God Doesn’t Make Mistakes

My job is to take care of the possible and trust God with the impossible.

Amish Proverb

Less than a year after Barbara Weaver had her eleventh child, she became a widow. Her husband, Milo, passed away after a four-year battle with cancer. Barbara was left to raise eleven children, three of whom were under the age of four. “When Milo was first diagnosed with cancer,” Barbara said, “we knew this cancer was a bad one. When I became pregnant with my youngest, I remember thinking, ‘Why would God give me another baby if I can’t have my husband to raise them?’ Milo would tell me, ‘God doesn’t make mistakes. The time will come when you’ll be thankful for these little ones.’ ”

It’s been thirteen years since Milo passed. “He was so right,” Barbara said. “These three young ones bring me so much joy, add so much life to the house. At the time, it was hard. It hasn’t always been easy. I’ve had my struggles to work through.”

When Milo was diagnosed with cancer, the couple was told to go directly to the hospital to start chemotherapy. “But we didn’t want to be hasty,” Barbara said. “We wanted to go home and pray first.” Afterward, they decided to start chemotherapy, but his tumor was growing rapidly. “The tumor did go away, and he was in remission for a while, but his blood count never went up”—medical code that meant the cancer wasn’t gone.

Milo and Barbara prepared for what lay ahead. “We sold our farm and sold our cows. We bought a small property. Others helped us build a house. We had no yard, no barn, no nothing! For a year, Milo was doing well. He told me he even forgot he’d been sick. He built our barn. But then, at a school picnic one May, he noticed something wasn’t right. He tried to play ball, but his coordination wasn’t right. He couldn’t swing a bat. The doctors found the cancer was in his bone marrow. They told us that we could probably do a bone marrow transplant to prolong his life. We decided not to try the bone marrow transplant. Milo went downhill fast. Soon he needed a walker. By October, he was in so much pain that he had no desire to live.”

Not much later, Milo passed away.

Barbara remembered that at the time of Milo’s funeral, people told her she was lucky to have all of those children at home. “Lucky?! I thought. To raise all these children alone? But now I can see what they meant. At the time, it was overwhelming. But these were older people and had a better perspective of loss, of carrying on.”

A Bible verse in the book of Isaiah has helped to anchor Barbara during difficult times: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3 KJV). “In order to have that perfect peace, we need to trust God fully and wholly at all times,” she says. “Because I am so human I need to remind myself of this daily. However impossible and complicated things may seem to me, ‘with God all things are possible.’ ”

This whole experience—widowhood and raising children on her own—has proven to Barbara that the Lord has been faithful. “It hasn’t always been easy. I’ve had my struggles to work through. But we can trust him! He’s going to look out for you. Trust him!”

Road Map: Getting There from Here

Imagine finding yourself widowed, with eleven children to raise, three under the age of four! Barbara felt thoroughly inadequate as she faced such a daunting task, but she did know she had to depend on God. “Because I am so human I need to remind myself of this daily,” she said. “However impossible and complicated things may seem to me, ‘with God all things are possible.’ ” Parenthood can be overwhelming—with one child or eleven! The next time you are feeling inadequate, remember Barbara’s testimony. She learned that when her strength was gone, God’s strength was sufficient (2 Cor. 12:10).

At her husband’s funeral, people reminded Barbara that she would be blessed by those young children. At that moment, she felt anything but blessed. But later, she knew they spoke from the wisdom of experience. Our children don’t always act like blessings, but from God’s perspective, they are! Today, thank God for the blessing of your child.

The Amish believe in the sovereignty of God in all matters. “You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me” (Ps. 139:5 NKJV). Faith in the sovereignty of God can give you confidence as you face difficulties in your life. As Barbara discovered, he will give the strength we need (Phil. 4:13).

It wasn’t until quite late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say “I don’t know.”

—Scribe from Redding, Iowa

I heard a story recently about a father who was giving his son good advice concerning productive work and prosperous living. “It’s the early bird that gets the worm, you know.” “Yes, I know,” said the son, “but what about the poor worm? He was up early, too.” Dad, too quick to be outwitted, replied, “He was on his way home after staying out too late.”

—Scribe from Long Island, Virginia