Testimony Time! Update On Elijah

On Saturday, April 11th 2020, we had to rush our 4th child, Elijah, to the hospital. A few hours after being admitted, they diagnosed him with type 1 diabetes. As difficult as the news was to hear, we were confident that God would not forsake us in this process. As parents, we wanted to take the pain for our son, but we knew that was not an option. Our job is not to shield him from pain but to teach him how to cling to Jesus. From the beginning we prayed for healing despite being told that type 1 diabetes is not something you get cured from; it is a disease you learn to manage because type 1 diabetics don’t produce enough insulin and that’s if they produce any insulin at all. Your body needs insulin to survive. Since a type 1 diabetic’s beta cell does not produce the insulin needed on its own, you must inject insulin the rest of your life for survival.

While I know it is my responsibility to always pray for healing, I must also accept the sovereignty of God and understand that healing may not come when or how I want it. This approach doesn’t mean I lack faith, it just means I have given up on trying to manipulate God to perform when and how I think He should and call it “faith.”  It’s freeing! So we prayed for healing despite what we were told, and we left the outcome in God’s hand. For the first month after his diagnosis, Elijah had to take insulin. However, since May 12th he has not had to take insulin and his blood sugar levels remain in normal range. This lets us know that his body is now producing insulin on its own. Praise God! The medical professionals label this as a “honeymoon phase” and they say that inevitably it will end, and he will have to return to taking insulin. So what’s my response? I praise and pray. I praise because I see God at work and His wonder on display. I praise because I see how he has breathed life into those beta cells that were dead and the ones that were dying. I praise because I see that he can reverse a diagnosis. I praise because I know it is all in His hand!  And I pray. I pray and ask God to make this so called “honeymoon phase” last forever.  Will He do it? I don’t know if He will and I am ok with admitting that. I pray that Elijah will never have to return to taking insulin, but if he does, does this make God any less good and faithful? Will I continue to praise God only if this ends the way I want it to? The answer to these questions reveal my heart and motives for serving God. As humans we love to know the beginning and the end of the narrative and we can easily walk away from our relationship with God when the narrative doesn’t end the way we think it should. How tragic! I continue to learn that it’s not my job to determine the outcome, because my understanding is finite. Instead, my job is to pray and trust the outcome God chooses. It is a journey to get to this place of total surrender, but the consistent faithfulness of God makes the journey possible and worth it!

I didnt know I needed to be healed

I have been on quite a journey with my health and I have had to take some extreme measures.  There were things going on inside of my body that I was unaware of, things that a routine visit to the doctor didn’t catch.  My gut was in desperate need of healing and I had no idea.  I would just see the outward manifestation of an internal issue.  The problem was not on the surface, it went beyond what the eye could see.  It was not until they took extensive blood work that things began to be revealed.  There is something about the blood that reveals truth. So the Lord has been leading me and I have had to make even more extreme changes to my diet.  It is not always easy but I am beginning to see lasting results and I am motivated. Desperation has a way of creating discipline.

Isn’t this how it is with our walk with the Lord?  People can see us from the outside and we look spiritually healthy but there can be issues with our spiritual gut so to speak. Issues that we can try to veil with our nice church faces and scriptures we have memorized. Sometimes we wear a mask for so long that we even begin to fool ourselves and are totally oblivious to our need for spiritual healing.  But it is only a matter of time until these issues begin to manifest through such symptoms as pride, unforgiveness, rebellion, murmuring, and discontentment.  Once the Lord makes us aware of our issues, we may start off determined and disciplined to walk the road to deliverance. But with time we can grow weary and slip back into old habits and open the door to the enemy all over again.  I am here to remind you that the way to deliverance and healing is extreme but the end results are well worth it!    Stay the course, obey what you know to do and allow the Lord to perform the healing that He wants to do in you!

The Lord can fix what we didn’t even know was broken (Guest Post by Donielle Robinson)

I am so honored to feature the writing of Donielle Robinson.  Donielle has such a servant’s heart and has been a huge blessing to my family.  She has willingly babysat my children, offered words of encouragement and read just about every post I have published from when I first started blogging.  The Lord has done a great work in her and the process continues.  I hope you are as blessed by this post as I was.

This weekend, my friend Jill decided to come and make my house cute which is a prayer answered.  We were able to fix up a few things and make my house look cute. We did not finish everything, but we made some major improvements. My  room now looks like a hotel. We worked on several projects including my dresser. She painted my dresser and found that some of the drawers needed additional screws and fixed them. I didn’t even know they were broken. This reminded me of how God works in our lives.

When we have a yes in our spirit, and embrace God’s will for our lives, He fixes areas we didn’t even know were broken. Like my dresser,we do not know it’s broken or we may get so used to living with a deficit that we don’t think things will change. This year has been a year of brokenness for me from my phone to my health (and other areas). I am thankful for the brokenness because God has delivered me from long standing issues, answered prayers and increases my faith. So as you wait for prayers to be answered,situations to change,etc embrace the process. Learn. Grow. Be challenged. Ask for help. Praise Him in Advance. Find your hope knowing God is in control.

Psalm 100:1-5 NIV

Shout for joy to the Lord , all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.