To Know His Voice

Next week my daughter, Heidi, will be home recovering from a double mastectomy surgery. I will be with her, along with her sweet husband, Mark, and her daddy.

My heart cries out for her even as I think back to the morning after she was born. I gave birth to her in the evening, and unexpectedly, she was whisked off to the nursery for the night. Back in those days, fathers were not allowed in the room during delivery, and babies went to nurseries. I had held her for just a few minutes immediately after her birth.

The next morning, I anxiously waited for the nurse to bring my baby to me. I sat up in the hospital bed, with the door to my room closed, and heard the nurse coming down the hall bringing the newborns to each mother. One baby screamed loudly, and I thought, Boy! I hope that’s not my baby! Sure enough, the door opened, and the nurse looked at me said, “This one is sure mad about something!” I held out my arms, and she was placed in them. When she heard my voice comforting her, she instantly stopped crying and snuggled in.

I looked at the nurse in complete amazement and whispered, “She knows my voice.” Our children will always be “our babies,” no matter how old they grow.

We laugh when they laugh and cry when they cry.

My daughter, who I’ve nicknamed Hidlebug, has been so remarkably strong these past few weeks as she has faced breast cancer, and I am so proud of her.

We are all so thankful that her cancer is in such an early stage that she will not need chemotherapy or radiation.

My thoughts right now are Scream, sweet Hidlebug.

Shout out your praises to the Lord, for He is good and merciful and full of love for you—even more than I love you, which is incomprehensibly difficult for me to even imagine.

The most important thing to us is for our children to know how much God loves them and for them to feel safe loving Him in return.

I pray I have given them this security through my words and through my example because it is in experiencing God’s love personally that they will be able to successfully navigate every trial life brings their way. And I pray they will always know the voice of their Savior.

Susan Vietz