Faith during trials

 I have to wrap my mind around the fact that Ellie is on a different journey than her peers right now and that’s ok. It still makes me sad to see her classmates doing all of the senior things that Ellie will never get to experience. Her entire childhood has been spent in hospitals and at doctors offices. On the other hand, I am thankful she is here at home, and I have them privilege of caring for her  

Ellie’s list of diagnoses are getting so ridiculously long. This is what she has been diagnosed with so far:

-Hashimotos 

-Celiac Disease 

- POTS

- Ehlers Danlos 

- Gastroparesis

Ellie and I have a good sense of humor and like to laugh together. Sometimes I call her Gypsy Rose. 🤣

We have no idea what will be added to that list as time goes on. It seems like too much for one girl to have to deal with. 

When I start to think about all of those things and I start to get overwhelmed, I need  to quickly reframe my thinking. I need to trust that God has a bigger purpose than what I can see in the here and now. 

We went to church this morning and part way through Ellie began sweating, and her feet and hands turned bright red. She had to sit down while we were still singing. I asked her a few times if she wanted me to take her to the car because I could tell she didn’t feel well. She said no, she didn’t want to miss the rest of the service. 

It was such a good message at church today. Our pastor spoke about the analogy that is used in the Bible comparing us to sheep. Just like sheep, we need someone to care for us- The Lord. I have to remember that God is in control here and not me. I am sure all of you moms reading this can relate. When something is wrong with one of our kids, we are fixers. We just want a fix. That’s not always God’s plan.  Things are done in His time, not ours. Sometimes it takes years of prayer and faith and trust in Him. This verse really spoke to me today:

Matthew 11:28

[28] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

That is a promise to us to be cared for by God, if we put our trust in Him. I can honestly tell you that if I hadn’t turned Ellie’s health over to him, I probably wouldn’t be able to function at this point. It took me a while to do that, but my relationship with Christ has grown exponentially since then. I know it is because of God that we found Dr. Cruz and are being led in the right direction. Please continue to pray for Ellie’s complete healing. I know God is not done with Ellie yet. Her faith and many gifts are too great not to share with others.