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by Ruth O’Neil

There was once a time when I thought I had no testimony. I didn’t have anything amazing to share. But I was wrong. It wasn’t right away that I was able to see where God had been working. It took time and distance. But one day it dawned on me, and I was amazed.

I excelled in school, I even skipped a grade. I never gave it much thought; it “just happened.” The year I skipped a grade was also the year I started dating the man I would marry.

After graduation, I went off to college. Knowing I wanted to be a writer and that we had set our wedding date, I chose the writing classes I wanted, bypassing others, knowing I could go back anytime, anywhere to finish my degree.

When I came home for Christmas that year, my mother and I spoke about my maternal grandmother’s health. She had breast cancer and was not doing well.

My mother started crying. “I didn’t want to say anything until after Christmas because I didn’t want to ruin the holidays. I found a lump.”

I encouraged her to get it tested ASAP. The week before our wedding, she received the news the lump was benign.

Since my fiancé and I had done things the old-fashioned way and did not live together until after we were married, we planned to wait a year or two before beginning a family.

But God had other plans.

Three weeks after the wedding, I was sicker than I‘d ever been. Yup. I was pregnant.

Nine months and two days after we got married, we welcomed our first daughter into our lives. She was three weeks early, but the timing of our daughter’s birth was all in God’s grand plan.

She was the first grandchild on my side of the family, and my mother was ecstatic! She flew down to visit and spent a week holding that little girl as much as she possibly could, knowing the miles would be a barrier to regular visits.

After her visit, Mom started having more health issues. That lump she’d been told was benign was cancer that had spread throughout her body. Doctors gave her thirty days to live.

As my mother deteriorated, our home church bought a plane ticket so my daughter, now a year old, and I could fly home and spend some time with my mom, thinking it might lift her spirits. While we were visiting, my mom witnessed my daughter taking her first steps.

She died a month later.

If I had not skipped a grade, I would have graduated from high school a year later, gone to college a year later, got married a year later, and my daughter would have been born a year later. It would have been a year too late for my mom to see her first grandchild taking her first steps.

God orchestrated all the days of my life because He loved my mom and wanted to bless her with one of her dreams. My testimony is not one of the drastically changed, but one of God’s love for His children.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future‘” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) 

About the Author:

Ruth O’Neil has been writing for over 20 years. She has published hundreds of articles in numerous publications. She loves to touch the emotions when she writes. “If I can make one person laugh or cry, I’ll consider myself successful.” Her first novel “Come Eat at My Table” has just come out in ebook form and can be purchased on her website. She homeschools her three children (well, one now, as two have graduated). She and her husband have been married for 20-plus years. In her spare time she enjoys quilting, crafting, and reading. You can visit her on her blog at ruths-real-life (dot)blogspot.com or her website at ruthoneil (dot)weebly.com