James 1:17 ESV
Hebrews 12:28-29 ESV
BE Grateful Series
The year was 2013.
The month was November.
The day was Wednesday the 6th.
Five days earlier my youngest son’s wife had given birth to twin boys in week 23 of the pregnancy. The oldest twin weighed one pound eleven ounces. The youngest twin weighed one pound eight ounces. They were very very tiny.
I’ll not forget the phone call I received late that afternoon on the 6th. I was in church at a Bible Study when my son called. He is career military and was stationed about 12-14 hours from where I lived. I stepped out into the hall to take the call. I was very nervous about his news. I had already told him I would come, but he told me I might be needed more later.
His first words to me were, “Oh, Mom, you’ve got to come!”
I expected the worse…the youngest twin had very weak very tiny lungs and as I spoke with my son I started to pray. I braced for the worse.
The news was about the oldest twin. He said, “He’s had a brain bleed, and he isn’t expected to live.”
I hung up and told him somehow I’d be there my morning. I usually took the train which means I was 14 hours away.
I called my daughter who also lived near me at the time and told her I was headed to see them on the train if I could get a ticket. After we hung up I took a minute to pray. All I remember is saying, “Oh God, Oh God, Oh God.”
She called me back within minutes and told me we were all going and they would drive. They drove all night and by morning we were there. As I rode in the backseat, I prayed. “Please God…please.”
I didn’t even know what to ask.
The next few days were a blur. All of my children headed that way. My oldest son and his wife flew in from the east coast, and my middle son, his wife, and their one year old flew in from the Midwest.
On Friday, the hospital team had a meeting with the whole family. The attending physician told us if he lived he would have severe Cerebral Palsy and he gave my son and his wife details about what they faced. None of the news was good. We were told to expect a great deal of brain damage because there were two significant brain bleeds.
We prayed. We prayed. We prayed.
The twins held on. We considered every day we had with both boys a gift. All of us have prayed for the oldest twin’s brain. Day after day, month after month. Year after year we prayed.
Today he is eight years old. He has fought hard and his parents have fought harder for him. The smallest twin is now over 4.5 feet tall (his maternal grandpa is 6”7” tall). The oldest twin is not as tall, but he is taller than most eight year olds. He is strong enough to pull himself out of a chair and with help he can walk across the room. Both twins are in the 2nd grade. The twin who has Cerebral Palsy struggles but he is on target.
A while back, the Neurologist told my son and his wife that he’s never seen anything like this…most of the damage he had in his brain is gone. They can’t find the previous damage. He said that’s not possible.
We prayed. We prayed. We continue to pray.
God has answered. He heard. He healed.
James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
I need to tell you that while I did pray for his healing, I knew either way, he would be alright. I knew if God left him in our care, he would be alright. I also knew if God called him home, he would be fully healed. Understand that I wanted him to stay here with us, but I also asked God to do what was BEST for our little guy.
I personally asked God to help me to accept the outcome.
Hebrews 12:28-29 says, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”
The Kingdom of God cannot be shaken.
I knew whatever happened we would worship God because God will not ever let go of our precious boy.
With reverence and awe, we have watched this precious boy grow and pass many milestones we didn’t even hope to see ahead.
He has a long way to go and many more battles to fight, but he is a fighter. He still struggles with things most kids will never have to face, but he is a sweet boy and I know God whispers words of encouragement to him (because I asked God to do that). I also asked God to send angels to guard the twins.
I think it’s wonderful that kids now are taught sign language in school. One day when they were pre-schoolers, the twins were taught the sign for bird/wings. Both twins have pointed inside their house that they see wings. My son tried to tell them there were no birds in the house, but they insisted they saw it.
I believe they saw wings.
I believe they were (are) protected by Angel’s wings…because we asked God to do that.
Today I continue to be ever so grateful that our God is a consuming fire who heals.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Ask
Ask God for what you need today. Remember that our God is a consuming fire.
In God, Deborah
acrazyjourney.com
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