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!