I Believe: Miracles - Job 1:21

When I think of miracles, miracles that have happened to me personally, a list starts running through and flooding my mind. HaShem has dome so many amazing things for me, and through me, just thinking about it is overwhelming.

Sometimes, farmers loose some of their stock, but it shouldn't happen as often as it has for me. Almost every year for the past 10 years I've lost at least one, and I don't have huge numbers. One year in particular, I lost close to half my stock, my grades at the college weren't doing too great, and the whole situation was taking a toll on my body. How did I make it? The only way to answer that, is G-d pulled me through.

"HaShem gave, HaShem took; blessed be the name of HaShem" ~ Job 1:21

I have repeated these words of Job's multiple times because of their relevance to my life. Not only does He give and take, but sometimes He gives back, then again takes away. There are two scenarios that come to mind. . .

February 3-5, 2009 Baruch

The first part of the story of Baruch, my little blessing. The first 2 paragraphs written on February 4th, it is only the part until He gave this little one back to me. The last paragraph was written just as I'm typing up this blog post.

"Baruch (which means "Blessed" in Hebrew) was born a twin on February 3, 2009 and my house here in Lynden. That was a Tuesday morning. Wednesday, February 4, came down with severe Hypothermia. We thought he wasn't going to make it. At 8:10 this morning, I thought that he had died, he was all sprawled out in the lambing pen, twisted in odd directions, and really looked lifeless and that rigor mortis had set in already. My first thought was "If he is alive, he'll have a broken neck, leg and possibly ribs." It appeared that his mother had stepped on him repeatedly. We brought him into the house to see if he would be ok, and to warm him up. My hands were cold, so I couldn't feel that he was just as cold as I was, really cold. I found this out after, of course, when I came in from finishing my chores that Mom told me that he was cold - no registrable temp. We had diagnosed Hypothermia, severe Hypothermia. We did all that we could, 3 cc's Vit B, 6 cc's Dextrose 50%, heating pad... all we could do then was wait. And pray. And pray we did. Finally, at 11:00, he started making progress. He had the sucking reflex and took a bit of milk every 15 mins until at 11:45 had taken the whole bottle. His temp hadn't even registered on the thermometer before and now is at 99.2 (normal is 101-103). The dogs barked at something and he sat up and opened his eyes, something that I was amazed he could do. After a few mins, he was up and walking! We waited until we were sure that he was stable (quite a while) and then took him back to his mother who readily took him back, another miracle! Baruch HaShem, he is even alive, let alone walking!

Sometimes the Lord will answer your prayers with a green light, right away, sometimes it's yellow, wait, and sometimes it is a red, no. This time, for me it was yellow, wait. But he did answer my prayer to give this lamb a second chance at life, a live full of little, and big, blessings.

The next day though, he was gone. I had checked on him before I went to bed, and everything seemed fine. G-d had given him to me, taken him away, tested me and gave him back in a way that could only be explained by G-d, and then took him away again. There was a point to be made, a lesson to be learned.

January 31, 2011 Tiffany and Emunah

The first part of this post is long, so for the sake of the length of this post, I'll put a link to it HERE. If you haven't already, read the first part of Tiffany and Emunah before reading the rest of it.

Similar to the story of Baruch, I went down to the barn the next morning to find that Emunah did not make it. She drifted off peacefully, not seemingly distressed or anything. Her Momma, Tiffany, my favorite ewe, ended up with an infection and died a few days later. Emunah had been given to me, taken away, and given back miraculously, to be taken away again. Tiffany, whom I thought would've died days before, was given back to me, I took care of her the best I could, and then she was taken away again.

The whole event was incredibly emotionally draining. Lots of crying, sadness, happiness, and more crying. At the end of it all, what can you say? What can you do? Look for the lessons taught, learn them. Remember everything that happened, it may be useful to you or someone later.

"HaShem gave, HaShem took;

blessed be the name of HaShem."

~ Job 1:21

Remember everything that happened,

it may be useful to you or someone else later.