When my third baby was just 10.5 weeks in my belly, a sonogram technician decided to take a measurement she shouldn’t have taken just yet, and we were thrust into a drama over whether my child would have a genetic disorder or not. His nuchal fold (which shouldn’t have been measured for at least another week) was measuring thick and all of a sudden we were being told to see a neonatologist and to prepare for “the worst.”

While still in the sonogram room the tech urged me to really think about my “options” and whether I had seriously considered if I was prepared to care for a child with developmental issues. I still remember her words — “You need to think about it now while you still have a choice to do something about it.” I was quick to tell her I wouldn’t terminate my pregnancy for any reason, but she had already unleashed the storm in the room. I had a decision to make and it didn’t have anything to do with terminating the pregnancy. It had everything to do with whether I would stand in faith or give into the chaos that was trying to press its way in.

A year and a half prior I had suffered a miscarriage and the doctor suggested at the time that it was a genetic problem that caused the embryo not to grow properly. Would I give into the fear that a genetic problem would rob from me again with this child? God told me all would be well, but with a test like this, would I believe him? Fear is funny like that. It likes to tell you that what happened before is a good predictor of what is to come.

But I stood up to that fear. As I prayed I got the peace of God on the inside of me. I didn’t see a neonatologist. I didn’t believe the report of the sonogram tech. And when the initial blood screens came back, my likelihood of having a child with a genetic anomaly was shown to be lower than the tests I had done with my first two children.

But the God wink came nearly 30wks later when I gave birth. I had Drew via c-section and the doctor was kind enough to keep the drape low enough that I could see him being born. And as she pulled him from my stomach and I caught a glimpse of the back of his neck and head, and I saw something. Right where that tech said there was a problem when he was 10.5wks gestation — right at the place where his neck and his brain stem meet — there was a birth mark. A constant reminder from God that my faith isn’t invisible. My faith leaves a mark.

My son recently had his hair cut in a new way that revealed the back of his neck. His birth mark is still there. My faith was renewed when I saw it. God comes through. He keeps his promises. He never forgets to perform what he told you he would do.