IN TIME OF IMPOSSIBLITY

"With God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37).

Larry had waited twenty-eight years to find the wife of God’s choosing. At the same time, Sharon Stevenson in Montreal had been praying for God’s choice for a husband. God gave them the desires of their hearts and His answer to their prayers as they were joined in marriage on June 14, 1984.

Larry and Sharon had another desire — to have a precious baby to love and to hold in their arms. During their years of waiting, however, trials repeatedly struck their lives. In 1995 Larry had back surgery for a bulging, herniated disc that was pressing against his sciatic nerve, causing pain, numbness and "drop foot." The Neurosurgeon had to remove more bone from the vertebrae than expected in order to get at the nerve. On the fourth day after surgery, Larry said, "When God puts a person down, He wants to say something. So I am asking Him, ‘What are you showing me?’ God teaches us through suffering. You understand what He is saying through His Word."

Several years prior to that, Sharon had been admitted to the hospital with a fever of 105 degrees. After many tests the illness remained a mystery. In one of the tests the medical staff administered a spinal and injured her back when they got her up too soon. As a result she has had chronic back pain ever since. During another hospital stay, Sharon had a dangerous allergic reaction to dye that was injected into her. Code Blue went into effect, but once again God spared her life.

Through it all Larry and Sharon have not questioned God’s dealings. Larry said, "We don’t know the answers, but God is saying, ‘You need to grow in this particular area.’ When God takes you through a trial, you say: ‘Now, Lord, I’m ready to serve You better.’ There are times when God says: ‘No, I’m taking you through another trial to teach you.’"

On three different occasions, Larry had to be taken to emergency for near fatal allergic reactions to bee stings. After his third reaction in September of 2001, I said to Larry, "Remember how the Lord blessed Job greatly after his many trials. God gave him twice as much as he had before."

"That is true," Larry responded, "but sometimes those blessings do not come on earth. They may be blessings kept for us in Heaven."

Through the years much prayer had gone up for a baby for Larry and Sharon, yet they had accepted the probability that God was saying "No." They had peace and grace that only God could give them, and they were content. However, in my heart I felt confident they would have a baby, even though at times I must admit I had doubts. As the years passed, I marked many verses in my Bible that assured me God would give them a child. In the margins I recorded the dates when those verses had spoken to my heart, and beside each entry I wrote Larry and Sharon’s names.

On October 28, 2001, while returning home from a meeting, Larry said, "We have something to tell you." I held my breath. "We believe Sharon is six weeks pregnant, and she’s going to see a doctor."

On November 2, blood tests were taken, and on November 6 the doctor phoned with the results. He was concerned that Sharon’s progesterone was low, and he was not sure if she was pregnant or whether it was a tumor. He also said that, according to the tests, Sharon had had at least two previous miscarriages.

That afternoon Sharon had an ultrasound. Larry phoned with the news: "Sharon is seven-and-one-half weeks pregnant. We heard the baby’s heart beat. The baby is healthy."

In Larry’s own words he relates the unfolding miracle.

"There was one Anna who . . . served God with fastings and prayers night and day" (Luke 2: 36,37).

"The story we share with you is about the "Anna" the Lord has given to Sharon and me. In the eighteenth year of our marriage, by the mercy of God, Sharon gave birth on June 19, 2002, to our first child whom we named Anna Daisy Greiner, 6 lbs. 4 oz, 19&1/2 inches. What a beautiful miracle! And what joy she has brought us in her first month of life!

"After eight hours of Sharon’s induced labor which went incredibly smooth, Anna was born without any problems or complications, or so it seemed. Twenty hours after birth, however, while Sharon and I were enjoying Anna’s presence, the nurse came into the room and said they needed to take Anna for some tests.

"Two hours later the nurse returned and told us that Anna had a malrotation of the intestine and needed to be rushed to another hospital for emergency surgery. We were in shock, as she had seemed perfectly normal to this point.

"Anna was taken by ambulance to the other hospital while we had Sharon discharged immediately so we could both be with Anna. In a brief discussion with the surgeon, he told us they would have to untwist the malrotation of the intestine, but in doing so they would have to remove Anna’s appendix. We assured him we would be praying for him as he did the surgery.

"After three hours of waiting and praying, word came that the surgery was over and Anna was being brought back to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to begin recovery. Still not knowing if the surgery was successful, we watched from another room as they rolled her in. Suddenly an alarm went off. Nurses and doctors rushed to Anna’s bedside. The physician who had done the surgery hurried into the room, and a dividing wall was pulled around the area to keep anyone from seeing anything. You can imagine the thoughts that were going through our minds.

"Sharon and I quickly sat down and prayed: ‘Lord, You gave Anna to us for this short time but You may want to take her back, so we are giving her back to You right now to do whatever is best for her, for us and for Your glory, according to your perfect will.’

"I went back to the door and saw them removing the dividers around the bed. The alarm had stopped and the nurses and doctors had ceased their frantic rush. The surgeon came to us and said, ‘Anna’s oxygen tube had come out of her mouth and I had to hurry to put it back in before any damage would be done. That’s why all the commotion. The surgery went extremely well and she’s doing fine.’

"With tears running down our cheeks we thanked the doctor and told him our trust was in the Lord. Then, before we went out to see our daughter, we sat down again and thanked the Lord for sparing her life.

"After seven days in the NICU Anna Daisy was released to our care and we were able to bring her home. What a day of rejoicing that was! As we were about to leave the hospital, one of the head doctors said, ‘We are going to remember you here in a good way. Most parents who go through what you went through panic and scream, making it difficult for us to do our job, but you both remained so calm through it all. We were all amazed.’ We then shared our faith with him and told him about the Lord’s grace and peace that kept our hearts calm.

"Sharon and I would like to conclude by sharing what we have been telling people during the past months. Although Anna is a miracle baby after eighteen years of waiting, the greatest miracle is still the grace that God gave us during those eighteen years. He brought us to the point of acceptance that if God’s will for us was not to have a child, with that we would be satisfied. This way of thinking will not change with the birth of Anna. Sometimes God may choose not to give us certain desires of our hearts for reasons known only to Him. If so, we have learned, and are continuing to learn, what the Apostle Paul learned when the Lord denied his prayer request three times and answered Paul by saying, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness' (2 Corinthians12: 8,9)."

At various Bible conferences that summer, Larry would hold Anna Daisy in his arms as he sang, "It Matters To Him about You." On one occasion, Anna Daisy reached up her tiny hand and grasped her Daddy’s finger as he sang the closing words: "If you cling to His hand, He’ll understand, It matters to Him about you."

It matters to whom? God! Who Else?