This past Sunday, I preached on the importance of staying focused. Today, I want to share a bit more… hence the “Part 2” in the title. Did you read part 1?! 🙂

Philippians 3:14 – I press on toward the goal (the mark – the end one has in view) to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward. 

What is your mark? 
Your target? 
Your goal?

Do you have any goals? What do you need to be accomplished in your life / your finances / your health / your relationships?

It’s important to set goals – to have a target in front of you; after all, if you aim at nothing… you’ll hit nothing.

Once you’ve decided on your goal… you need to stay focused!

1 Corinthians 16:13 – “Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you’ve got, be resolute…” (The Message)

Matthew 6:22, “Let your eye (your faculty of knowing) be single, you’re whole body will be full of light.”

Let me take you back a bit to share with you one of the most trying times in my life to date… the year was 1998… this may take a while, but I promise it’ll be well worth it! This is the first time I have put this down “on paper” for all to see…

About a month after finding out that I was pregnant with our first child, my hubby called me at work to tell me that God had just told him that we were having a boy. I didn’t want to admit it at the time, but I knew he was right. My heart had said the very same thing. Mine was based on a hunch. His opinion was based on a Scripture verse God had given him.

1 Kings 5:7, “…Praise be to the LORD today, for He has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”

Our first ultrasound confirmed it; our baby was going to be a boy! We didn’t realize just how important this Scripture was then. It was just a really “neat” thing.

Soon after, it would become our anchor, our promise to cling to in the midst of an incredible storm.

We left for our summer vacation knowing that the little life within was a boy, and so we needed to find his name. Since we’re the last in both of our families to marry and have children, the names we liked had been used up.

On our way to the States, we saw a silo – printed on the side of it was “Quinton” – as soon as I said it out loud, I heard a bell. That’s it! That’s his name! We would call him “Quinn” (I like shortening names). Are you ready for this??! Quinn means… “WISE ONE!” Yup, 1 Kings 5:7… WISE SON who was born to DAVID (my hubby’s name btw)… 🙂

We returned home a couple of weeks later to a message from our doctor that there were a few things he didn’t like in Quinn’s 1st ultrasound – off to McMaster Hospital in Hamilton for another we went. After an hour of someone rolling a cold object over my very full bladder… they sat us in a sterile room to wait for the Geneticist.

I’ll speed through all that they talked to us about – at times; it felt like I was in a tunnel – the gist was that there were multiple signs throughout Q’s body and brain that didn’t have them jumping for joy. In fact, once she told us the news of what they believed he had, she said that I was too far along to have an abortion in Canada, but I could still go to the U.S. UM… NOT!!

She asked us if we had any questions. I couldn’t think. Dave heard God whisper, “Watch your words,” and so all he could muster was, “It shall be well” (like the Shunamite woman). It wasn’t what she was looking for, but it worked for us, and we went home.

The weeks that followed were not easy. Staying focused on God’s Word, which says that He is a God who heals – He is Jehovah Rapha – He is the great I AM – was not easy, to say the least. But I knew in my heart of hearts that I could not afford to get distracted by the FACTS – I needed to find the TRUTH! I couldn’t afford to let my mind wander; every time I did, I just lay in bed and cried. I knew I needed to press toward the mark in order to win this battle.

I needed a miracle!

Only a handful of people knew what we were going through, knew what the doctors had said. We needed words of Faith to be spoken to us and over us. We only told those around us who pray like us, believe like us, talk like us, and have seen and experienced miracles firsthand. We could not afford to allow doubt, fear and disappointment to overtake us.

I had one goal, “Lord… make them eat their words – my baby shall be well!” I spoke that day in and day out, over and over and over again. I stood in a place of Faith and thanked God for my healthy and whole child and quoted the Scripture He had given my hubby all those months before, “Blessed are WE for God has given US a WISE SON…”. God gives good gifts, I’d remind myself daily.

Then I had a SUDDENLY!

Have you ever had a suddenly? Suddenly things look clearer or change or feel different? I had a suddenly. It was the moment that the Logos, or the written Word of God, became LIFE, became the Rhema, the spoken Word of God. I was praying over Quinn, who was moving from side to side inside my belly when I heard a bell, and I suddenly knew that everything was going to be alright. I got so mad at the devil, I shouted, “DEVIL, YOU’RE SUCH A LIAR!” and I started to laugh. I knew right then and there that we HAD victory!

We returned to that hospital for another hour-long ultrasound. As we waited for the results, a nurse stood in the doorway of the room, opened up the file and said, “Boy, they really put you through the wringer, didn’t they?!” then she went on, “Well… what was there before isn’t there now!” and with that, she closed our file – turned and walked away.

The geneticist still wasn’t convinced Q was 100%, but they explained to me what I should look for when I saw him for the first time. They wanted me to deliver him there, in their special facility, but I felt fine to deliver with my own doctor, in my own hospital, in my own hometown. They sent a specialist to our hospital “just in case.” I knew we wouldn’t need him.

To me – they had eaten their words. I was happy with that but even more ecstatic that I had medical proof that God is who He says He is! I got to prove the devil wrong! Insert happy dance…

Our bundle of joy, Quinton David, arrived two weeks early on October 15, 1998. He was a chubby dude at 8 lbs 1 oz! He was healthy and whole from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.

We stood firm on God’s Word, not on what we were feeling or what we were seeing with our own eyes. We pressed toward the mark, held tight to our convictions, and our eyes remained single – we were focused!

This year in school (Grade 6, June 2010), Quinton won a Leadership award presented to him by our local MP on behalf of our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. He certainly is a wise son but also …. a leader! 1 Kings 5:7, “…Praise be to the LORD today, for He has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.” God is so good!

He is our miracle boy, our promised child, our gift from God!

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Update over five years later (2016): Quinton is currently in Grade 12. He is the co-president of his school. He’s won many leadership awards and has been part of mission teams in Lima, Peru and Kingston, Jamaica. He is a camp counsellor in the summer at Ontario Pioneer Camp, and he’s been named “Student of the Year” by our local paper. Q has been accepted to attend his first choice of university, Trinity Western University, which he will do in 2017.

Update May 2019:

Quinton has finished his second year at Trinity Western University. He is studying Political Science with a minor in Economics. After his first year, he travelled to Israel to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. He was chosen because of his “leadership potential” by the organizer of the group called Passages. You can read about his pilgrimage to Israel here.

When he returns for his third year, he does so as President of the school body for the 2019/2020 year.

Blessed are thou, David, for God has given you a wise son to rule the nations!