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Sidewalk to begin

By admin,

We got word today that the sidewalk is to begin on Monday. The weather seems to be cooperating. The sidewalk is to go completely around the addition. Since their forming and pouring a sidewalk anyway, we asked them to add in a small patio area, so we can sit outside with Ian.

Once the sidewalk goes in, the paving company will come in to do the driveway; they’ll pave right up to the sidewalk. The guy that will be doing the sidewalk made an interesting comment after discussing all these plans with us. He said, “You think your yard is torn up now! Wait till this is done.”

For all this effort, I want very much to see on the other side of the fence that is the future, because I think somehow that will comfort me. I can’t see, though, and I know that no matter what the outcome of all this is only God can comfort me. I have to keep myself focused on the next step the Lord gives me and keep walking looking to the Lord and His Word for help.

Thank you to so many I don’t even know who are praying for Ian. I know you’re there, because I occasionally meet someone for the first time who tells me they’re praying for Ian. That affects us deeply. Thank you!!!

Steve

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Romans 5:8

By admin,

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now…*

They want to discharge Ian and have him home by the 30th. However, he may not be approved to have 24-hour nursing care by then (it usually takes a while to get approved). This means my parents (who have been getting training) need to take care of him between the time he comes home and the time he is approved for around-the-clock care. This is not out of the question, but it will be really hard for them. Please pray to God that he will provide another way, such as getting the nursing care approved by the 30th.

Thank you so much for praying. God is good, and this is a small need compared to what he’s already done for us.

-Ben

*(Phil 1:2-5)

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Silent

By admin,

Prior to this experience with Ian, I had never experienced any serious trial like so many people I know. I’ve had my difficulties but never anything close to this. Trials like this, I had heard, elicit lots of questions that can call God’s character into question. I know now what a strong temptation it is to acknowledge and think about those questions. I’ve discovered that I can’t allow those argumentative questions to have a place in my thoughts; God remains silent in those debates anyway. He doesn’t explain himself, and He isn’t required to defend His actions. Job in chapter 40, verses 4 and 5, recognized the inappropriateness of his arguments with God when he said, “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”

It’s just all so unbelievable. I remember when I took this picture of Ian and Lydia that Easter day; he was just with us. His condition is so shocking. We’re so grieved. It’s so tempting to challenge the actions of the Almighty, but how ridiculous that would be to do it. He is silent about His reasons.

But, there are some things about which He has not been silent. He has spoken loudly and clearly. He will never let the guilty go unpunished, and I am as guilty as anyone of rebellion against Him. But he has already punished me – and Ian – by punishing Christ on the cross, so I go free. By doing that to His own Son, it’s as though He shouted at the top His lungs that He favors me. How can I argue or complain about any bad thing that happens to me? “I lay my hand on my mouth” and remain silent.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

-Horatio Spafford –

Pray for Ian.

Steve

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Heaven

By admin,

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

“Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water,and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 7:13-17

It’s God’s beautiful design that in suffering our longing for heaven is increased. Before Ian’s accident, I was secure in my life on earth. I was secure thinking that not only had I met the man who God designed for me to marry but that he loved me in return. I had never suffered through any significant trials. I was in love with my life on earth, and had no perception of heaven and no longing for heaven in my heart. Not that I have an exact understanding of heaven now, but these past few months have made me long to be with the Lord. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. If it steals me of my joy here on earth and if I can’t see any good in why I’m here, then yes, it’s bad. But it is good to desire to forever be with the Lord, to long to sin no more, and to long for our new heavenly bodies.

I know that many of you who read this blog are going through huge trials in your lives. Keep looking to heaven and know that we are but dust. These trials will end and one day we will be with our Lord.

Thank you for praying for Ian. He has been opening his eyes more often over the past few days. He has been awake off and on today. Right now we’re watching Clifford- one of his favorite movies. Hopefully it’s bringing back some of his hilarious memories. Our new discharge date is April 30. I heard from one source today that there is no longer any infection in his right eye, but it still seems to be a little bit sensitive. God is answering our prayers!

Larissa

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By admin,

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in Him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

-John 15:5-7

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For those who are weary

By admin,

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

In 14 days it will 7 months since Ian’s accident. 7 Months, 212 days, 5,088 hours, 305,280 minutes…That’s a long time.

So what are we to make of this? We’ve prayed that Ian would be healed and he hasn’t.

Sadly, my prayer life has reflected how I’ve interpreted this. I’ve found instead of praying for Ian, I’ve just felt sad for Ian. I’ve slipped into a prayerless-hopelessness. Why has this happened? Though I’d never verbalize it, my actions are saying, “Well, God promised that he would answer my prayers. I prayed, and he didn’t answer. God has lied.”

And to that, our loving, holy Father would say very loudly, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” Numbers 23:19.

God promises and God answers! Not one promise has Jesus made that he hasn’t fulfilled. And Jesus promised that if we ask of our Father, he will answer us.

Ask. Seek. Knock.

Think of it this way. Imagine a little boy who needs something of his father.

If his dad is standing right beside him, the boy just looks up and simply asks his dad for whatever he needs.

If the boy comes into the house, and his dad isn’t standing right there, the boy calls out: “Dad, where are you?” And then the boy begins to search the house, seeking his dad, until he finds him. No matter how long it takes. He may have to look in the garage, the attic, the shed, the bedrooms…He may have to search the entire house. But he knows his father is home…

If the father is in the study with the door shut, the boy knocks until the dad answers. And when the father lovingly says, “Come in.” The boy boldly opens the door and asks for whatever he needs.

