X Family LIFE
The Johnson family (from left) Christian, Jan, Jenna, Steve and Micah.
that we would not have our Christmas as usual. Everyone on the Johnson side would not be at Steve’s parents’ house for our normal Christmas Eve celebration. We had missed spending Thanksgiving with them too. Marriages had changed the dynamics and cousins had to divide time between relatives, all understandable. Our three children, Christian, Micah, and Jenna were quite sad. I looked at them and said, “Enjoy this time. We are not promised another Christmas together.” Of course, I was thinking they might lose one of Steve’s parents or one of us before the next Christmas. NEVER did I understand, for even one minute, the reality that was buried in my warning. And with every ounce of my being, I want to scream to all of you: “You are not promised tomorrow!” Funny thing is, I seriously thought Micah was promised tomorrow. I have journals full of scripture promises the Lord has given me concerning my children. I’ve always taught my kids to search the scriptures for every solution to their problems. Find out what God is saying about the problem. He uses His Word to speak to us today, and I have countless testimonies of how He gave me clear answers to common day problems through a particular scripture. It’s fascinating. Anyway, one day my children will inherit my journals, and they will be able to read everything I have recorded that the Lord has given me for them. Since her passing, I have had to try to reconcile what God gave me for Micah. The Word says, “God’s promises are yes and in Him 10
MAY 2018 l BatonRougeChrisianLifeMagazine.com
amen.” In other words, His promises are true. If He has given you a promise, He will perform it. If He hasn’t performed it, it’s often just a matter of timing or your misinterpretation of the promise. The Lord showed me years ago that there was a pattern of seven in Micah’s life. At age 7 and then again at age 14, the Lord mightily moved and answered long-requested prayers. I’m choosing not to share the details. Since then I have been warring in prayer for other challenges she was facing. Every time I prayed, I got the same answer – “Wait!” I was beyond frustrated. I tearfully told Steve on the night of January 28, when Micah was sick and Jenna was facing an excruciating trial of the day, “I can’t take this anymore. I can’t pray any more or read or fast any more. Why won’t He answer me?” And answer He did … again, not the way I expected. Over the past couple of years, He reminded me of the pattern of seven for Micah. I dismissed it and even argued a bit with Him saying, “Surely, God, you’re not going to wait until she’s 21 to answer these prayers.” As she approached 21, I changed my tune and thought, “Please God, she’s 21, please answer my prayers.” In fact, all throughout 2017, the Lord showed and told me through every way possible that we were in a season of victory and deliverance. So for the first time in a while, I looked forward to a new year. I was so glad to see 2017 end, because it had been brutal. I thought, bring on the victory and deliverance in 2018! Bring on the blessings! And then in
literally the blink of an eye, Micah was delivered! At age 21! His promises were true – but not in the way I had expected and even more true – not in the way I would ever have hoped! The skeptic might ask, “Why? Why would a good God allow this? Why would He take a girl who loves Him with her whole heart, who is serving Him, who is selflessly loving kids and His people, who is a light to this dark world? Doesn’t this world need people with hearts and talents like hers?” But scripture says God is good, so He is. “His ways are righteous,” so they are. Scripture says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” Scripture says heaven is our reward. And my heart knows my precious baby girl IS delivered. She IS victorious. She IS where we all want to be. And she would never, not now nor in a million years, choose to come back. She is in full joy with that beautiful smile of hers beaming for eternity. And she is now a part of the “heavenly cloud of witnesses” cheering us on! Yes, I miss her with every part of my being. I still cry a river of tears. But I literally can’t wait to see her again! I’m going to wrap my arms around her so tightly and spend an eternity loving her! By being His child, that is His promise to me! This morning I put my coffee cup down on a glass coaster, which had a picture of Micah inside it. What’s strange is that I’ve had a set of these coasters for years and never had put pictures in them. A couple of months back, I asked Steve to do that for me. He gladly complied, but then both of my girls expressed how much they disliked the pictures he selected. Actually, I agreed, especially for Micah’s. I thought we have so many beautiful pictures of her. Why did he pick this one? Over the past few weeks, she’s been staring at me through it each morning. Some mornings I just can’t bear to look at it. The picture was taken last summer during our vacation to California at a succulent shop that Jenna loved. Micah was just “doing time” there because it didn’t give her any warm fuzzies. She’d rather be at a pizza shop or on an extreme adventure. But the picture brought back