trust | And 2 Makes Crazy

Lee Strobel, Author of Case for Christ – and many other books, asked on Twitter today (December 31, 2020) the following question –

If you could wrap up 2020 with 1 word, what would it be?

I replied with this one word (my Twitter handle is @adaandmax):

Life.

In the words of Author and Public figure/Financial Peace founder, Dave Ramsey, however, his sentiments were that 2020 was a “A dumpster-fire of a year.”

But, if you really stop to think about it, so were many other years.

In 2010 – after years upon years of infertility, we lost our second pregnancy to miscarriage. We had prayed for this baby for 10 years – and God still decided to cradle our loss in his hands instead of allowing us to raise our new babe here on earth.

In 2012 – we watched our son, Maxwell, come back to life —- twice. He tried to leave earth and his family behind multiple times. But – he battled through congestive heart failure, lung failure, blood transfusions, and a coma to remain with us today. Maxwell is now 8.

Through 2012-2014 – my husband and I went through many counseling sessions for the saving grace of our marriage.

In 2018, our eldest daughter – Adelyne (known as Sweet Adelyne) – suffered some form of seizure-like episode at school. Specialists in the neuro and cardiac fields never could figure out what happened.

And, of course, 2020 radically changed our current location – we had to make a last-minute decision: Where would it be best for our family to ride out this pandemic with our high-risk son??? And the answer moved us across the world from Poland to Arizona.

Looking at the question once again, I think the word “Life” perfectly sums up 2020 …

In Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1-8 (ESV), it says:

(There is) A Time for Everything

3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

In 2020, we have basically seen each and every one of these mentions – all around the world – for nearly the entire year – and, as the world turns, I have made it through.

You have made it through.

Some with new family members – birth.

Some with fewer – the heavy loss of death.

Some with weeping.

Others with dancing. For joy still abounds in the midst of tragedies.

A time not necessarily for embracing (mask up and social distance, people!) – yet realizing what it is we truly treasure – family.

A time of silence.

And a time to speak —-

Especially on behalf of love and peace.

And so, on the eve of this unprecedented year – I would like to offer you these words of encouragement …

Proverbs 3:5-6 says,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he shall make your path straight …

I think I can say, on behalf of the entire world, we are ready for 2021.

We are ready for life to change.

For joy to increase.

For health to abound.

For healing to take place.

For our paths to go from flipped, turned, twisted, and tossed to be set straight.

And may we do that with trust in the Lord.

Amen.

Teaching our children about prayer, while living it in our own lives.

Praying…we’re to pray without ceasing. But sometimes we find that “ceaseless” prayer a hassle. After all, we have to stop. Close our eyes. Bow our head. And wait for commotion to cease around us.

Nope. Not at all. Truly, that’s not the case.

Prayer is a beautiful thing.

Praying is what gave us our Baby Sam.

And prayer is what saved our baby, Maxwell.

Prayer is not magic. It’s not a guarantee that all will be “right” according to our standards. And prayer definitely does not work “our way”.

Bummer? Well, it depends on your perspective.

God is very specific about how we should pray.

One…We should come before Him. And that’s a Him with a capital H.

Two…We should present our praises and petitions to Him.

Three…We should acknowledge what it is that we have done wrong in our lives.

Wait. Right there. That’s why I don’t pray. I don’t want to keep acknowledging over and over and over and over (you get the idea) all of my wrongs.

Well, why not? Because you don’t want to admit you were wrong? Or you don’t want to change what you are doing that IS wrong?

If it’s either of the above cases, it’s a heart issue, my friends. A heart issue. Not a prayer issue.

Back to prayer…

And we are to pray the prayer that never fails…”God, thy will be done…”

You see. It’s okay, great, fantastic, superb to go specifically before God with specific requests and specific hopes for your lives…

My daughter did for 3 years before God gave our Baby Sam to us (and took him home before we got to meet him here on earth)…

And as much as she prayed with all of her heart for a baby brother, and we thought our little baby was a miraculous answer to that prayer, we did not get to keep our baby.

Hearts were broken. Lives changed.

BUT…

And this is where we see God’s hand at work. If we had NEVER been given Sam, we would have never thought to try for Maxwell.

You see, it’s because God gave us Sam that hope was renewed in our hearts that perhaps…just maybe…we could have another.

And a year after our loss, 10 years into our marriage, and approaching our 36th year of life, we found ourselves for the first time ever at a clinic for a consult with a doctor.

And it was there that the doctor said to me in very broken English, “You see your right ovary there?”

“Yes…”

“Well, you will ovulate in 3 days. Go home. I should not see you again.”

And, 8 months later (because he came early), we had Maxwell.

Had God not given us Sam, we would have never ever thought to try for Maxwell…And today we wait (each day because I’m as baked as a Thanksgiving turkey) for Josephine.

All because my daughter prayed. And prayed. And prayed. And she prayed ceaselessly.

Everything was not beautiful. Baby Sam never made an entrance into this world alive. Maxwell nearly died. And Josephine wanted to come at 31 weeks.

But because everything was not beautiful, because there was heartbreak, because there was the feeling of complete hopelessness…we felt God.

We relied on Him.

We leaned on Him.

And we learned from Him.

We were students of “Thy will be done…”

Through Adelyne, we learned that it’s okay to present the “impossible” requests to God…such as asking for a brother or sister.

Through Sam, we learned that in utter darkness God is still there.

Through Maxwell, we learned to believe in miracles! We learned that when God is prompting you to pray, to be faithful. To pray.

My sister-in-law, Jennifer, was woken up at 3am one night when Maxwell was at the stage of his life in ICU when no one knew if he was going to live or die. At 3am in Arizona, it was 12 noon in Poland. This is very important to realize the time…

Because it was at that exact moment that she was woken up with the prompting to pray for Maxwell that Maxwell’s life was hanging in peril. That he was bagged and the doctor had to be found.

And for an eternity no one knew what the outcome would be…Richard and I stood in the hallway crying out to God while my sister-in-law on the other side of the world was crying out to God.

And although it seemed like an eternity, the doctor finally made it to him and got his little life stable again.

Jennifer had no clue what was happening when she was awoken in the middle of the night. And yet she obediently honored God’s prompting and began to pray for our baby.

Praying teaches great faith. Faith that we are to go to God.

Prayer. Every day before Adelyne leaves for school, I envelop her in my arms and together we cuddle, and this is what I say, “Dear Jesus, please be with Adelyne today. May she be respectful and kind. May she have listening ears and a spirit to help others. May she be a shining example for you. Amen.”

And every day my daughter awaits that moment, even though it’s the same prayer.

And every day I am reminded that my daughter enters her days knowing that she is loved and there is a God she can go before.

And throughout the day, whether it’s a silent or crazy day. Whether I’m clean or a mess. Whether I feel good or like crap…I pray.

I pray for my children, my family, those we meet, hearts that are broken, lives that are a mess, for those that need healing…

I pray—and my greatest prayer is always that through the moments in life that we all face, we come to know Him.

Because, yes, at times life is unbelievably painful—but with God survival is possible.

Prayer. It’s not a magical potion—it’s so much more than that.

Prayer. It’s a beautiful connection.