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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

At His Moment

I know I say it each week, but church yesterday was amazing. I feel so blessed to be a part of such an awesome church body, where God meets us each week exactly where we need Him to. I love feeling His presence wash over me when I step inside. It’s just the most sweetest feeling.




Yesterday we had a baptism after the service. Such a sweet time for new and old believers. I love the symbolism of baptism, the old being washed away and coming up new and clean. Such a declaration of the fact that we will live our lives for He who died for us. I had the honor of witnessing a 16 year old, wheel chair bound girl being baptized yesterday. It was such a sweet time, for even though her disabilities prevented her from being completely submerged, she wanted to follow in obedience to Christ’s command. While it was so heart-warming to see her follow this command and to be in awe of her story, my thoughts steered away from my surroundings for a moment.



I sat there, holding sweet Lettie while Scott shared this young girls story. When she was 4 she was in a car accident that severed her vertebra causing her to be paralyzed. Her world since then has involved a wheel chair, a trach, and several doctor’s “she will never.” To say that I had tears in my eyes would be an understatement. More like sobbing, mascara running down my face. The parents of this girl were told she would never talk again. Sometime in the last few months, she had to be hospitalized. Her doctor called her father while she was in the hospital and told him he had to get to the hospital right away, they had a surprise for him. When he walked into the room, his daughter, who hasn’t spoken since she was 4, said ‘Hi daddy, I love you.’ Ummm, insert embarrassing cry NOW. In case you aren’t up to speed on Lettie’s story, she’s a 2 year old angel that underwent a dramatic brain surgery to stop her little body from having seizures. Lettie is still having seizures, trouble with her motor skills, and we’ve never heard her voice. So, to hear that this girl who has never spoken since her accident, just spit out a full SENTENCE, was joyful and heartbreaking at the same time. Please don’t get me wrong, I am so happy for her and her family. God spared her life and answered years of prayers at just the right moment-His moment. As I held Lettie and felt her little hand play with my hair and her little body cuddle into my shoulder I just prayed. I prayed that God would heal Lettie from her seizures, that He would allow her to sit up longer this week, that He would allow her to spend the week with no seizures, that He would allow her to talk. I know that it is probably one of the hardest things in the world for Mark and Summer, to have Lettie and not know what her voice sounds like, to not hear her say ‘I love you mommy, I love you daddy.’ So many times since her surgery, I have wondered quietly and out loud, Why God? Why can’t Lettie be healed, why didn’t her surgery “work” and why does she have to go through this? Yesterday, all I could think about was His moment. It’s not time for Lettie to talk yet. It’s not time for Lettie to walk yet. All of her milestones are gifts from God, coming at exactly the right moment for God to receive the glory-not doctors. I have faith that His moment is not far off. I just know that the sweet spirit behind Lettie’s precious smile and sparkling eyes is going to be revealed in a way that only God will be capable of receiving all the credit and glory for.



Lettie goes in a few weeks to have another MRI at Vanderbilt. Please pray that this will shed some light as to why Lettie is having seizures again. Doctors have talked about the possibility of fibers from the parts of her brain that were removed still being attached that could be triggering these seizures. If that is the case, sweet Lettie will have to undergo another brain surgery much like the one she has already had. Please pray for Mark and Summer and Lettie as they travel, the doctors who will be reading the results, and that in the case of Mark and Summer having to make more difficult decisions concerning medicines and surgeries, that they would be at peace with the decisions God leads them to make.



Thank you God, for allowing me the opportunity to understand that it’s not in anyone’s time but Yours. Thank you for sparing the life of that sweet 16 year old girl and for sparing Lettie. Let their stories ring across this city and nation, that You would receive all the glory for the miracles in these lives.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

My Life Is Not My Own

This morning at church, Scott delivered a very powerful Word from God. It was very clear that God's presence filled our worship center. So many thoughts consumed my mind. I probably need to go ahead and insert that I'm in the middle of reading 'Radical' by David Platt, too.

At the end of the message, Scott addressed the church in a way that he hasn't ever done before. During that time, he asked for those that are feeling called to live radically for the sake of the Kingdom to come forward and give it all up. That time did so much for me. I heard God's voice speak clearly to me. I'm not sure exactly what it all means, but it is definitely going to be a time of stepping out of my comfort zone and doing things that I'm not at all inclined to do on my own.

I'm nervous about this new "radical" journey. I'm excited, too. What does this journey look like for me? I'm not really sure yet. However, I know that my life is not my own. I'm here to be the hands and feet of Jesus. To go where He has called me to go, to live how He wants me to live. Not lavishly, but simple.

Radical living...I'm all in.