Thankful

Not long I ago I came across KellysKornerBlog.com. It is written by a women in Arkansas whose baby girl was very ill immediately after her birth. She blogged about her experience and has a list of families with needing prayers for their baby’s on her site. (Her baby girl is home now and growing and absolutely gorgeous) I found myself linking to other sites where parents of children with EB, and cancer, and victims of SIDS, and so on, are writing about their struggles and triumphs. Most of these blogs had begun as just a typical happy family blog with no trace of the agony to come. I became almost fascinated with reading these blogs and for some reason, with finding the day they received their news, the day their lives went from a happy, normal, day to day existence to that of a family with a seriously ill child. It isn’t a morbid fascination, but more of a "how do you survive that" fascination. I have found strength and faith and hope in their stories and they have found their way into my prayers.

I never thought that it would be on my own blog that I could look back at someday and be able to pick out "that" moment with one of my own children, and what we went through can’t compare with the struggles of these families. Our stay in the hospital was brief. Her illness, while very serious, should have no lasting effects. The disruption to our life and to our family was limited to those few days of sleeping on the hospital floor, re-scheduling a birthday party, and the minor inconveniences of preparing a special diet and monitoring her blood pressure.

I can tell you now that "that" day, that blog post, that moment in time, makes the earth stop turning. To hear those words from a doctor that "they are waiting for you (at the hospital)", and "are you sitting down" or to listen to the conversation between nurses, doctors and paramedics about what would be the best way to transport, helicopter or ambulance, makes time stand still. Nothing exists outside the walls of Children’s hospital. Shopping, shoes, groceries, vanity, none of these things matter. The people outside are going about their routines, grabbing lunch at a Sonic, laughing at goofy jokes on Facebook, but you are oblivious to anything but the sounds of the halls which lead to the rooms of sick children and hopeful, tired parents.

It is impossible for me to spend a day now without asking God to fill those halls with His mercy and His strength. I pray that He comforts the children, the nurses, the Moms and Dads. I pray for Angels to walk those halls. I do not close my eyes at night with thanking God for my blessings and His mercy.

If you are one of those parents fighting for your child’s life or grieving for a life lost, I pray for you. May God give you the strength, comfort, understanding, and rest that you need to face another day.

May He have mercy on us all.