Friday, May 11, 2018

The Glorious Reservation




Dear Prayer Warriors,

A couple of weeks ago I caught up with a dear brother that helped me out so much the day Anna was born and thereafter. We talked about how God’s love and presence must reach Anna in such a different way because of her silence, childlikeness, and disability. I told him that she gets attentive and lights up with joy when we sing to the Lord. This brother told me that he has no doubt that the famous hymn lyric applies to Anna: “In my heart there rings a melody of heaven’s harmony.” He suggested that God is pitch perfect with her because her soul is not seduced by worldly things, rather the gracious call of her Maker fills her days. It brought me such joy at imagining how unique that must be. Anna is no angel but certainly she’s angelic in attentiveness to the Almighty.  

How many families have a four-year-old in their house that has never spoken folly, no selfishness, no sin? No breaking things, no running off, no obsession over one movie? I just read James 3 to Anna and found a radical benefit to her witness to me. She has a tongue of purity saved for the day the Healer would loosen it for His praise. What a glorious reservation.

Anna was named after the prophet briefly mentioned in the birth narrative of Jesus (in Luke 2). Anna the prophet is remarked as worshipping night and day, being constantly in the temple praying and fasting. She was a widow for a very long time, spending her time undivided in praise of God. She saw Jesus as a baby and thanked God. My sweet daughter Anna echoes her namesake incidentally, perhaps she is constantly in the presence of God, undivided never once cursing His name. Anna’s tube feeds may not give her the pangs of hunger but she is cut off almost entirely of the joy of taste. Anna is daily in prayer with us.      

This perspective of Anna communing with God is so gracious to me, God is equipping my heart as I serve her. Sometimes I peer in and wonder what our God is making through Anna -I still ask for the miracle of full healing because God is able. One thing I tell most everybody about raising Anna is that “you always (and even daily sometimes) have to reconcile the hardships of your daughter with the goodness of God.”  

Praise the Lord for:
-the month of May marking one year since Anna has been hospitalized as an inpatient, we’re celebrating!
-after writing to our Governor regarding our Medicaid insurance request for a ramp van conversion, action has been taken, the conversion has been preapproved.
-Anna doing so great falling asleep with the CPAP mask and forced air. This coming Wednesday, we will have a sleep study to determine the strength of forced air needed.   

Pray for:
-Anna to hold up her head completely and consistently.  
-her to stop chewing her hands constantly and that her wrists sores would heal.
-increased ability to track objects with her eyes, that she would persist in engaging the world around her with whatever vision she has.
-physical therapy milestones to arrive like sitting independently, crawling, walking, and balancing.
-her hip joint to form well so “the ball doesn’t leave the socket”.
-guidance regarding a surgery to install a Jejunum tube (a feeding tube to the intestine) reducing exposure to radiation.
-greater success in communication through assistive devices.
-wisdom in selecting a van, the conversion company, and the dealer through whom this long process must continue through, that we would be patient.
-another year of no illness related hospitalization.
-Thanksgiving to God for our night nurses ensuring we all get rest.

We’re honored by your service of prayer,

Nic, Lindsey, Anna, and Simon