Deja Vu

His eye is on the sparrow, 

and I know He watches me.

~Civilla Martin

 

Thirty years ago this September, I gave birth to my first child - a little girl.  Our little family spent five fantastic days together before it all went south.  Unbeknown to us, our precious daughter was born with catastrophic heart problems.  We spent three days (and nights) hearing the words "She won't make it through the night," and "You must prepare yourselves..." etc.  Eventually God's healing grace changed the course of that terrible diagnosis, and our eight-day old child endured heart surgery (a second surgery was necessary at four months).  The first year of her life was occupied with daily doctor or therapy visits.  It was the most stressful time in all my years of parenting.

Last night, all of those feelings of unbelief, stress and fear came flooding back as one of my dearest friends sobbed out the results of a phone call from her daughter: one of her 3-year-old grandsons was diagnosed with a terrible medical condition - just as frightening as what I faced all those years ago.  I spent much of the evening last night talking to God about those terrible days in the past, and the horribly tough present day reality for this young lad.  How I empathize with what his parents must be going through. 

I covet your prayers for this little boy, who is facing surgery on Thursday morning.  God urges us to bring Him our hopes and concerns for those who are ill.  Thank you in advance for your prayers!