We will be trying to get her lots of fluids and sleep this week and would appreciate any / all prayers. This is still very difficult to even type on a computer - much less speak about, but we have informed both of our families of everything that has been happening. While we are both normally able and willing to talk to most everyone about life, this is something that we would very much prefer your prayers more than the phone calls.

We love you all and will be keeping our parents informed, if you have questions. In the meantime, please pray for us, for Kimberly's body to heal completely and quickly, for God to continue to use us in his plans, for the understanding of Kimberly's employers, for knowledge and insight from the doctors and nurses, and - if it is God's will - a healthy pregnancy and baby sometime in the future.

In Him,
Julius & Kimberly