Monday, August 12, 2019

"Surprise Us Lord"



Dear Prayer Warriors,
 
At our visit to Anna’s Pulmonologist last month I expected to accomplish one thing: to get a prescription for a continuous pulse ox machine. It’s one of those things that would just help us and our nurses when Anna is sick. However as soon as we arrived this guy had us off balance. He is quite a character. He asked if he could hold Renee and greeted each of the kids with such interest. We told him how pleased we were at Anna’s lung health for the last two years, that the CPAP, Airway clearance vest, Singulair, Flonase, and Flovent have all combined to optimize her lungs. We didn’t want to change a thing, so we finished by stating our hope for that prescription for the machine to monitor her oxygen level. 

The Pulmonologist replied, “I think we should take her down to just one medicine and send you home without a continuous pulse ox machine.” His response was shrewd and jarring. He was challenging us to see our daughter as normal, or very close to that. We submitted an appeal and he replied that he had every confidence in our ability to monitor our child and that if we had any concerns that we should use the little hand held pulse ox to spot check her.

I was tempted to dismiss him because he could be undermining what I felt my daughter’s needs were. But mostly I was challenged and humbled as a father. This specialist doctor challenged me to rejoice and be glad that God is working. Anna needs less medical intervention, praise the Lord indeed. As I thought some more about this unexpected turn of events, what seems to be going on is that the more confident I become in anticipating Anna’s needs, the less confidence I place in Anna being healed. Moreover, the less I surrender over to God.

Where else I have assumed Anna’s incompetence because of past failure, diagnosis, or complication? Is she being unnecessarily medicated? unnecessarily aided in mobility? Does she still aspirate when she eats from the mouth? I feel encouraged to ask God “what can Anna do? Surprise us Lord encourage our hearts.” The doctor was right, Anna has been doing great with just one lung medication for the last three weeks.

On Anna’s Facebook page I have posted videos of her standing nearly unassisted with a good posture. Another video shows her sitting independently for about a minute or so. What a gift to wonder at the things going on behind and beyond our own thoughts and abilities, by the Author of Life and Supreme King in the spirit world Jesus Christ.

The Lord has placed Anna’s feeding on my heart. One of the most medically invasive treatment in Anna’s life is her 20-hour a day tube feed into her intestine.  We did this to resolve her GERD, from ages 1-3 she was refluxing 30-50 times a day, aspirating it, damaging esophagus, wardrobe change etc... discouraging times as a daddy. But all this reflux has stopped thanks to the food skipping the stomach. What a good thing, perhaps you long journeying prayer warriors remember those prayer requests “for the strengthening of her esophagus sphincter. That the Lord would restore its proper function to Anna.” Recently I supplemented 4 ounces of water into her stomach (bolus feed) because it was rather warm outside. She had no reflux, I wondered “did God answer that prayer in His own time?” So now we are trying to bolus some ounces of food back into her stomach, slowly. Anna’s stomach has been nearly empty for 2 years save saliva, stomach enzymes, and medicine. She has handled the bolus well with minimal reflux. If she can take her meals in bolus feeds to the stomach, she would only need to be tube fed at night, she would not need to be hooked up to a machine.  

Anna may be an invalid according to science and social measurements. However, in the Light of Christ where she is seen outside of just her injured physical body, she has a spirit unstained by the world.  I know she is validated and purposed for God’s glory. May we place all things in the capable hands of Jesus for His perfect glorification to come about. 

“Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" John 11:40

Please pray for:
-continued renewal of our minds regarding God’s plan for Anna. that we would hope for full healing as refining fire of our faith through unbelief and long suffering. Is anything too hard for God? 
-Anna to be in the pathway of God’s blessing daily, whether that looks like the removal of suffering or her ability to be encounter the Father’s love for her.
-wisdom and faith as parents to know that God is working even if Anna needs to stay on 20-hour feeds, confined to a chair, speechless, and blind. It is well with our soul. 
-a new night nurse. One of our military nurses got orders and is leaving in a month.
-For services to fall into place. We have been transferred to El Paso county, we have found providers, there just remains the hope of getting respite providers, house cleaning, a stander, and hippotherapy.

May the gift of prayer bless you as you pray for us. Please let us know how we can pray for you!

The Currats

PS. The picture is of a 2-mile hike we did this past weekend above timberline. we were able to take Anna up to 12,800 feet in a specially modified backpack (notice the foot straps). We would have never thought this would be possible but God wanted to amaze us!