Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us." 1 Samuel 7:12
We have had a calm week. There have been no doctor's appointments and a bad cold has kept me from even leaving the house for a few days. This has forced me to rest and just slow my frenetic energy. Danica has had a good week. Dan and I have noticed her falling more just walking through the house. She just drops to the floor without notice. We finally took our sharp edged coffee table out of the living room, and we have been following her up and down the stairs like when she was younger. But she has been sleeping better and not complaining of her head and neck hurting very often. Sometimes we look at her laughing and playing and just want to call this whole thing off. She is "perfect" to us, and it seems too hard to believe what the scans of her brain and bones say.
We are encouraged and so very grateful for the support from so many this week. Literally from around the world people we have never met are finding Danica's story and choosing to sacrifice in some way to love and care for us. We have felt like we are wearing a backpack full of all these rocks so we can barely move a step forward and one by one you are coming behind us and removing a part of the burden. We are humbled and forever changed by God's faithfulness through you.
Know we are making an altar of gratitude in our hearts and our home.
(Please take time to listen to the song on the playlist below which shares the same title as this post, "Gratitude" by Nichole Nordeman. It is the prayer of my heart tonight.)
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Singing it with you, Monica...
ReplyDelete~tears streaming~
Yes singing --- to give thanks in all things.
I am just learning, so learning.
Thank you... for sharing you --- you change me....
All's grace,
Ann
Monica, I just found your site today and know it was truly from God's leading.
ReplyDeleteOur son (20 years old) has Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bone disease) and has suffered much through the years from fractures, surgeries and malformations. Five years ago he was diagnosed with severe basilar invagination where the vertebrae was pushing up through the foramen magnum, compressing his brainstem. We too were in shock as we slowly realized that without intervention he probably had less than a year to live. Through God's leading hand, we were also connected with Dr. Menezes (we live in Oregon). He did surgery on our son - a surgery that probably no one else would have attempted on someone with OI. After our initial appointment with him, we expressed our thanksgiving to God for leading us to him. He immediately responded with "I am only a tool, only a tool."
I would love to connect with you more if you are willing. Please email me at vtse1@juno.com and I can give you our phone number.
Here is something I have pasted into my journal that has been a great encouragement to me:
"child of My love, lean hard,
And let Me feel the pressure of thy care,
I know thy burden, child;p I shaped it,
Poised in Mine own hand, made no proportion
In its weight to thine unaided strength;
For even as I laid it on I said,
'I shall be near, and while she leans on Me,
This burden shall be Mine, not hers;
So shall I keep My child within the circling arms,
Of Mine own love.' Here lay it down, nor fear
To impose it on a shoulder which upholds
The government of worlds. Yet closer come,
Thou are not near enough; I would embrace thy care,
So I might feel My child reposing on My breast.
Thou lovest Me? I know it. Doubt not, then
But, loving Me, lean hard."
- Octavius Winslow
I'm praying for you during these difficult days.
In Him, Violet