What is the answer to what ails you??? This morning at 3:30am Ephraim, started vomiting. He did so about every half hour throughout the early morning. Ephraim spent most of the morning in our bed getting sick. Troy faithfully cared for him and then moved on to getting Carson ready for school (again we missed the alert of a 2 hour delay).
Troy left for his "city utilities meeting" and took Carson with him. He found out there that school had been delayed. That is where my father in law stepped up to the plate and took care of Carson and getting him to school at the delayed time. Thank God for family.
Of course we had been praying for Ephraim to recover and for him to understand why he would not be able to eat. He slept most of the morning punctuated by gagging episodes which came to only bear bile. He hates to vomit and will resist it at every turn. At about noon, I heard him start to gag and quickly offered him "the bowl" to get sick in. He resisted. I said "Let it go". He said, "Just give me a vitamin". I tried to explain that a vitamin was not going to keep him from throwing up that vitamins helped him to be stronger in the long run. He was not appeased and said "Then give me a Tums".
Poor Ephraim, he just wanted it to stop. I lovingly placed my hands on his trembling body and said "The only thing, the BEST thing that mama can do for you is pray. I have already been praying, but we can pray again". I prayed humbly and honestly asking for God to heal him according to His will and in his timing.
Folks, our prayer was answered. Ephraim has not thrown up since that time. He has even had something to eat and drink and has kept it down successfully. I know that some will doubt this answer to prayer and even if Ephraim were to start getting sick again, I say God did answer our prayer because we prayed for His will to be done. We offer thanks for what God has done for us.
On a side note, I have had a copy of the book The Shack by Wm. Paul Young for sometime now. In fact it is the second copy that has been in my possession. The first copy was loaned to me by a dear friend, but I never took the time to read it and returned it so she could give it to someone who might read it. The second copy, I received in a "mystery gift" auction with sorority. So this copy sat unread in my night stand. I tried to read it a couple of times, but couldn't get into it.
Anyway, as I sat beside a sleeping Ephraim I decided today was a good enough day as any to read The Shack. It is indeed an interesting read. Causes you to think and rethink. What is more about this book is that we had a nurse while Ephraim was in the hospital that recommended this book to us. It obviously had affected her because she mentioned it to us at his first surgery and at his second surgery. I can say that I think it is worth the read. I cried, I wondered, I pondered.
The Shack won't cure what ails you, but what it encourages will... It encourages deep and meaningful relationship with the Trinity. That is the answer to what ails you!
4 comments:
this is our book club selection...5 y/o is reading my post..she says hi to the manners family:)
This book was hard for me to get into. As you can see, I did finally read it, and it did have some good points. My greatest criticisim of it, is that the author does not value the body of Christ (the church). He seems to think it isn't necessary, when Christ clearly tells us differently in His WORD. This isn't a commercial for corporate religion, and I know that it is easy to see the faults of such, but he seems to dismiss it altogether especially when you read his website.
Oh and P.S. ... Tell Anna that The Manners family says "Hello and good day!" :}
I actually didn't think I would like this book b/c I was having awful visions of the Left Behind series. I think he makes you think as CS Lewis and John Bunyon did in their own time (but, I think they were better writers). First, this is Fiction, but secondly, I think it is a good book for people who may struggle with their faith or hold anger towards bad things. I really like the free will and sinner statements. Frankly, I like this book better than I thought I would. I will call you so we can discuss.
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