Sunday, January 24, 2010

God is Getting our Attention

It seems that God wanted the attention of the doctors once more. As I said in my previous post, Elizabeth fell backward down a full flight of stairs. Well, we just found out how good God is when she went back to the spinal surgeon. She has fallen two more times. Once was out of bed and she broke her neck brace (no, I am not kidding) and the other more serious in the bathtub. The last fall made her hands numb and gave her a spinal concussion. When the spine orthopedic surgeon heard about the last fall, he ordered a regular MRI and a rotational CT scan.

She went to visit this same doctor that operated on Erica, my mom and me. Just last week he told my mom that she has cranial/cervical instability. Basically her head is not attached to her body. This was devastating enough, but when he told Elizabeth that she has it too, we were blown away. When the doctor saw the image of her instability, he was very pale. He said, "There is no physical reason for her to be living right now. God took care of her." We both knew we were looking at a miracle, there was just no denying it. I asked if the fall could have done this damage and he said no, it was not damage that we saw, it was the way she was born. He said, "The fall was God's way of getting our attention."

To be honest, I knew that this doctor had another way to detect the cervical spine instability, but I thought I could wait to find out for Elizabeth. She had been going through so much with her hip, I could not bear to know about this too. But, that was not God's plan.

She was supposed to go back to school this Tuesday. Needless to say, she is not returning until the issue of the stability is solved. Some of the doctors wonder if the instability created some of the clumsiness that she has experienced. I don't know if that is true, but I do know that God has taken care of all of us.

She is very down and frustrated right now. I cannot blame her. At best, she is looking at brain/neck surgery very soon. Some of the doctors would like to wait until her spinal concussion is healed.

All I know is that just a few months ago I was reassuring her that she would not need a wheelchair or the major surgeries that we have all had to undergo. I never envisioned Elizabeth being in such a state as this.

It breaks my heart to see her so isolated and lonely. Her bouncy personality has taken a hit this week. I think we have all had a major hit on our enthusiasm recently.

What is really frustrating is that our house is the source of so many injuries. The stairs and the bathroom and so dangerous. We are trying to find help with these issues, but it is very time consuming and humbling.

This Friday, the elementary school is holding a benefit for our family. We are overwhelmed at the idea that people would go out of their way to help us. We continue to be blessed abundantly each and every day.

As much as I am excited to see miracles and receive such incredible blessings, as a mom I just ache for all of my children. CJ is really struggling this week. Please pray for all of us.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

What Would You Do?

Please let me thank all of you that have continued to pray and support our family. We consider ourselves blessed every day because of the unbelievable miracles that occur daily.

Elizabeth took a tumble down a flight of stairs yesterday. We had another ambulance ride to Cincinnati Children's, but nothing broken. She is wearing the 'always in style' cervical collar because she hurt her neck. Her hip was banged up, but she is better than Humpty Dumpty. Considering what could have happened, we are very blessed.

I know that God is watching and protecting all of us and calling many to pray around the world. The other day a wonderful brother in Christ visited us from Pakistan. He is a bishop and runs a church and Sunday School for a small community of Christians. He told us that he has a bounty on his head of 100,000 rupees. The Taliban are anxious to silence this dynamic man of God. When asked if he was going back to Pakistan, he said yes. Then with an intensity that I can still feel he told us that he would go back because more people needed to hear The Good News. He has been in prison, tortured, hunted and threatened, but he will not be silent.

Recently, the Taliban burned the church along with over 200 homes of Christians of his congregation. He resolves to return and continue working with the people and especially children so they will know the unfailing love of God.

He said that he came to the US to remind people here of the Good News. We can go to church any time without the worry of death or torture. The persecution comes in the form of shame or being "politically incorrect". We sleep in on Sunday because we work too hard, have a hangover, too sick or have too much work to do. Would we go to church if that meant that we might not live if we openly worship Jesus Christ? Would we go if that meant that our children would be hurt?

This bishop that came to our country as a missionary (think about that for a minute) told us that as good as we have it in the US, this is not Heaven. Heaven is much better than anything that we have now. Our problem is that we are over fed, content and sleeping. We have everything so we think we don't need God. We think because we work hard, it is our work that supplies our things. I say "we" because I am not immune from such thinking.

I really have to think about if I would continue to be a follower of Christ if it came with the consequences like our Brother in Pakistan faces daily. I would like to think that I would not cast down my faith and deny Christ, but I am not 100% sure.

What would you do?