It may seem like our Father is no where to be found. But he says, “Seek me my beloved sons and daughters, and you’ll find me.” It may seem like God is behind a brass door. But he says, “I hear and answer the faintest of knocks.”

Our Father loves it when we pray!

“Ask – receive. Seek – find. Knock – the door will be opened.” We have every reason to keep lifting up hope-filled prayers for our friend Ian.

We’ve been seeking for 7 months and haven’t found yet…we’ve been knocking for 212 days and we haven’t seen the door opened. But God has promised! He’s our father, we’re his children.

Today is Ian’s 22nd birthday. Let’s give him the gift of our prayers! Today, by the grace of God, let’s resolve to pray all the harder for Ian’s complete healing. Let’s keep asking, seeking, and knocking!



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Consider the lillies

By admin,

“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Con sider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

– Matthew 6:26-30 –

Flowers just grow and bloom beautifully for the glory of God, and then they die. Their existence is effortless and anxiety-free. There’s no struggle with anxiety (or, rather, sinful unbelief) for a flower. There’s no struggle with any other sin for that matter. But, then, they can’t know and appreciate the mercy of God nor any other aspect of the glorious character of God. We get to see that and appreciate it for all of eternity because of what He did for us on the cross. For some reason, He counts as having more value than flowers.
God displays something of His glory in a flower. God clothes the flowers and the grass and the birds; it isn’t Mother Nature. God clothes and upholds the universe. And, I’m of more value than those other things that He clothes. Ian is of more value than those things. Will he not much more care for Ian? That question penetrates my conscience and correctly charges me with unbelief. Help me, Lord, to know for certain every moment that you are there and that you are caring for Ian.
We were with Ian today learning more about how to care for his physical needs. We will need the Lord’s strength to care for these needs of Ian’s when he comes home. Pray for us. Pray for his eye which continues to be a problem. Pray that he wakes up.
Pray for Ian.
Steve

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Opening Gifts

By admin,

Ian had his eyes open when I got to the hospital this morning, which right away was exciting. It had been a few days since I’d seen him open his eyes. He was really angry and uncomfortable though because he had his casts on and they really bother him sometimes. When he has his casts on, he can’t reach his face, especially his eyes, so that seems to frustrate him. Since we were with him I took his casts off. That way, we could grab his hand if he was going for his eye. That’s when the fun stuff started happening.

My parents came for the day and brought Ian an early birthday gift. It was in a little gift bag so I put Ian’s hand on the bag and told him to take his gift out. So first he pulled all of the tissue paper out. Then I put his hand in the bag and told him to pull the gift out. And he did! He grabbed the DVD and pulled it out. Then he went back into the bag and found the box of golf balls that were at the very bottom and pulled those out too. Then I showed him his card and ripped it a little bit to give him a start. He kept pulling the paper that he could feel. He eventually opened the envelope and then actually grabbed the card and pulled it out. My mom and I were just laughing the whole time, almost in disbelief because it seemed like he knew exactly what he was doing. It was so exciting to see him do something so functional!

He was very aware of us today too. He would often reach for our hands. He reached for my arm a few times and pushed my sleeves up. Then he would feel his way up my arm to my shoulder and then pull my shoulder toward him like he wanted a hug. Then when he was done giving me a hug, he wasn’t shy to just push me away. One time he basically choked me by pushing me away, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t know he was choking me:)

I know it’s probably really confusing to hear about all the things that Ian does but then hear that he’s still in a coma. I definitely didn’t understand comas until Ian. It’s not like what we see in the movies, where someone in a coma just sleeps all the time. He definitely sleeps more than us but he is awake too. When he’s awake, he can hear us and seems to be aware of what’s going on around him. We’ve heard that being in a coma is like being in a tub of vaseline- anything you do takes a million times more effort than it should. I tend to think of it like he can hear us and know what’s going on, but just hasn’t made the connection yet of how to respond. It’s like he just has to discover and re-learn everything again. And he will always be on the coma scale, just like us. He’s at a 3, we’re at an 8. He goes up on the scale as he gains function.

Wow, I hope that last paragraph made sense!

Thank you for your faithful prayers.

Laris

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Riveted to Scripture

By admin,


We continue to pray for the infection in Ian’s eye. They put a patch over the right eye, the one that’s infected, just so he won’t rub it and make it worse. The installation of the sidewalk and driveway has still not begun because of the weather. Apart from those two major things, there are smaller things that need to be finished up, though he could move in if he could get into it.

In a conference message, David Powlison used an analogy that helps me understand what I have to do as I walk through these difficult days with Ian. He said that our worst experiences of suffering and difficulty have to be riveted to Scripture.

Rivets secure two pieces of metal together that then form a functional unit. The only picture I have of riveting is when gutters and downspouts are riveted together. When one is riveted and sealed to another, they maintain their shape and hang together, and water flows where it’s supposed to flow.

If I fail to understand my circumstances in light of Scripture and to embrace the truth of Scripture, I’m going to be anxious and in despair. That’s where my thoughts and emotions naturally go, though. My thoughts that would naturally lead me into self-pity and anxiety need to be directed upward to God who has been merciful to me, a sinner, and riveted to the truth of Scripture that God is still in control. I’m called to focus moment by moment on the One who will help me. I’m called not to worry about tomorrow. If I can daily remind myself of the truth of Scripture, I will not only be strengthened, I might actually be a channel for God’s grace to flow to others. How hard it is to reign in my thoughts and emotions! I’m noticing that’s a common theme now in our posts, but how crucial it is. Help me, Lord.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

– How Firm a Foundation –

Steve

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