Walk Down Memory Lane – Of Rocks and Miracles

Grace loves rocks. She picks them up out of our driveway, digs them out of the pasture, and even collects them from garage sales (last weekend she got a free one from the garage sale driveway). As a learning experience when she was a small child I told her the story about Jesus when he was entering Jerusalem the people were shouting praises to him for all the miracles they had seen. There were some other religious people there who asked Jesus to tell the people to stop shouting praises. Jesus told them that if the people were quiet that the stones would cry out. (Luke 19:39-40)

Not too long after I told Grace that story I was talking to the Lord, out loud. I was telling him how thankful I was for this and that when Grace came up to me and told me to STOP doing that. I was horrified. Why would my little child want me to stop telling the Lord how good he is, for all the good things He has done for us? I told Grace that I will NOT stop praising the Lord. I asked her why she wanted me to stop. And in her child-like way she simply said, “because I want to hear the rocks cry out!”.

There is much to be said for praising the Lord for his goodness. I heard my mom praising the Lord out loud for many years. This was something I did not do very much of, especially when Jered was born. We found out that he had Glycogen Storage Disease when he was just an infant. I hated that disease and didn’t understand why God wouldn’t heal him. My God is supposed to be kind and gracious, and yet he didn’t answer our prayer for his healing the way I wanted him to.

I was angry for a time, but then came to realize that God has a plan for all of us, even families who have a child with a rare disease. Little by little I began to praise God for the good things that were in our lives. Jered needed constant attention and yet he never had a seizure or any serious complication from the disease that seemed to control our lives. So I began to praise. The more I praised the more I got used to praising God, for everything.

When Jered was about 3-years-old we were visiting my sister April. The sun was going down and we needed to get on the road again as we were headed for my mother’s house. While getting ready to leave Jered and Adam began fighting over the back seat, who should sit on one particular side. Adam was in the seat already and Jered was trying to get in. The door was slammed shut and Jered began to scream. I knew in an instant what was happening. After opening the car door I took Jered’s little hand in mine only to see his fingers blue and purple and already swelling.

Oh my gosh. It gave me that feeling in the pit of my stomach, the oh no feeling like I’m going to throw-up if I look at this one more time. My sister ran into the house and put some ice in a baggie and I took Jered on my lap and tried to ice down his fingers. He hated the ice and cried more when I put it on his hand. So I just held him and began thanking the Lord for his goodness and for taking care of Jered, and for making him all better.

We had a bit of a drive and reached my mom’s house after dark. As soon as we arrived I took Jered through the door and expected that he would need more ice on his hand since two of the fingers were purple and swollen just a half hour before. I held his hand out for my mother to see and we both looked. There were no marks on his fingers. I couldn’t believe I had been so absent minded that I must have iced the wrong hand! Since that hand had no marks on it I dropped it and reached for the other hand. And again there were no marks!

Now if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it (well probably not). Even my husband who saw the smashed fingers, couldn’t believe his eyes! Not one mark was on either of those little hands. Look what the Lord had done! And you know what I did? I praised the Lord some more. HA! There is something to be said for just praising the Lord for his goodness.

God might not do things the way I would. He hasn’t healed Jered of the Glycogen Storage Disease, but he has helped him grow to adulthood. And God has shown me where to find his mercy. He does dwell in the praises of his people, and miracles happen where he dwells.

~Thanks for Listening

Michelle

For more about Wednesday's Walk Down Memory Lane see Lynette Kraft's Blog