Looking for Prayer Help

 

Dear Prayer Warriors,

We planned the hospital days so well as the Lord confirmed His authorship and we were united with you all through prayer and amazed at the surgery results. Looking back, we didn’t plan our return so well, ok we were winging it there for a while. But God brought us a mailbox full of encouragement, we got a stovetop crowded with other people’s baked goods, spring flowers on the table, and well wishes filling up Anna’s walls. There are still many people eager to serve Anna and us. Praise God. 

 

As the lord would have it, we find ourselves again at the receiving end of generosity. It is always humbling; we have learned to ask for the help we need. The life of special needs parenting is best lived out with a large stack of “thank you” notes. We are coming to find that our church and friends have lined up many meals (that resemble feasts) for us. Our homeschool co-op has arranged many play dates for Simon and Renee. God even equipped us with next door neighbors eager to lend a hand at a moment’s notice. All this shifted us into rest mode and being able to focus on Anna. Mostly God has given us rhythm in the days since the hospital. With rhythm comes time to cultivate an attitude of gratitude and time in sharing the Scriptures with Anna. 

 

“...For the Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion on them in their suffering.” Isaiah 49:13. 

 

After a strong first week post-surgery where the medicine has kept the pain manageable, Anna's joyous personality was most often on display. Last night marked a turn in her care. Since 3AM Friday night Anna has been suffering through tears and feet twitches which we assumed were further muscle spasms. That smile went away and things became hard. she has been going through spikes of pain every 15 minutes or so crying in discomfort. Her heart rate would shoot up 20+ beats with each spike. We tried every position possible. A couple of hours ago we gave her a bed bath, removed the braces and found a blister the size of a penny at the base of where the brace meets her ankle. There was a gauze pad there but it had lost its stick. We covered the blister, and cut a hole in the brace at the spot of the blister. 

 

Can you imagine the discomfort, almost a days’ worth of acute pain on top of all the surgery stuff? It’s times like these that make me grieve her inability to speak, or to point, certainly we would have found it sooner. Add to that, my pride/flesh is trying to twist my thinking into “you should have found it sooner. Isn’t she having a hard enough time?” Why can’t I be the one with the blister?

 

But in faith I trust God is maturing me in this, “I (God) have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.” Isaiah 48:10

 

“It’s been a hard day”, I told Simon as we watched the rain fall at our front door tonight. We have heavy hearts for Anna right now, thanks for praying and helping us talk to God about these things. 

 

 

Please join us in praying. We will most likely be heading over to the ER tomorrow to see if there is another way to ease her pain. Because even our fixes have only done little to comfort her. May God bring Anna comfort, healing through the night, and rest for us.

Thanks for interceding,

The Currats