Monday, December 15, 2008

One Straight Path

My sister-in-law gave me a few "Truth Cards" before we left for Mayo. She takes wonderful "truths" declared in God's love letter to us (the bible) and writes them on individual recipe cards. This was one of the "truths" she selected for us during this trip:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5

I cannot think of a better set of verses for our situation. Lean not on your own understanding. That is what we have been doing with this strange diagnosis that Derrick has. He has been told over and over again that he just doesn't fit the profile for the type of patient who has Psuedotumor Cerebrai. It seems that not only do we not understand why this happened to him but none of the doctors do. Even one of the top specialists from Mayo could not give us any reason why this happened. He just said, "you dont' fit the profile, Derrick." That is a little unsettling. However, what we rest in is the fact that the One who created the human body also knows exactly why and how this happened. The One who determines every beat of our heart and every breath we will or won't take, also determined and understands this.

In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. This part of the verse really came to life today when God made our path straight- BACK HOME. That's right, we got to come home tonight, with no need for surgery! If that isn't answered prayer, I don't know what is. We were praying and we know many other people were. We went to our appointment at 8:00am and saw the Neruo-Opthamologist along with his entourage of doctors who had flown in from Korea to learn from him. Obviously, we can see that this doctor knows what he's talking about. He looked at Derrick's eyes and the optic nerve is still swollen. However, he would like to see Derrick continue on the medication for another 3 weeks to a month to give it a chance to reduce the swelling on it's own. This is exactly what we were praying for. We were hoping we wouldn't have to jump into surgery tomorrow, which we were told probably would happen. We really wanted to get back to our boy. And we didn't want to be going through a surgery. Derrick doesn't tolerate anesthesia well and I didn't want to be holding his puke bucket in one hand and my own in the other. Thank you, morning sickness. Thank you.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. This is precisely what we have been doing. It's all we can do. We would be lost without this trust. Our trusting isn't done. We have three weeks to a month to trust that God will heal these optic nerves. We are believing and hoping for that. And you know what, if he does need the surgery, it won't change anything. We will still trust.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such great news! Praise God for his mercies every day :)

Now on to phase 2: getting that swelling relieved. I'll keep you all in my prayers...and congrats on the new little one!

Misty

Michelle H. said...

Shannon...God is soooo GOOD! I'm so thankful you guys made it there safely and HOME safely...what a blessing...PLUS, no surgery! I'll keep praying for a full healing!

Wildlifewife said...

So glad you got to come home! I will be praying that while you all sit back and enjoy Leighton's second Christmas God will be fully healing Derrick. Aren't you so excited to see Leighton's reaction to Christmas this year. It is already so fun to hear Bjorn say,"yights, yights!" when he looks and the tree lights and "Santa, Ho Ho!" everytime he spots old st. nick.

Anonymous said...

God our creator is beyond our comprehension, but we know He is in control and all things lead to Him. He knows what we need most of all because He seeks our hearts to love Him above all. It takes faith and trust to endure and overcome trials. Mat 5:3 "Blessed [are] the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are we that are poor in spirit of the wordly ways and are so rich in the Spirit Of God for when we are faithful to God we will inherit eternal joy with Him. Trials like these are a blessing to us for it keeps us closer to Him then those that go on in their merrily ways without Him. True love reguires much and know one gave more than our Savior and Lord JESUS CHRIST. Let us rejoice in all things for we know life here is very temporary and is a test for us, for we were created to Glorify Him in this life as well as the next. What has He not given us that we need? Jesus has done it ALL. All we have to do is choose Him and His Saving GRACE. He does ask of us to live our lives as a testamonial of our faith to bring others to Him so they may have life eternal and Glorify Him and to be glorified by Him. Thank you God for being merciful and giving Derrick and Shannon good news for now and their save travels. Thank all of you who prayed and petitioned God for this news for we too are blessed. Holy is the NAME of GOD OUR FATHER and JESUS OUR SAVIOR. Our prayers were answered. Giving Praise and Thanks, Darrel and Laurie

Shannonheick said...

Thank you, everyone for your wonderful comments and more importantly for your prayers! We are so excited to move on to celebrating Christmas, among many other wonderful things.