“. . .for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Deuteronomy 31: 6b, 8 ( NIV )

“God goes with you, He will never leave you or forsake you.” The power of these words, spoken by Moses, is something that I did not fully grasp until I was able to look back at the most trying, stressful and emotional time of my life – the birth of our youngest son.

Mitchell was born with a potentially life-threatening intestinal disorder. On his third day of life, when he was taken from my arms to be anesthetized for his first of three surgeries, it was hard not to think that God had forsaken my family and me. “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Obviously these words from Moses were only meant for the Israelites. They just didn't apply in my situation. But now, eight years later, it is so clear that God was ever so close, using his divine intervention to save the life of our son. All earthly odds were against us, but God managed to time Mitchell's delivery between the two back-to-back blizzards of 1996. He also coordinated Mitchell's arrival at the Geisinger with the schedule of the on-call pediatric surgeon – the one surgeon whose expertise just happened to be in intestinal disorders! The detail and coordination of the chain of events for the first six months of Mitchell's life was so complicated and intricately woven that it is evident that only God could have been responsible.

Looking back I can now see that God had not forsaken my family and me. He was ever present, answering our prayers in a way that was unrecognizable to us at the time. Oh, the worry, stress, and tears I could have avoided had I realized this eight years ago.

There are probably times in most people's lives when they feel like God left them for awhile. Looking back over his life at a time near his death, however, Moses knew that God had always been there and could be confident in telling the Israelites that God would not forsake them in their future endeavors. Now, I too have that confidence!

SUE STEINER