May 25 - Sheena Mathew

I’m so thankful to God for all his blessings and also trials in my life. I grew up in India among all culture and religion. At the age of 5 my Mom moved to Middle East as she worked in the medical field and she could save some money for her two daughters' education and marriage etc. Dad could not work in another country as he worked in the Army base as a civilian. So we grew up with Dad till a year before I graduated from university. It was tough growing up without my mom around, being girls and taking responsibilities at very young age.

Well there are number of trials that I faced during my childhood which probably I would like share another day. This God moment is about the birth of Joshua my older son. I was 21 when I got married and conceived Joshua at the age of 23. The first trimester was comfortable with just usual nausea etc. At the end of the first trimester the doctor recommended I do a blood work and the results were shocking. It was confirmed that I had rubella (German measles). The doctors asked me if I noticed any rashes or fever, to which I responded no. She advised that I wait till my second trimester and do another microbiology lab test.

During the second trimester we took another culture and lab work and the count just kept increasing. The doctors were concerned now. She was Brahmin Hindu doctor. She asked me to bring my husband into her office to discuss what has to be done. My father in law insisted he would come with us as he knew the doctor well (this is very cultural that we take the advise of our elders). We went into the doctor's office prayerfully one morning and her suggestion was that I terminate the pregnancy. I was well into 6 months, almost end of my second trimester and the baby is grown and organs should have developed well. The doctor suggested that I am at high risk of stillbirth and the developing baby is at high risk of birth defects with devastating life long consequences. My husband and father-in-law said no and that we would like to go ahead with full term. Doctor looked very concerned for me and asked my husband and father-in-law to step out so she could talk to me. She explained to me the complications for the baby and me and ensured that she can convince my husband and Father-in-law since she knows him well.

I prayed with a heavy heart and asked God to lead me in this tough situation. I remembered Psalm 20 - “May the Lord answer you when you are in distress, may the God of Jacob protect you... some trust in chariots and some in horses but we trust in the name of the Lord our God”. Here is Hindu doctor advising me to terminate my child, I had to have faith & learn to trust in our living God. I prayerfully told her I would go with my husband's and father-in-law's decision and pray that God would do a miracle and I have a normal child. She was very concerned for me and for her satisfaction she took an appointment with a leading Radiologist to have a scan done to confirm what has to be done.

We visited the radiologist and I was 4th in line. Sitting in the waiting room I could hear him discuss with patients ahead what their complications were. I was not prepared to hear this, so I walked to my husband and asked if we could go back home. We are anyways planning to have the baby and I’m not prepared to go through the next trimester knowing he condition. He asked me to go back in and we can go though this together. It was my turn now and the radiologist kept examining, asked me turn on both side and repeated again and asked me drink some water, wait and come back in again. He repeated the examination again and with a big sigh he said he could not find anything wrong with my baby. I burst out in tears and praised God for his love and mercy. I stepped out of the doctor's office and told my husband and we both knelt down and prayed and praised God.

The next day we went back into the Doctor's office and she could not believe the repots she was seeing. She looked at me with a smile and said continue praying to your God. Joshua was born healthy and he is now 22 graduated from Purdue with a bachelor’s in Computer Engineering and my eyes were swelling with tears of joy at his graduation and thankful to God we trusted Him.