Our guest blogger today is Kathy Dalton. Kathy and her husband, Daryl, serve faithfully as volunteers in our church with students, media, and many other things. Kathy serves as the nurse for many Student Ministry trips and is always willing to give of her time and talents. Kathy's claim to fame is being the mother of Emily Katherine, Andrew and Michael. Emily has served on staff as an Intern for the past two summers at First Baptist and was our guest blogger a few weeks ago.

The Wedding that Was

Kathy Dalton

I will never forget the night our middle son, Andrew, was born. He was such a precious little baby boy and filled our lives with such joy. Before I knew it, Andrew had graduated from Dorman High School and headed to the University of SC in Columbia.  Our family went through a rough spot during Andrew's sophomore and junior years due to the economy affecting our finances. Andrew was hit the hardest being away from family with no money flowing to help with his expenses.  Providentially, Andrew turned to Young Life, Midtown Church, and side jobs as his hiding places of survival, but family communication dwindled to a trickle. My husband, Daryl, and I loved our son with all of our hearts and tried relentlessly to rebuild our relationships with him. We wanted so desperately to help him see how much we loved him, and how proud we were of the man he had become. 

Andrew officially started dating a young woman named Katherine his senior year. The Lord used her to help bridge the gap in communication and rebuild our strained relationship. We had known Katherine since Andrew's freshman year at University of South Carolina and somehow knew in our hearts that she would be the one he would marry someday. You can imagine the joy we felt on Christmas Eve, sitting in Chick-Fil-A with my parents and family in Virginia when Andrew stated, "I am going to ask Katherine to marry me and I want to get married May 31st in Columbia.  How does that work with your schedules"? 

Hmmm...Our daughter, Emily Katherine, was planning to go to Costa Rica for the summer.  Michael, our oldest son, has Leadercast videos to shoot in May.  Daryl and I both were getting ready for our Discipleship groups to graduate. Grammy and Papa had already paid for a vacation the last week of May.  But none of that mattered!  With the announcement of Andrew’s wedding we all mentally cleared our schedules and said "OK, let’s do it"!  Everyone was excited and eager to welcome Katherine into our family. 

In early February, Katherine said "yes" to Andrew's proposal and we all went to work with planning the parts we would play in the celebration.  Neither family was originally from South Carolina so we all felt we were essentially planning a long distance wedding.  In planning the rehearsal dinner, we wanted to provide Andrew and Katherine with the best celebration possible with no stress on their part.  After endless internet searches, phone calls, interviews, budget reviews, menu discussions and rehearsal details finalization, we finally decided upon a location.  The venue came with a caterer so we were all set, so we thought. When I questioned an item on the cost breakdown the caterer abruptly canceled our contract and left us in the cold!  After tears, phone calls, more internet searches and visits, we found our perfect caterer.  On the other end of the line, a sweet voice said "Don't you worry Ms. Kathy we will take care of you and I will personally make sure your son's wedding is perfect".  Again, I was in tears.  I thanked her graciously and she stated, “I believe the Lord brought us together to celebrate your son’s wedding".  My immediate thought…God’s ways are perfect. 

Fast forward to May 30th in Columbia, SC.....Lots of preparation and planning had gone into the evening of the rehearsal dinner and we wanted it to be perfect.  Tables were set, caterer was ready and everyone arrived to celebrate Andrew and Katherine's marriage. Each of us stood to tell about our love for the couple and leave them with advice.  Tears were shed over stories by family and friends who love both Andrew and Katherine as much as we do. God brought everything together perfectly. 

The wedding day had finally arrived. The one we all had anticipated back in December was here and we were all in our places ready to celebrate and welcome a new daughter into our family.  Katherine was beautiful, Andrew was as handsome as ever, and the wedding party stood before us as their Young Life Pastor shared the gospel to everyone in attendance.  After songs, vows, and ring exchanges the bride and groom walked away in celebration.  The night went so fast and before we knew it was time to say good bye and watch the wedding couple, our son and new daughter, drive away to Austin, Texas for their honeymoon. 

In looking back over Andrew’s life, I am so thankful that God uses people and circumstances to work His perfect will in our lives.  Hindsight is always 20/20 and reflecting back to the tough years, I truly believe God was carrying Andrew and helping to meet his needs the same as He did ours.    Life with our children goes so fast and yes, we as parents make mistakes, but thankfully God heals and makes us new through Him and His grace. 

