This is our little friend N-D. He is 4 years old, full of light and love and bringer of such joy to whomever he meets.
About a year and a half ago, ND's daddy went to get him from Ethiopia...
and brought him home to a house with a mom, dad, and three older brothers. He has been thriving and growing, learning about the Lord, falling in love with Jesus and loving (and being loved BY) his family.
Around April 7, 2011, he was feeling unwell, having caught a nasty tummy virus. By Monday he was still not doing well and complaining of aches and abdominal pain.
And then he began to vomit blood.
He was rushed to Children's Hospital where it was soon discovered that he had tumors in his stomach.
And his liver.
AND
his pancreas.
The doctors have ran a plethora of tests and are ruling out one thing after another. Today's testing is a biopsy to determine if the tumors are malignant or benign. I am asking you---well, I am begging you on my knees (like I am pleading with our Father)---that you lift ND up in your prayers, asking for God's healing, for ND's health to return, for his mom, his dad, and his three older brothers as they wait, fighting for him with every breath they breathe, every moment sending prayers for their precious little guy. They cover him with their love, cover him with their prayers, and are firmly placing him in the Father's care, knowing He is covered by our Father's wing, held tightly in His hand.
HIS care and love is evident in this family, HIS strength is lovely to behold as ND's parents and brothers hold tight to the promises of Jesus and make their requests to God with such beautiful thanksgiving.
That ND has a mom and dad to fight for him, pray for him, take care of him and love, love, love him is not a coincidence. I am thankful that God provided such a terrific family, full of His grace, mercy, power and might. I am in awe of His provision and planning and am waiting to be amazed again. Please join us in prayer for healing and peace.
I remember being a big crybaby when I was little. My heart was on my sleeve: my feelings would get hurt over the littlest of things, my conscience was easily pricked, I moralized everything, was very intent on showing fairness and sharing (really....I still catch myself dividing the M&Ms evenly in my mouth), I hated saying goodbye and would nearly make myself sick with crying, or others sick with my clinging to them!! Then, one day, a friend told me how it hurt to see me cry so much. So...because I liked this friend mostly for friendship's sake (plus--I won't lie to you--I was about 13 years old and this friend was a REALLY cute 12 year old boy), I promised I would practice some self control and cut out the crying.
And for a good 20 years or so I have not been too very weepy.
But then, I had my fourth child. And through him, God opened the floodgates of my heart once again. Welllllllll...to be fair, He re-opened the floodgates of my tear ducts. Now. I. gush.:
I cry when I hear of someone going to Jerusalem, the Jordan, Gethsemane, Ephesus. I cry when I watch Barbie movies with the girls (those sweet boys of mine usually suffer through it, bless them). I cry when someone goes forward in church for prayer. I cry when someone is baptized. I cry when I see abounding joy! I cry at Disney commercials.
I do!!! And I know that if I ever meet Cinderella, I will probably sit down and bawl!
Songs...commercials...laughter...jokes...family trips (ANYbody's family trips)...family get-togethers(see previous parenthesis)...graveyards...green fields...mists dancing with the wind...the intricacies of snowflakes...baby cows standing beside their mommas...a fog rolling in...the glow of morning sunlight in my living room... those unconquerable piles of laundry... a single line of cars on a sunny day all with their headlights on...the wail of a siren...the good news of a healing...the tears of my children...the pure and beautiful laughter of their joy... I. CRY.
I know that God says that there will be no tears in Heaven. I am thinking that those tears must mean tears of sorrow, because if the open flow of my heart is any indication, there will most certainly be tears from me in Heaven. More times than not, my tears are from delight; from the inability to voice the joy and complete happiness that comes from the Spirit of God moving through the rooms of my heart, stirring up visions of Home, of being a part of Abraham, of Israel, a fulfillment to the promise of His salvation. I see it in this world where He speaks of His love to us through the beautiful and sad, the exciting and mundane, in His word and His people, in nature and in the cosmos.
His joy. His love. His faithfulness. It makes me want to sing! to laugh and dance!
But usually, when my spirit meets His, it weeps with thankfulness, inexpressible jubilation and contentment.
Maybe, after a few thousand years have passed, once my awe and gratefulness have allowed me to move off of my face, and then off of my knees, and my eyes have cleared themselves of the tears so I can see enough not to step on His toes, I will be able to dance with Him!!! I look forward to all of it:
...and to sharing it with so many others whose bliss and elation have kept them pressing on toward the Savior:
He is very sick and his family and friends are desperate for your prayers. To know who you are praying for (and why), click here.
He is very sick and his family and friends are desperate for your prayers. To know who you are praying for (and why), click here.
