God is sovereign. I believe with all my heart and with all my mind that God exists and that He is in complete control of the entire universe. Before I say anything else, you, dear reader, need to know that that is true and that is the rock my family is standing on.
Christmases don't often happen as we would have expected. One year, we all got the stomach flu right before Christmas (2008). One year, we had just gotten a referral for two girls (not the one we had planned on!) from Ethiopia (2009). One year, those two girls were opening presents right next to us (2010). And one year, this year, we found out that my mom has four brain aneurysms. Let me tell you a story of God's sovereignty:
About two years ago, one of us picked up a nasty cold and graciously shared it with the rest of the family. This is pretty standard in our house - someone always seems to be getting a cold and before you know it, everyone has a cold. This cold, though, was especially vicious to my mom and infected her ear. Although she pretty much recovered, she's always had problems hearing out of that one ear. My dad kept urging her to check it out, but she kept putting it off in the hopes that it would heal itself. This year, however, we met our tax deductible, which has resulted in a flurry of doctors visits. My mom finally relented and went to see an ear specialist. The initial hearing test showed that she did indeed have less hearing in one of her ears. The ear doctor suggested that she get an MRI before they did anything to her ear just to make sure that there wasn't anything else contributing to the hearing loss. When the MRI came back, the doctor told my mom that he saw something on her MRI that kind of looked like an aneurysm (to read what they are, click here). He said that it was nothing to worry about. However, there's just something about having an aneurysm in your brain that seems maybe just a little serious, so we had it checked out. After a day of testing at St. Joseph's hospital on the 21st, the doctors discovered that my mom has four aneurysms in her brain. One is relatively big, one is medium-sized, and the other two are pretty small. The radiologist said the method they would use to treat the biggest aneurysm is a relatively easy procedure (compared to most!) called coiling. My mom got an appointment in at Mayo Clinic to get a second opinion this afternoon, so she and my dad are down there right now.
When I think about what God did for us, I get really overwhelmed. Most people don't even find out they have aneurysms until it's too late (aneurysms can cause strokes). Because we discovered them, because my mom is healthy, and because she's young, her aneurysms will be possible to treat. Although it's a little scary and a little uncertain, we all trust that God is holding us in His hand. He has watched these aneurysms for years, and is just now letting us in on the picture. To those of you who don't know Christ, this probably sounds cliche and blind and ignorant. I can't really do anything about that, except for tell you with total certainty that God is in control. We are so incredibly thankful that He is sovereign and that He has let us discover these aneurysms in time to treat them.
Another evidence of God's goodness is how eager people are to help! My mom hasn't even gone in for surgery yet, and we already have a neighbor over tonight cooking pasta for us while she's gone. Our fiddle teacher brought over a huge pan of lasagna. Another neighbor dropped off cookies. Friends babysat the little kids. Other friends brought over supper and cleaned the house. Tons of people have emailed, texted, and called to let us know that they're thinking and praying. It's been incredible and such a blessing.
Christmases don't often happen as we would have expected. One year, we all got the stomach flu right before Christmas (2008). One year, we had just gotten a referral for two girls (not the one we had planned on!) from Ethiopia (2009). One year, those two girls were opening presents right next to us (2010). And one year, this year, we found out that my mom has four brain aneurysms. Let me tell you a story of God's sovereignty:
About two years ago, one of us picked up a nasty cold and graciously shared it with the rest of the family. This is pretty standard in our house - someone always seems to be getting a cold and before you know it, everyone has a cold. This cold, though, was especially vicious to my mom and infected her ear. Although she pretty much recovered, she's always had problems hearing out of that one ear. My dad kept urging her to check it out, but she kept putting it off in the hopes that it would heal itself. This year, however, we met our tax deductible, which has resulted in a flurry of doctors visits. My mom finally relented and went to see an ear specialist. The initial hearing test showed that she did indeed have less hearing in one of her ears. The ear doctor suggested that she get an MRI before they did anything to her ear just to make sure that there wasn't anything else contributing to the hearing loss. When the MRI came back, the doctor told my mom that he saw something on her MRI that kind of looked like an aneurysm (to read what they are, click here). He said that it was nothing to worry about. However, there's just something about having an aneurysm in your brain that seems maybe just a little serious, so we had it checked out. After a day of testing at St. Joseph's hospital on the 21st, the doctors discovered that my mom has four aneurysms in her brain. One is relatively big, one is medium-sized, and the other two are pretty small. The radiologist said the method they would use to treat the biggest aneurysm is a relatively easy procedure (compared to most!) called coiling. My mom got an appointment in at Mayo Clinic to get a second opinion this afternoon, so she and my dad are down there right now.
When I think about what God did for us, I get really overwhelmed. Most people don't even find out they have aneurysms until it's too late (aneurysms can cause strokes). Because we discovered them, because my mom is healthy, and because she's young, her aneurysms will be possible to treat. Although it's a little scary and a little uncertain, we all trust that God is holding us in His hand. He has watched these aneurysms for years, and is just now letting us in on the picture. To those of you who don't know Christ, this probably sounds cliche and blind and ignorant. I can't really do anything about that, except for tell you with total certainty that God is in control. We are so incredibly thankful that He is sovereign and that He has let us discover these aneurysms in time to treat them.
Another evidence of God's goodness is how eager people are to help! My mom hasn't even gone in for surgery yet, and we already have a neighbor over tonight cooking pasta for us while she's gone. Our fiddle teacher brought over a huge pan of lasagna. Another neighbor dropped off cookies. Friends babysat the little kids. Other friends brought over supper and cleaned the house. Tons of people have emailed, texted, and called to let us know that they're thinking and praying. It's been incredible and such a blessing.
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you;
When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned;
And the flame shall not consume you."
Isaiah 43:2
We serve a great God.
1 comments:
Emma - I am praying praying praying for your mom. Please keep posting so we know how she is doing.
Mary Chasseur (Krissee's mom - from Cono)
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