The last few weeks at my house have been a challenge. My youngest daughter ended up in the hospital, for what we thought would be a day or two—but it turned into five days and surgery. While she was in the hospital her little guy got the flu and ran an almost constant temperature for two days. The doctor had said he would be pretty sick for a couple of days, but then he would get better. He didn’t.
We took him back to the doctor (mommy was still in the hospital) and he had a terrible ear infection and had to start antibiotics. Mommy got out of the hospital and the air conditioning decided it didn’t want to cool the house.
The dog ran away—pushing through the electric fence—and got picked up by the county. We had to bail him out of doggie jail, and then the animal control police showed up to give him a ticket for being “unrestrained.”
Then we found out that our little guy had to have surgery to replace the tubes in his ears, and my eldest daughter’s cat was attacked and killed by two stray dogs in her neighborhood. She was devastated by the violence and heartbroken at her loss.
When I thought there was nothing else that could happen, my 93-year old mother-in-law hurt her leg. Because we were the closest, we were asked to take care of her.
Let me tell you that I know what tired looks like! My emotions, my mind and my body were drained, and I was running in default mode. There were several occasions throughout this experience when I just sat down and cried in a loud anguished voice, “God Help Me! Jesus I need you! I have no more strength. Please do this for me!”
These were the times when I could do nothing more than hold on to the hem of His garment and in faith “praise” for what He was doing through these situations. I knew He had a plan—I knew He had a purpose—something that He was doing that I couldn’t even fathom. And that is just what it has turned out to be—There were healings we didn’t even know we needed! Praise Jesus!
Our Father does know what is best for us, even when we can’t see the forest for the trees. Sometimes He decides to move our mountains for us because we just can’t or don’t want to see what is on the other side. When this happens we just have to hold on to Him in faith. He will drive; all we need to do is ride.
We didn’t know that the infection that was occurring in our daughter’s body was even happening, let alone how severe it was. The surgeon not only took care of the immediate infection, but she also saw and resolved another urgent issue as well.
The little guy had responded so well to the new tubes that it’s impossible to tell he had been sick for so long. He is full of energy and joy. To top it all off, his speech—which was a struggle for him—is improving on a daily basis. Did we even know that was just what he needed? No, but our Father did.
Not only did we come to find out that our A/C and the dog fence needed tune-ups, but our older daughter came to realize that she was much stronger than she ever thought she was and found strength and love in unexpected places. She learned there are so many people in her life that love and care for her—more than she ever thought possible.
I thought I had to say “yes” again, pull up my big girl panties and take care of my mother-in-law, but after praying and “suffering” through the guilt, I just said, “No, I can’t do this. I just don’t have the bandwidth left to take this on.”
My superhero husband, who has been there to help and support each of us through all of this, told me, “You made the right decision,” and he and his brothers and sisters came up with a different solution for the care of his mother. Here is where God once again came to the rescue and provided another healing—one for me (I’ve had a hard time saying a simple no, but I managed to get that little tiny word out of my mouth), and one for my mother-in-law who is getting better every day.
Faith can sometimes be that indescribable understanding that whatever happens, whatever takes place, God is in control and we just have to get out of the way and let Him do what only He can do. This is hard to do, but the benefits far outweigh what we think we give up when we release what we think we have to have control over.
First Chronicles 16:34 reminds us to “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever” (NLT). And faith will come to the rescue when we least expect it.
PRAYER POWER WEEK OF 5/14/2012
This week tell the Lord how much you need Him and ask Him to make you aware of His ever abiding, sustaining love and presence in your life. Thank Him for ordering your steps and working all things out for your good. Continue to pray for a spirit of repentance and unity among believers so that our prayers for the nation to return to God and His ways will be effective. Remember Israel and pray that it fulfill God’s mandate on earth. Pray for the spread of the gospel and more laborers for His harvest fields. Remember the upcoming elections and pray that God’s people will hear His Voice and pray His will concerning them. Rom. 8:28-39; 2 Chron. 7:14
To enrich your prayer life and learn how to strategically pray with power by using appropriate scriptures, we recommend the following sources by Apostle John Eckhardt: Prayers that Rout Demons, Prayers that Bring Healing, Prayers that Release Heaven on Earth and Prayers that Break Curses. To order any or all of these click here.
James Lasher 
Abby Trivett 
