God's Abundance of Blessings

First, let me start off with an apology. I know there are several of you that have been waiting on an update about Chris and I haven’t posted even a hint of what is going on, and I am sorry about that. To be honest, I have been struggling with writer’s block. Every time I start to write, the words just get clogged up in my mind. I’ve been praying about it and I feel like I may have a reason for it: I have been praying but not listening. I have been trying to find what I thought of as the perfect words to explain our experiences. I was also trying to be witty as well as bring more attention to our adventure. Yet God kept saying, “You are writing pretty words and saying I’m involved but you yourself are not seeing all that I am doing.”

So, I’ve been trying to step back and look at what has been happening over the last year. While I know there are more areas that God has been working on in our lives, these are the ones that I have come up with so far:

1. There have been challenges that God cleared for us along the way. Two were how the procedure would be done and how we could afford the treatments. With these two and several other challenges we have come up against, we’ve asked for prayers and left our concerns in God’s hands. He has shown up for us each time. With the procedure, the doctors figured out another way to give him the treatments and with the money, God surrounded us with a community that blessed us as well as pointed us to a program that would help us pay for the treatments. As the saying goes, “Don’t tell God how big your storm is, tell the storm how big your God is.”

2. As I mentioned earlier, God has blessed us with a community of people to walk this adventure with. On one of our recent trips to OSU, we found out that this is not always the case. That is not good for any adventure in life, but especially for one that is as life altering as this one can be. I may never get to know who these people are, but I pray that God will bring a community around them to give them the boost that we all need from time to time. And if by chance you are reading this and feel alone, please reach out to us. We would love to be a part of your community. Because we want to do as it commands in Galatians 6:2: Help each other with your troubles…

3. God has been working in our lives and performing miracles for a long time. Sometimes we see God working and performing miracles as they happen, sometimes we recognize the workings and the blessings that come from them after they nearly fade from memory, and sometimes you never get to fully see the extent of His great works. I have seen miracles of life and death, miracles of softened hearts toward God, and while I don’t see or recognize all of them, I know that God has been blessing me all of my life. I also know that God uses all tools and methods to work these miracles and blessings. For instance, on the adventure we are on, God as used scientists, doctors, nurses, medicines, believers and non-believers, to name just a few. For that reason, I know that the progress that Chris is experiencing is God’s work. Medicine that was not available even 5 years ago is now pumping through Chris’s system and giving him a new experience. He said that at his last follow up appointment he heard something he has never heard come out of a medical professional’s mouth in all of his 42 years of life: “You are showing some gains.” Instead of: this is just the natural progression of your disease or at least you can still…” Wow, God, you are amazing! Even after all I have seen and experienced, it still excites me to see your work. You have really been showing me that the boxes I have been putting you in are not where you belong. No boxes can hold your amazing glory and strength!

4. Another thing I have noticed in this adventure is that Chris has become more and more of a man molded in God’s image. His faith and strength are rooted in God and they are getting stronger every day. While both of us are growing stronger in our faith, I see Chris as the one that is silently growing more. We have been discussing more of the Bible and what we get from our daily readings and weekly church services. Yes, we had God in our marriage before, but He has a stronger presence in it now as well as throughout all areas of our lives. Chris is seeking out wisdom from men older than him, and learning to apply that knowledge in all areas of his life. We have also been intentionally praying more for others. We know that our struggles are not the only ones out there and taking our minds off of ours and helping pray for others is helping us grow more spiritually.

Of these 4 realizations, I think that God is most happy about the last one. We are getting closer to Him and that has always been His biggest desire. Yet again, God has been using the other 3 realizations as tools and methods to bring us closer to Him. It is amazing to step back and see His work. I encourage you to do so sometime in your life to see God’s amazing work in your life.

By the way, here is a deeper look at what we experienced at the last follow up appointment. We saw 4 different individuals while we were there; a pulmonologist, a physical therapist, a neurologist, and a research assistant that focuses more on the mental side of the process. The physical therapist and the research assistant are doing their portion without notes to compare it with at that time. So those two were not able to say if they had noticed any gains or losses over the last year. The pulmonologist and neurologist are a different matter. There were 4 tests done with the pulmonologist to check the strength of Chris’s lungs; 2 tests were stable from last time and 2 showed gains/improvements, for a 2-point gain overall. The neurologist does a shock test on Chris’s arm muscles to test their reactions and while we don’t have any specifics, he said he did notice some gains as well. Which means Chris’s muscles are getting stronger, even if it is minimal at this time. As we are learning throughout the adventure, everything in God’s time!