God is God!

By: David Delaney

My God is it. The real deal. The healer of people and the salvation of humanity. Trusting in Jesus is the only way to true life. 

Anyone who knows our family knows we live a transparent life. My wife Danielle shares our life, our joys and our struggles. Life is not perfect, but we trust in the One who is perfect. So, I want to be transparent with our struggles over the past month. 

When I woke up on a Saturday morning, I had no idea that the Lord was about to place Danielle and I on the receiving end of overwhelming love. Our family has been through a lot over the years, but these 24 hours were the most difficult moments of my life as the fear of losing my world became a reality. I will never be the same. 

In late August, Danielle told me that we were going to have another baby. I was over the moon with joy! I started to demo parts of the upstairs of our house to create more living space for our growing family. The girls would have to share a room, so I created closets and eliminated hallways. 

A few days before our divisional family camp, Fit for Mission, we found out the baby did not have a heartbeat at ten and a half weeks. It's a tough punch to take, and we were told it is called a "missed miscarriage." Danielle's body thought it was pregnant and continued as normal. We wanted to wait a week to pray for a miracle. She had two other miscarriages over the years, but not this late in the process. 

The weekend was challenging for Danielle. She was overseeing the child care and spent much of the weekend holding and caring for tiny babies. You all have no idea how gritty and strong this woman is. If they ever make a movie called "Beauty and Grit," Danielle will be the main character. 

We followed up Wednesday. Unfortunately nothing had changed. We needed to make sure Danielle stayed healthy. They gave us two options. One being pill-based for a more "natural" process and another a procedure. We thought the non-surgical way was best at the time. She took the pills and we thought the process worked. 

Two weeks later, she starts having issues. To our shock, we learned that the baby was still in her womb. Apparently, she should have had the procedure which was scheduled for the next week. We were told all was well, but here is where God decided how things would happen. 

Some people believe in luck, coincidence, or karma, but we believe in the truth. The One who sets everything in motion, names every star, and from whom nothing is hidden. The One who calls my wife by name and says, "Danielle Delaney, you belong to me. You are mine." The "I Am" holds my wife in His strong and righteous hand. 

After lunch at Camp Happyland, Danielle began to have cramps, but what she really felt was contractions. She said we needed to get home to our hospital two hours away. During this, a young person caused a delay, creating even more urgency. 

We went back to camp, got our things and high tail it out. On our way, we got word that a corps van was at the gas station missing the fuel line that leads to the nozzle to the tank. I've never heard of that happening. How random could that be?! 

We pulled up, and none other than Commissioner Kelly Igleheart is under the van managing the situation. My plan was to stop for a minute and then hit the road for Maryland, making arrangements for the corps to travel home in a camp vehicle. However, the stop was much longer. The miscarriage started happening at the gas station. 

Danielle called me to the car, and we rushed out of the parking lot to the hospital. Danielle called her doctor because she thought it better to still drive to Maryland. As I rushed her to Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, the seat she is sitting in began to fill with a lot of blood, and she believed she could make it to Maryland. 

As she was hemorrhaging, she was still her normal self. The kids were in the back seat panicking. We pulled up to the emergency room but as she walked inside, she collapsed against the door. I held her up, blood was pouring everywhere. I suddenly realized my whole world was ending. I can't describe the feelings that came over me. I began to scream for help. I was a complete mess! They took her back, asking me simple questions that I know the answers to, but I couldn't figure out how to answer. 

When I returned to the car, the kids were overwhelmed seeing their mom in that state and their dad completely broken. We prayed and prayed. They thought they may have seen their mom alive for the last time and didn't get to say goodbye. Blood all over me, all over the car, all over the emergency room. My wife's blood. 

By some miracle, Captain Kelsey Bridges deciphered my babbling phone call and managed to be there to grab the kids in seven minutes. That's the Body of Christ. Captain Nicole Parker also managed to decode Danielle's last text and was already on her way to the hospital as well. 

When I got into the trauma room there were eight people working on Danielle. Later, we would find out that it is the only trauma hospital between camp and Northern Virginia. No other hospital in the area would have been equipped to handle her needs. 

God knew how hardheaded Danielle and her husband can be. He knew that, for some reason, we think we are superhuman and could wait until we got to our Maryland hospital, so He set roadblocks along the way. 

Had the delay not happened with the young person at camp, had the corps van not randomly been missing the fuel hose, we would have been in the middle of I-95 when Danielle started to hemorrhage. We would have been too far from a hospital, let alone a trauma hospital. 

Multiple doctors told us we arrived just in time. Had we been on the highway, Danielle would be dead. 

The nurses and doctors managed to get Danielle's body stable in great time. Nicole Parker was by Danielle's side ministering in no time. That's the Body of Christ. And of course, her sister Dana Leigh Costello-Burriss wasn't far behind in getting there and keeping the docs on track. 

She would eventually receive the procedure late in the night to ensure the bleeding stopped and everything was clear. Her blood pressure was very low from the lack of blood and fluid in her body. At 1am, Major Srikant "Superman" Bhatnagar joined us to pray. This man wouldn't leave until he knew we were okay. And he brought McDonald's breakfast at 4:30am! That's the Body of Christ. 

Danielle had to receive another unit of blood and more fluids the following day, but she was going in the right direction. We were able to go home the following morning. 

We are thankful for the Bridges family and the soldiers of the Fredericksburg Corps. They provided laughter and peace to our kids during our chaos. Of course, our Montgomery County Corps family had a little party as soon as they heard the kids were home. That's the Body of Christ. 

Our corps officer, Captain Timothy Jo, drove all the way down to bring us food and pray. I genuinely feel the Holy Spirit in his prayer. It was so comforting and meaningful. We were literally at the throne of God. 

Danielle lost a lot of blood and received four blood units, nine fluid bags, and an iron bag. She was very tired and weak. It took a month for her levels to get back to normal. But her trust is in the Lord. In her weakness, she is strong. We trust in the Lord. 

We have experienced overwhelming love and compassion. In our time of overwhelming distress, we were loved and cared for by so many. Many cried out to God on our behalf, and He has answered. Thank you so much for bringing my wife to the Throne of Grace. There was a lot of pain in these 36 hours. But God has shown to be faithful to His faithful daughter. 

Our children are blessed to have so many people who love them completely. This doesn't even come close to representing all who reached out in prayer and to offer physical support. How the Lord has blessed us so much that we are not even able to accept the offerings of help from so many others. We even had our own child coordinator in Captain Bobby Parker to make sure our children were cared for, and David Mersiovsky and his amazing wife won the prize to keep the Delaney kids. They need the practice! 

There is no family like that of The Salvation Army. If you know, you know. If you don't, then come join our Army! This is the Body of Christ. 

Mary Washington Hospital will forever be a place of rescue and light for us. The staff have been perfect. They treated Danielle as if she were the only person on the planet and provided the skills necessary to keep her alive. God, we thank you so much for brilliant people and science. 

We trust that He will completely restore Danielle and use this moment in her life as a testimony of His great love for her and the entire human race. I continue to proclaim that God is God. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise! My wife is alive. Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus for others who were Your body in our time of distress! Some trust in chariots and others trust in horses. But we trust in the name of The LORD our GOD.