REJOICE AND SING TO THE LORD
“…. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off…” Acts 2:38-39
“Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him….blessed is the man who has a quiver full of them.” Ps. 127:3&5
“…Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried...” Ruth 1: 16 -17
An excerpt from the book 
by Sheila Wilkins
The following excerpt tells of the beginning of our journey through the termminal illnesses of our daughters.
There is no humbling joy to match the wonder of discovering you are pregnant. A new life, a new soul, what a miracle! When a child is expected - there is a renewing of life, everything is fresh and wonderful. For Rick and me it was also intimidating, as our Korean doctor told us we were pregnant with triplets. That shock soon wore off to twins, as the third pregnancy was what medical science calls a “vanishing” pregnancy. Twins! What a miracle, two babies at once! A lifetime of joy was growing beneath my heart. Two of everything! It made us laugh with wonder. We had two teenage age daughters, and two teenage sons. We joked about boys being easier to raise then girls. God must have heard us as he showed his sense of humor by blessing us with twin daughters. Before our daughters were born, we named them Salah Ruth and Naomi Helen. The girls were named after their paternal grandmother, great grandmother and Naomi and Ruth in the Bible. The passage where Ruth pledges her loyalty to Naomi was special to us. That was the faith and love we wanted our girls to inherit. The Bible passage became their inheritance and their lives.
Salah and Naomi were our conscious choice of how we wanted to spend the rest of our lives. We were older, wiser and felt we had a lot to offer children. There was so much we had learned as parents. Mistakes we had made with our older children, we were sure we wouldn’t make with the twins. It was a wonderful feeling mapping out the rest of our days, knowing it would be filled with love, laughter, and the wonder of raising two Christian girls. Oh, the promises we made to God, to each other and our unborn daughters. We planned, prayed and cherished each passing day as the babies continued to grow. No expectant set of parents could have loved or wanted their babies more. It seemed a miracle. Medically, I should never have been able to have another child and here we were expecting twins. They were miracles growing within me. There is no greater joy or blessing on this earth than children. It may be hard work and tiring at times, but there is no love like the love of a parent for their child. Nothing compares, nothing equals, heart and soul we are bound up in our children.
Love. There is no force on earth like it. God is the creator of all love. It is no mistake that God calls himself our “Father”. If we think of God’s love, as the love of a parent, we can begin to understand the “emotion” He has for us and why He sent Jesus to die for us. He loves us as a parent loves their child. There is no stronger love. Just as we love our children completely, unconditionally, so God loves us. God’s love is wonderful. We should rejoice in the arms of our Savior.
So how does a parent who had expected the very best, cope with the worst? How do we cope when the dctors tell us our girls wil die? Coping is not an issue, survival is, and that is through love alone. No matter the obstacle, no matter the pain, love itself, love from God and love from us to our children is the force that enables us to find joy and promise in the face of tragedy.
