Our First House!

It was one of the most exciting days of our lives! We had just bought our first home. It was Saturday, July 3, 1992. We had waited two years for a house in this neighborhood to be for sale. Ten families from our church lived here and most of them homeschooled their children. That was our plan too and after years of living very isolated lives we wanted to be among like-minded families. This was especially important since I would start teaching our oldest daughter in the fall.

Our lives were filled with hope and excitement. We were enjoying our growing family: Emily was 5, Rebekah 4, and our long-awaited son Eric had just celebrated his first birthday in March.

Since finances were tight we had bought a “fixer upper”.  We had a group of friends from the neighborhood over that Saturday to help us tear out carpet and wallpaper and begin making plans for all we hoped to get done before we moved in the next month.

The next morning, Sunday, we were trying to get everyone ready for church, but Eric wouldn’t stop crying. We were unable to console him. He had an ear infection and had already been through two series of antibiotics but still had a temperature of 102 degrees. We called our pediatrician and she said we should take him to Children’s Hospital. None of us expected to be told several hours later that they thought he had Leukemia. I remember thinking, “He can’t possibly have that – I don’t even know how to spell it!”

Eric was admitted to the hospital, the girls and Dan went to our pastor’s house so Dan would be free to come back to the hospital in the morning for the bone marrow biopsy which would determine if Eric indeed had Leukemia. I spent the night pleading with the Lord, “Please don’t ask us to walk through this. I’m not strong enough. Don’t you know this is our only son? You promised me a son – remember? Don’t you know he is the last Sather? If he dies it will be the end of my husband’s family name.” Around and around my thoughts went – always ending with, “Please don’t ask us to walk through this.”

When we met with the Oncologist after surgery our worst fears were confirmed. Eric had cancer. Our journey had begun.

Those next few days were a blur. Tuesday there was more surgery to insert a catheter in Eric’s chest so they could begin chemotherapy. Then there was the chemotherapy itself and within days he needed the first of many blood transfusions.

Wednesday was our 8th wedding anniversary. Friends came to stay with Eric in his room so that Dan and I could go to the hospital cafeteria for our anniversary dinner. It was a solemn affair as we both struggled to understand what had happened to our lives. It was the first time we had been alone since Sunday. We held hands and tried to comfort each other. Finally Dan shared this story with me.

On Saturday as we excitedly went from room to room in our new home, making plans and visiting with friends, he had a song in his mind that just wouldn’t go away. He said he found himself humming it and mulling over the words. At that point he said it seemed to mean that many of our hopes and dreams were in the process of coming true. Now, he thought it was an anchor for us. The song was “He Who Began a Good Work in You by Steve Green. It is based on Philippians 1:6

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ;

The words are:

He who began a good work in you
He who began a good work in you
Will be faithful to complete it
He’ll be faithful to complete it
He who started a work
Will be faithful to complete it in you

If the struggle you’re facing
Is slowly replacing your hope
With despair
Or the process is long
And you’re losing your song
In the night
You can be sure that the Lord
Has His hand on you
Safe and secure
He will never abandon you
You are His treasure
And He finds His pleasure in you

He who began a good work in you
He who began a good work in you
Will be faithful to complete it
He’ll be faithful to complete it
He who started the work
Will be faithful to complete it in you

These words took us both back to our verses in Daniel 3.

If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.  But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
Daniel 3:17-18

We didn’t know what tomorrow held for us – or for Eric. But we did know who held our future in His hands and we knew we could trust Him with it. So we did the only thing we could – we committed our lives and the lives of our children to the Lord once again, and set our faces to follow Him.

 

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© 2007 Phyllis Sather