Daddy: ๐ Matthew 6 25 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. We try not to be anxious as a family. We may be assertive or confident but typically not anxious. One way that we have been intentional about raising our kids is to teach them to be realistic. When they were little, and would hurt themselves, they would come to us screaming hysterically, we would calm them down (they may have stories on getting them calmed down), then begin to ask them about specifics. Where is it hurting? Are you bleeding? Can you move it? Is it your big toe? Can you move your foot? Oh yeah, I see that wire going in below your knee and coming out above your knee, why arent you screaming? Let me pull it out. Oh that horse just did a flip and planted you in the arena dirt? Where does it hurt? With our ranching lifestyle, and with four kids early on, then adding a fifth later, there is always something that could hurt. Dayna and I have never fallen into the dramatic, hurting, drama show. Your feelings are hurt? Get over it or rationally tell me what you are thinking. If your body hurts, let me help you and you can stop hollering because that doesnt help. That mindset has proven to pay off after 57 days in the hospital. For all of us. As you can imagine, this has been an anxious time for each of us. Miranda has been in terrible pain from laying in bed so long and from having tubes put in her chest. She has had every reason to cry and there have been plenty of days that we have cried along with her. When I read through these verses in Matthew, and see that I am not supposed to be anxious about tomorrow, I realize how much a lot of us operate out emotion instead of reality. I couldnt be prouder of Miranda with this. From the first surgery to now, doctors, nurses, friends and concerned followers have expected Miranda to take medication to get her through this event, emotionally. Before anyone blast me about the uses of antidepressants please know that I am very aware of the uses. I know that there are many folks who have had great experience with medication and I am not judging in the least. I am looking deeper than that in our story. This event has been a spiritual battle. We have been very much aware of the spiritual warfare that has been involved in Mirandas illness. I havent said much about it. Many of you have prayed against it or spoken of it. Just so you know, we are very aware. I believe that dangling medication out there for Miranda was probably one of her toughest temptations that she faced. With us talking through with Miranda, the pros and cons, and with us being able to disengage from the emotional outcries, there was an ability for Miranda to make an informed decision. This was a battle of whether or not she would totally trust Jesus to get her through, or would she just talk about her Faith. There hasnt been a hint of regret from Miranda. She has been asked about taking some since her nights of excruciating pain, I have even asked if she thought that she needed any medication and she adamantly replied that she didnt want to discuss it any longer. She knows who will pull her through. Now pain medication is a different story. We like pain meds. What we have seen is that if her pain is controlled there is really no need for antidepressants. She has done amazing at knowing her med schedule and what each pill or shot does. It is very impressive to watch. Another war zone is when an event has been planned. The Grub Burger, the Ranch Sorting, the 5K and the chick fil a days were all days of set backs. The first one, I didnt think much of, but by the third event and major set backs on those days, it didnt take much to realize that these were the days of biggest impact. People put into action there convictions on these days and I believe these were days of heaviest battle. People were praying all over the world on these days just due to the attention that had been drawn to Miranda because of each event. Then on the days following the set backs, we have seen significant progress. As many of situations during this ordeal, I have never seen anything like this. We appreciate the prayers and support each of you have shown to our family and especially to Miranda. We are still in awe of yall and Christs goodness and grace during this time. As of today, Sunday 27th, I walked in the room to her sitting in her chair, eating, while breathing through a nasal cannula. Her trach is plugged and her oxygen input is around 35-40%. What a far cry from Friday. There is no doubt who holds Miranda. We will enjoy the mountain tops when we can. Dayna is sleeping at home today, Ninna and Papa got to see her sitting in her chair, Mattison and Derrick have the boys and Miranda and I are watching Junk Gypsies, taking it easy. We like taking it easy.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 20:30:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015