A memorable day

It’s been 18 years since this memorable moment.

Our son’s birth, like each of our children, is a precious gift to our family.

His life has been an amazing journey which has taught me so much about the Lord.

It began when he was a week old.

His toenail on his big toe became infected.

Although, newborns are not supposed to be able to develop such a condition, his grew worse and ended up requiring antibiotics.

It was a frightening time for me, but God used it to teach me and to prepare me.

Because the trust I was learning through his infected toenail was grown when our son needed surgery before he was one year old.

I had never considered what other parents, those who had to walk through surgeries with their baby or child, endured until I was being instructed on how I had to handle myself if I was going to be the one to place him in operating room.

If I showed even a small sign that I “couldn’t handle it” they wouldn’t allow it at all.

But I wanted to be there for our son.

I wanted to be the one to put on his gown and have him see my face as they placed the mask and to be there when he went to sleep.

God used those moments of selfcontrol when the length of the surgery went over an hour past the expected time.

He taught me a new level of trust that day.

Something He had not finished teaching me.

It was obvious that our son wasn’t growing at a normal rate.

But I wasn’t alarmed until the tests his Pediatrician ran came back that his bone age was three and a half years behind his chronological age.

We were sent to a children’s hospital four hours away to see a specialist.

More tests were done on our five year old son, but nothing prepared me for the words spoken at our first appointment with the specialist.

“Well, we’ve ruled out terminal illness and chronic disease…”

The rest of her sentence was lost on me.

I hadn’t realized we were testing him for those things and hearing those words nearly knocked me off my chair.

I remember struggling momentarily for control and the Lord reminded me of the first part: “they ruled out”.

They didn’t know why he wasn’t growing, but he wasn’t terminally ill nor suffering from a chronic disease.

“Praise God!” my heart spoke as my lips were unable.

I clung to that truth with such joy as we prepared to run a test different than any previously done.

They needed to watch our son’s hormone levels and the test required taking a lot of blood from him in a very few hours.

I remember spending the night in a hotel with our son.

He was so excited about going swimming in the pool.

We walked down the road to a Subway and had sandwiches for dinner.

We went to bed early as we had to be there very early the next day.

The place we had to have the test was in the same area they do surgeries on infants.

My heart broke for the couple who handed their baby carrier and their precious child to the nurse to be taken back behind the double doors.

It wasn’t long before we were ushered behind those doors as well.

The four hour test was challenging, but we made it through.

The results showed his hormone levels normal and they basically said we should just wait and see what happens.

He’s had to have many more bone age scans, but never another hormone test.

He’s been growing slowly, but steadily.

It’s cost him the ability to play contact sports, because we have no idea what would happen if he were to break a bone.

I’m so thankful to the Lord for how He’s walked us through these things.

Just recently we were excited to realize, he’s taller than Anne, the tallest of our children.

When I stood there, looking at our children back-to-back, the Lord reminded me of something.

“We think he’s not going to grow very tall, with the growth curve he’s on, he might be 5’4″. Of course we’re not sure.”

“Well, he’s past that! Lord, thank You!” my heart spoke, because my lips were unable.

And this is only one area in the life of our son, which God has used to hone my heart, grow my faith, and teach me.

I’ll be honest, some days I wasn’t sure Jase would make it to 18.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is: life is a fragile and uncertain thing.

I’m so thankful God has given us every single one of our children, understanding they don’t belong to me or my husband.

I’m cherishing every day we are blessed with each one.

My prayers regularly touch on our children.

Today, on our son’s 18 birthday, I’m praying specifically for him.

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank You for our son. Lord, thank You for the blessing he has been each and every day. Lord, You have used him to teach me so much. You have blessed us with difficulties, trials, set backs, and incredible joy. You have taught us through pain and grown us through trials. You have brought us here to a day I wasn’t sure we’d ever experience. Yet, You have been so faithful. Your ways are so incredible. You knew how it was all for our good. You understood how each day would hone our son into the young man he is. Lord, please continue to hone him into a godly man. Lord, make him like David, a man after Your heart. Please protect him from evil and the snares of wickedness. Lord, cover his eyes that he might not see vileness, but instead will look on Your truths. Lord, please prepare him for the occupation You have in store for him. Please teach him how to be honorable as he steps into manhood. Lord, please bring alongside him friends and mentors who will encourage him in righteousness. Lord, let his later end be even more of a blessing than the begin, that he might be a Mighty Man of Valor, steadfast in righteousness, completely surrendered before You, speaking truth, encouragement, and a man who plays, rightly understanding Your Word and speaking it clearly. Thank You, Jesus. I ask these things in Your name. Amen.

Advertisement