Monday, November 30, 2015

The Most Outrageous Story I Have to Tell

I was driving my best friend and her daughter to the airport, this summer, when her daughter (almost six, at the time) asked when she'd first met us. I answered that my daughter Clementine and I had flown to Chicago to meet her when she was three months old and Clementine nine months old. I proceeded to explain: the plan had always been for me to attend her birth, but life got in the way. Maybe one of my daughters will allow me to attend a birth one day, I said, I sure hope so.

The very next day, my friend Sharon called and asked if I'd like to ride with her to the hospital; one of her grandchildren was about to be born. I'd never met either Sharon's son or her daughter-in-law but love my time with Sharon and agreed to go. I imagined I'd be doing some waiting and packed a novel, also--with a fleeting thought of newborn photos--my camera.

At the hospital, Sharon's son came out to greet us. He and Sharon left me to enter the room where the mother was laboring. Within just a few minutes, though, Sharon returned to invite me into the room with my camera. One day after I'd said aloud, in my minivan, that I'd hoped to attend a birth.

This is the most outrageous story I have to tell: that I found myself photographing the birth of a baby one day after expressing, aloud, my desire to attend the birth of a baby. I hadn't discussed this desire with Sharon. There had been no plan for me to meet her son and daughter-in-law that day or in that way, but there I was--in that most sacred space, chillbumps running up and down my arms--watching a baby enter the world.

This is an example of why I believe in God.

I believe in God because I couldn't make up a story like that if I tried. I've had permission to blog about this experience for almost four months and have spent the entire time trying to wrap my head around it. The most logical explanation I can offer is that my Heavenly Father wishes to delight me. And He did. He does.









6 comments:

  1. Reminds me of Psalm 37:4 ... beautiful photos.

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  2. Beautiful!! I'm so happy for you, in so many dimensions.

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  3. HE HEARS US!!!My life verse Psalm 37:4 Be delighted with the Lord. Then he will give you all your heart’s desires. 5 Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him to help you do it, and he will. 6 Your innocence will be clear to everyone. He will vindicate you with the blazing light of justice shining down as from the noonday sun. I love it, I know the Lord was blessing your heart but I will guarantee they were more blessed by the amazing pictures. Can't create that moment over again!

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  4. What a tender amazing God we have! Thanks, Brandee, for sharing this story because it directs us to our wild and unimaginable God and his love for us. He pours passions and skills into us, and then ushers us into opportunities to use them for his glory. Thanks for helping me smile widely at my God.

    What an honor that family gave you, and I imagine they were thankful for your poignant emotional captures too.

    Merry Christmas,
    Jennifer Dougan
    www.jenniferdougan.com

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