Grace

grace - an undeserved favor or gift; the undeserved forgiveness, kindness and mercy that God gives us.

That is the definition of grace in my bible. Grace fits our situation in so many ways. Luke is a gift from God. We certainly wanted a third child, but were not planning him. (We had much trouble getting pregnant and staying pregnant) When we found out we were expecting we were thrilled that God had blessed us with his favor. God's grace covers our sins that we as humans continue to commit. I always remember a shirt I had in high school that said "We're not perfect - just forgiven". Though we strive to be perfect we will never be, so we continue to strive to be more Christ-like and ask forgiveness when we are not. God is covering us with his kindness and mercy as we struggle with Luke and all he is going through. As I look back over all the posts we have made it seems like years ago that we started this whole journey. I know it is only by God's grace, power and mercy that we are this far and I know He will see us through to the end in His time.

Luke has not made many changes. He is still very swollen. His head is now leaking the fluid out. We continue to need more output from his kidneys. He is on many sedation drugs so we feel he is comfortable enough. We do pray for his comfort as he looks so uncomfortable. We get a doctor back tomorrow who has seen him through his most difficult days so we look forward to talking with him. We talked today about how after all this swelling is down, the infection under control and his kidneys are working we will still have a little boy who can't breathe on his own, but at this point we would be thrilled to have that little boy back!

As we continue to pray for healing, pray with us for wisdom for the doctors, answers to questions and progress for Luke.

2 Corinthians 12:9 "...My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

2 Chronicles 20:12 "...We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you"

God

Luke remains stable in his very sick state. He has not had much output in his diaper today so the doctor is working on that. He continues to be extremely swollen as you can see in the picture. We just continue to pray for healing.

Today I keep coming to the verse, "Be still and know that I am God," Psalm 46:10. I think that is what God wants us to do. Just relax and let him - don't keep trying to take all this back and figure it out. We only need to know that he is God. In the first verse of Genesis it says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." One time in a bible study I was taught that it really could have said, "In the beginning God," and that would have been enough. That says it all. In the beginning God - is all we need. In every situation we face in life God is enough. He is our protector, our comforter, our savior, our friend and our father. We come before him as Abraham did Isaac and lay Luke at his feet. We turn him over as we have to do often because as humans we always want to take it back into our hands. So we will be still and know that God is God.

Luke 1:37 "For nothing is impossible with God."

Patience

I didn't blog last night because we had a rare night as a family and there just wasn't much new information to share. My thoughts yesterday again turned to patience. When I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the fruits of the Spirit and me needing to work on patience, I had no idea how patient God would really want me to be. As a family we all tend to be spontaneous. We are definitely up for anything at anytime. This is so hard to wait, but we are learning. God gives us just what we need for the moment. I think it is good that we don't know all of what will happen in the future. We certainly couldn't handle knowing it all at once. I am thankful for each day and the blessings we find daily. I am thankful that God continues to keep Luke alive and we see some progress with some part of him daily. Sometimes we take steps backwards but we usually come right back. Yesterday Luke we woke up to find Luke had a very hard night and had some really high vent settings. By this morning they were back down to the settings from the day before. Last night he had a really good diaper (not enough, but better) then by this morning it was down again. We just ride along on the hills and valleys knowing we are in God's hands and in His plan. God continues to fill us with his peace.

We continue to walk in prayer for Luke. I sat there and prayed most of the day today that God would please take the swelling from him. He is having some output from his kidneys so that is good, it is still not enough, but the doctor is trying some things that he hopes will get them going. The chromosomal testing the genetics doctor had sent off a couple weeks ago came back totally normal. Once again that doesn't help with any diagnosis as to why Luke is having so much trouble, but good to hear his chromosomes are normal!

One of my favorite Max Lucado books is "In the Eye of the Storm". It really ministered to me in one of the storms of my life. Today a friend emailed me these words to a Casting Crown's song.

"I'll praise You in this storm and I will lift my hands Cause You are who You are no matter where I am. And every tear I cry You hold in Your hand You've never left my side and though my heart is torn, I will praise You in this storm."

Once again in my life I am in the midst of a storm, but I know I am not alone. I feel God covering me with His peace, lifting me up with His strength and filling me with His Spirit. God tells us over and over in scripture how he cares for us and will care for us in times of trouble. It is so wonderful to experience God just as He has written. Thank you for continuing to pray for Luke. I know God will see us through this storm.

Chariots of Fire !

My friend Bill Hubbard sent this to me this morning & I LOVED IT! I think it fits all of you who are praying for Luke & remembering him daily. Your prayers are the shield of protection around him. God is great ! He wrote:


As I’ve prayed for Luke over the past days, the image that keeps coming to mind is that of Elisha the prophet.

The king of Syria was coming to kill Elisha and surrounded the place where he and his servant were staying. The servant was terrified of the unseen dangers around them, but Elisha said to him:"Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, 'O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.' And the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 King 6:15-17)In the pit of despair, when there seemed to be no one there but Elisha and his servant, God reveals that they are surrounded by angels who are ready to battle against the enemy.

This image comes to my mind so many times when I feel surrounded and alone and feel like God has abandoned me. He is always there in power, even when He is unseen to our eyes which can so easily become shrouded by doubt and fear.

Thanks to you all & may God bless you & your families as well! Eric

We wait upon the Lord.

Not much has changed today with Luke. We still wait on his kidneys to produce more output. He did better on his oxygen settings today and they were able to wean his vent a little from where they had it this morning. We continue to cry out to God our Father for Luke. We follow Him knowing He holds the future and we can get through each day no matter what we face because of our belief in Jesus and our future in heaven.

2 Corinthians 1:3 " What a wonderful God we have - He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy, and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials."

Prayers...

Psalm 5:1-3 " Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."

We all continue to cry out to God for Luke's kidneys to begin working again. I pray for healing as I cry out with my eyes as well as the words from my mouth! Sydney prays that God will just make Luke pee so much they will have to change his diapers every two hours! Hogan prays that God will just put his healing hand on Luke and make his kidneys work. I know God is hearing so many prayers going up to him for Luke and we thank you for standing with us.

Psalm 121:1-2 " I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."

Luke remains very swollen. His kidneys continue to work just a little. He did make a little progress today with his oxygen settings which is good since at 100% they didn't have any higher to go to help him. We remain in a wait and see mode. We know it is all in God's hands and we walk in His will knowing that He knows what is best for all of us in this situation. We are so blessed to serve such a loving God who cares for us each step of the way. We walk with a peace that God is in control and we need nothing else.