I’m not sure if you noticed (and it’s no big deal if you didn’t), but I disappeared from cyberspace for a while. (That gap in blog posts bugged me so I did a bit of back posting… I’m insane.) This has been a crazy month with answered prayers!
Over the course of a month and a half I totaled our car, we had 3 cases of pneumonia, two ear infections (one with a ruptured ear drum… which was GROSS), ACL replacement surgery, eye infections, and so much more… random things like a roof leak and a pipe bursting and one of the chickens getting killed.
Random bad/costly things.
But our biggest struggle was the worst asthma episode Eli has ever had in his 7 years of asthma episodes. It was rough. Like lips-turning-blue-every-night rough. With 3 rounds of steroids and nebulizer every few hours, 24 hours a day.
I was overwhelmed.
(Below I took a picture of just a few of the meds we got to take recently.)
As the sickness wore on I became even more overwhelmed.
And tired.
My biggest prayer was that we wouldn’t be distracted by the noise of multiple doctor appointments and sheer exhaustion, and miss whatever God was trying to show is in this little world we live in.
So I listened in the stillness.
And I tried to learn.
Eli missed over a month of school, and I learned I really like doing his school work with him.
He learns differently than the rest of his class and I was shocked at how much he isn’t picking up at school. Maybe a new school for him?
We did a lot of waiting.
Waiting in waiting rooms (ha) for Dr. visits or ER visits. Waiting for the next dose of the next medicine. Waiting to see if Eli would start breathing again. Often when I wait, I pull out my phone as a distraction. Over this month I didn’t – for two reasons: 1) I was so flipping overwhelmed and busy I didn’t have the energy and 2) we did a media fast with our church for Easter.
When you wait without distraction you are present.
I learned to be present.
We took time for the smaller things.
Just in case you haven’t received the memo – Small Things are Big Things, friends!
(Below we spent half an hour floating leaves after a doctors appointment.)
A month into Eli’s asthma episode the specialist was prescribing a THIRD round of a heavy dose of steroids along with 2 other new medications (symbicort and singulair) to go along with his 2 OTHER medications in his nebulizer… which we had to do every 2 hours.
Brad and I were going to a prayer night and Brad felt like we needed to bring the kids. I thought he was crazy because trying to keep 4 kids entertained at a prayer meeting seemed like it would be a huge pain in the arse.
It wasn’t.
We went, we prayed fervently for Eli, and our friends did too.
Everyday I’m thankful for our church family. But especially at times like these – when I see how much they love and care for my children. We are lucky.
The night of the prayer meeting was the first night in a month we weren’t woken up by Eli struggling for air.
We were so thankful his new medication worked!
The Dr called early the next morning to see how the night went. He had been concerned we would need to go to the hospital because Eli was doing so poorly the day before.
I told him the new meds were amazing and Eli slept through the night without a hitch.
(pause on the other end of the phone)
Dr: Really?
Me: Yep… the meds are awesome and just what we needed.
(awkward pause)
Me: So… um… thanks…
Dr: The medicine shouldn’t have kicked in for 4-6 days. I thought you would end up in the hospital last night.
Me: Oh. Well… we didn’t.
Dr: That’s great we’ll see you for a follow-up in two days.
At the follow-up appointment the nurse asked Eli how he was feeling, he said, “Great! I was cured at our prayer meeting.
Me: “Huh? Well I suppose that’s true.”
Often I ask God to show me his power.
Often he does.
Often I don’t see it.
Often I ask God to be real to me.
Often he is.
Often I don’t see it.
Or I try to explain situations with my human brain.
God showed me his power at that prayer night.
I see it.
God became real to Eli at that prayer night.
And we see it.
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rachael says
Love you and B
Those kids
Jesus
Hugs, sweet friend
Sarah says
Beautiful. Being present. Seeing God at work. Learning big things from small people. So much beautiful!
Abbey says
Kara, your writing as always is beautiful. This post in particular really spoke to my heart and brought a tear to my eye. You are a beautiful woman of God and someone I look up to (even if I only get to see you on rare occasions and virtually). I love watching how God uses you to bless and touch others’ lives and am inspired by you all the time as I walk my on walk with the Lord. I pray that as we embark upon this new adventure of me being home full time with the kids and go towards the path of homeschooling God will use me in ways that allow me to inspire others. I pray that he makes time in both our lives to gather all of our children together to allow us all a moment of fellowship and some fun!
Abbey
Junglewife says
Beautiful post. It is so good to be reminded that God really does answer prayers. I have seen it in my own life recently. I truly believe that these babies that are growing inside me right now are a direct result of my friends’ prayers. I posted on my blog that I had a miscarriage a little over a year ago. It was a huge deal in my life, not just the miscarriage but also the fact that I almost lost my life. So, lots of people knew about it. What a lot of people didn’t know was that three times between June and November, I got pregnant but then had a miscarriage at 5 weeks. Finally the 4th time I saw that positive pregnancy test, I decided that I couldn’t go through it alone, and asked several of my close friends to pray for me. The result? The twins in my belly. I honestly believe that this pregnancy is due to answered prayer. Thank you for sharing your story of answered prayer. It is so neat how we can see our kids learn how God works as well. It is encouraging to me when I can see that in my own kids. Love your posts, and no worries about how infrequently they might be. 🙂
Liz says
Beautiful. Prayers lifted for your whole familia. xoxo
Liz