This past week a dear friend’s daughter had a very difficult labor and delivery. During the long days and nights of labor, I prayed often for the mom. I kept thinking of the comforting verse:
“He will carry the lambs in his arms,
holding them close to his heart.
He will gently lead the mother sheep with their [nursing] young.” Isaiah 40:11

I knew the Lord was close to mother and baby, being assured that he tenderly carries the lambs and is gentle with the nursing mothers. After days of labor, my friend’s grandbaby nearly died during the difficult delivery. My heart went out to the mother. Heart-wrenching memories rose up out of our past. Intensive care images crept into my mind still vivid after 48 years. Our second baby nearly died of pneumonia at four weeks old. Dear husband was thousands of miles away on a three week assignment. For various reasons, it had seemed like a good idea for the children and I to stay with friends in another state in his absence. While there, one short winter day was slipping into late afternoon when I realized Baby had slept too much and not nursed enough. I began to panic. I called a friend who gave me her pediatrician’s number. I got to the doctor’s office just before closing. After a quick examination, he told me to meet him at the hospital. Although I had grown up near this city, I hadn’t lived here for ten years. I wasn’t even sure I could find the hospital. Baby’s condition worsened quickly. Lying inside her incubator in the intensive care unit with tubes and wires everywhere, her tiny chest heaved as she struggled for each breath. My mommie’s heart was breaking to see her suffer. Guilt bore down on me. Why had I traveled with such a little one?! Why hadn’t I noticed sooner that she was sick? It’s our toddler’s second birthday, we should be celebrating at home as a family. Instead, he’s staying with people he doesn’t know and his dad is in a remote location without means of communication. Each day I would go back to my friend’s house to see our son and get a little sleep. But snowy, slippery roads in a borrowed car in a city I wasn’t very familiar with in a sleep deprived state of mind was a recipe for an accident. Fortunately, I was going slowly and the car I hit was parked. I knocked on several doors till I found the owner who was so unbelievably kind.  The Shepherd of nursing mothers had gently led me even in a fender bender.  On Day 4 or so- it’s a blur- Baby hadn’t shown signs of improvement so I asked the pediatrician who came to check on her if he thought I should try to contact my husband. He looked at me with a serious expression and said, “If this were my baby, I’d want to come as soon as possible.” I realized that he was telling me our baby might not make it and if the father wanted to see her alive, he better get here soon. But how could I get in contact with dear Husband who was in a remote area of Central America? (Before cell phones.) Somehow calls were made and a kind missionary in that country drove to the village where Husband was working, finding him about midnight. Early the next morning, Husband started a frantic trip to the US. Mercifully, he made a connecting flight with only minutes to spare (before TSA) and arrived at the hospital less than 24 hours after getting the news. The relief of having him with me as we watched our baby fight for life brought such peace and security despite our fear.  I knew sometimes the Shepherd holds us with human’s arms.

Desperate prayers went up from exhausted, numb hearts. Others joined in praying. Little improvements at first, but the Shepherd was there holding her when we weren’t allowed. What a relief when 10 days later we were headed home as a family of four. We had experienced in so many ways the gentleness of the Shepherd who holds little lambs and gently guides nursing mothers. And we would experience it again during a mishap on the long trip home.  And again when we finally arrived home after a harrowing experience and friends had made our house warm and put breakfast in the fridge.  Sometimes the Shepherd warms and feeds us through loving humans.

Years later our fifth baby was born purple/blue. I had had a short labor and uncomplicated delivery in a jungle hospital in a third-world country. But Baby wasn’t as she should be. The compassionate missionary doctor laid her tenderly in an incubator box. Quietly he confided to Husband that things weren’t right with Baby and he didn’t know what to do for her. There was no equipment to help infants in trouble. The two men prayed in hushed voices for the Lord to have mercy. I couldn’t see what was going on. But after their prayer, it was evident that the Shepherd who lovingly holds his lambs to his chest had come near. She began to turn pink and move normally.

You have your own experiences of God’s merciful kindness to you and your little ones. I’m so grateful that he is affectionately connected with our littles, carrying them when the way is hard, holding them close where they are safe. From an early age, they know the touch of the Shepherd and hear his heartbeat as he cuddles them. The nursing mothers are guided gently so they can sustain their young. The vulnerable are the ones he takes special care with. I’m so glad there is mercy for the weak instead of survival of the fittest!

“He will feed(care for, tend) his flock like a shepherd.
He will carry the lambs in his arms,
holding them close to his heart.
He will gently lead the mother sheep with their nursing young.” Isaiah 40:11