Fall is here!! Whoop! Whoop!
Towards the end of July, I started seeing a bit of “back to school” posts on Social Media and I panicked a bit. I kept thinking, “No way! Summer hasn’t even begun yet!” When you live on the Oregon Coast Summer doesn’t truly begin until August. At the end of July, we were still wearing sweatshirts around here!
Thankfully Summer did finally begin and we got in lots of camping, 4H at the fair as well as some long-overdue time with family and friends. All the fun was sprinkled with a few memorial services, two cancer scares and a bit of under the breath cursing as Mr. Wonderful and Bridger towed the travel trailer to various locations in Oregon. Life always seems to have the good and the bad camping right next to each other so I am continuing to live in each moment whether that means shedding a tear or two or laughing till I pee.
It started raining here two days ago and I am ready for it now. We have been to one HS football game, dance is back in full swing for Nat and B has a cross country race this Thursday. The leaves haven’t quite begun to change yet but I am already in the mood to begin to revisit all of the things I am thankful for. I am a journaler so I write out things I am thankful for several days a week throughout the year but Fall seems to provide so many more opportunites to express gratefulness and a large part is because of the beauty that surrounds this season.
I love the colors of fall. I love the drive from the coast to the valley during this time because views are absolutely breathtaking. I see God’s handiwork so much more clearly in the fall and I am in awe that He gives us this gift every single year. This kind of beauty makes you pause, it makes you slow down and soak it all in because you know that Winter’s a-comin’.
During the last few weeks of Summer, I became aware of a few kids and their families who are having to dig deep to find ways to give thanks. One is a family right here in my home state whose son had a heart transplant, I think he’s 12 and goes by his nickname “Dude.” It hasn’t gone great but the family is united and strong and wading through this the best they can. Another is a little boy named Toby who was adopted into an amazing family, I think he’s 3. Toby has had a severe lung infection and has been in the hospital for 300 days. They are hoping he gets to come home soon. The third is a little girl named Eva (pronounced Ava) who although took a minor fall, suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). She’s 7 and has been in the hospital for 19 days. The Dr.’s prognosis for her has not been good but God keeps doing things that are surprising them, the family, friends, and people all over the world who are believing for complete and total healing for Eva.
I don’t personally know these families, I have just felt called to pray for them. I have to admit I really don’t know what to say most of the time and I have slipped into begging more than once. Of course, the sermon at church on Sunday was all about prayer and how important it is and how it’s hard to have a relationship with someone you never speak to. I have been speaking a lot lately and I am becoming more and more aware of how little I know about talking with God. I tend to feel like I am doing or saying the wrong things. Fortunately, I was reminded that I wasn’t asked to pray perfectly, I was just asked to pray. I figure the more I do it the easier it will become.
I know what it feels like to have a kid in the hospital for more than a few days and I know what it feels like to be in the hospital myself for more than a few days. My circumstances were nowhere near what these families are experiencing but since I have had a taste, I am praying all that much more fervently for healing and wholeness.
The most interesting thing about all three of these families is that none of them are staying in the place of grief and desolation. They are all experiencing grace and beauty and love in the midst of unimaginable anguish. Why? because people have stepped in to fill the gaps. God has moved in people’s hearts all over the world to pray, give, visit and love.
At the beginning of Summer, I witnessed several Christian leaders make decisions I never expected them to make or others who just walked away from faith altogether. At the end of Summer, I saw thousands of regular people come together at one specific moment to pray for a 7-year-old girl they’ve never met to take a breath when the breathing tube came out earlier this week.
I don’t know the outcome of any of these situations. My selfish selfish heart wants them and every other child in this world suffering in a hospital somewhere to be restored to health here on earth. I know this is not how things work but I feel honored more than ever that I can continue to ask on their behalf.
This Fall as I take in all the beauty around me I am going to be thanking God for giving me the opportunity to pray.
Have A Beautiful Day My Friends!