Jeremiah 29:11 says “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." (NIV)

Our guest blogger today is Abby Wilton! Wife of Greg, mother to Max, Charlie, and Oliver, and daughter-in-love of Dr. Wilton and Karyn. They are currently living in Southest Asia. Abby shares from her heart and I know you will be blessed by her thoughts and honesty.

The Darkest Night

It’s after 10pm as I write this, Greg’s been out for the past 6 hours and our power has been out for the last 3 hours. I’m not sure why the power went out except that maybe the foreign music and a foreign voice currently blaring over loud speakers for some kind of party that’s unfortunately reverberating through my dark and quiet home blew out everyone’s power but their own. What’s more unfortunate is that I don’t think our power is coming back on until sometime tomorrow morn. Just another reminder that I don’t live in America.
Three hours ago Max (almost 4), Charlie (2 and a half) and I were flying our paper airplanes through the house when everything went dark. And I mean I can’t see my hand 2 inches from my face kind of dark. I happened to be standing next to our front door so I quickly opened it expecting the moonlight to spill in but nothing appeared. Hmm, must be cloudy or smoggy out tonight.
As insignificant as this may seem, not two hours earlier I was helping Max look for a toy when I happened to find our only flashlight, which went missing months ago, hidden underneath the boys’ dresser. I grabbed it and put it in my husband’s little wooden box atop our dresser and went back about my business of locating this little toy Max was begging me to find. So sweet to me the thought of God’s love towards me that He orchestrated this incident of finding the flashlight to prepare me for tonight. I’m still in wonder over the fact that God was in this little detail.
At this point Charlie was getting hysterical, my little Max stayed calm the entire time. Man, what a little stud. My brain managed to stay calm enough to think clearly probably because I’m a mom now (but that definitely wasn’t the case pre children). I grabbed both boys’ hands and I walked them to my bedroom and then to the dresser. Relief flooded over Charlie, and, truth be told, came over me as well. I don’t like complete darkness. I suppose it would have eventually dawned on me at some point to retrieve the boys iPad from their bedroom to use as a source of light.
Interestingly enough, I was studying with my language teacher earlier today and we were discussing Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want….”. He asked me if I’ve ever experienced the “valley” of darkness or the “valley of the shadow of death”. I paused to think for a moment. How could I explain to him all the valleys of darkness I had been through since we have two major barriers separating us from fully understanding each other: language and culture. Would he be able to make sense of my broken Indonesian along with my very different upbringing and way of life?
I wasn’t sure where to start so I just I began my best to try and explain how I have had a tendency with every one of my pregnancies to sink into a depression for the duration of my first trimester. My body would become ill, my motivation would wane, and my soul would become dark. I’d have no interest in reading the bible so wouldn’t and then I’d be eaten up by guilt. Hope seemed to slip away from me and I would literally be such a mess for Greg.
That seemed so benign as I was explaining that to my teacher so from there I jumped into the story of my childhood. I told him how my 3 sisters and I were raised by our single mother. Our mom only worked part time so that she could be home with us after school. That meant we didn’t have much money, we didn’t have much food, sometimes our power would go out if the bills weren’t payed, but all those times God was always with us providing for all our needs so that we were never in want-even by bringing a new father into our lives some years later.
And even this still seems so small compared to the loss others have faced greater than my own. I just met a woman whose 2 year old daughter has leukemia. I have a friend who was molested by her own grandfather, My brother-in-law had to live with his grandparents growing up because neither of his own parents were fit to nor wanted to care for him. My sister-in-law lost her dear father to cancer.
So many different happenings carry our souls into the darkest of nights. All hope seems to slip away as the sun sinks below the clouded horizon. The moonlight and twinkling stars are hidden away by the black clouds. Our sorrows descend like rain. Thunder begins to rumble and we are overcome with doubt and despair.
Darkness presses in on every side of us, but God has not left us alone. Lightning breaks forth across the sky and He makes his presence known. He is the LIGHT and He shines in the darkness and the darkness CANNOT overcome Him.

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. (Psalm 42:11)

In our darkest hours God enables us to see His glory like the crack of a lightning bolt, if only for a moment, that we may behold Him who pierces the darkness, and that our hope may be restored.
Be anchored in the truth that God is not far off but right here with you. Praise Him whether or not you can find a reason until you see Him flash His glory across your dark sky then let that revive your hope and trust in Him for today.
It’s 4:30am and our power has just turned back on!