“Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Deuteronomy 31:8
Well friends, I have a praise report to share with you today!
My son Gabe has been best friends with, we’ll call him “Phoenix”, since Kindergarten. The two of them have been inseparable since that first year. They were constantly visiting each other’s houses. Until one winter we got a call from Phoenix’s mom with some sad news. There was something in our house that Phoenix was allergic to. It seemed like every time he would come over he would have horribly bloodshot eyes and a headache. None of us, including his allergist, could figure it out but we assumed that perhaps it was the two cats. So since that day Phoenix hasn’t been able to come over to our house and play other than a few nights when we had big backyard parties for the last day of school. And even then he stayed outside.
Well, at the beginning of this summer Phoenix had a sleepover with their group of five friends and they all decided that they each should have a sleepover at some point during the summer so that they could all see each other at least five times while school was out. Yesterday was our turn for Gabe’s birthday. Watching those boys play was pure bliss. They were SO EXCITED to see each other, it’s been over a month, and they’re used to seeing each other every day. I can’t even come up with words to describe how good it was to watch their joy in relationship to each other. My Little Pony is right, Friendship is Magic! Anyway, concerned with Phoenix’s allergies as soon as we sent out the invitations Sean and I prayed that God would make it so that Phoenix could be here and that He would keep his allergies from flaring up. When we found out that he was actually coming I was floored and beyond excited. Best friends since Kindergarten are a very special thing not to be taken lightly. All evening last night Worry kept gripping my throat and causing me to once again pray for Phoenix’s lack of an allergic reaction. We’ve missed him so much over these last few years and I so wanted him to be able to come back. And every time I would start to pray, God would stop me cold in my tracks to the throne room with an, “I’ve got this covered. And you know it, so stop WORRYING.”
When I woke up to a THUD at 5:30am from across the house my first thought was of Phoenix, was he ok? I prayed. God stopped my worried refrain, “I’ve got this.”
Around 7am when Phoenix emerged groggy and silent from Gabe’s room Fear crept into my heart, “Is he ok? Will he get to come back?” I looked him in the eye and asked him if he felt alright, it wasn’t like him to be this quiet and I was scared. He nodded silently eyes half closed, “Yeah. I’m ok.” Deep breath girl, God’s got this remember. Whew.
A couple hours later Phoenix was whisked away by the mom taxi along with the other boys and I breathed a sigh of relief, we made it. But then I got the text from Phoenix’s mom:
“Great news!! Phoenix’s allergies are NOT bothering him after being inside with your fur babies!! Not sure what happened but I’m pretty excited!”
Feigning a confidence I had not had just a few hours earlier I replied, “We prayed! Simple as that.”
“Well it worked!”
Then I confessed to the enormity of the miracle, “He actually spent a lot of the night on Gabe’s top bunk which is Socks’ favorite place to be. I actually bought new sheets for Gabe yesterday to help Phoenix with his allergies and Gabe never even put them on!”
But his mom wasn’t done filling me in on what God had done for us, “Awww. That was super sweet of you. The crazy thing is, Phoenix’s eyes aren’t even bloodshot (the standard). Did you use to have a different type of pet way back when? The Dr still never figured out what he’s allergic to so I’m very interested.”
And that’s just it we haven’t really changed anything; not detergents, not brands of cat litter or their food. In fact, we ADDED a pet dog! But we did the one thing that really makes the difference, we prayed and He answered. God has said to us, “Do not be afraid or discouraged (or worried) for the LORD will PERSONALLY go ahead of you. He will be with you, He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” He loves you that much my friend. If only we would trust Him that much. (Yes, this is the pot telling the kettle not to worry.) ;) From one worry wart to another, my friend, don’t be afraid; He’s got this.
Filed under: 365 Life, Deuteronomy, Season 3
