Christopher's Miracle Story: Our Father knows best!

Our heavenly Father knows best!

Since Christopher's birth it had been one emergency after another. He had been near death on more than one occasion, and we were living with the constant threat of the "next infection" being the one that resulted in his death. The forecast for the future seemed pretty bleak and rainy. The uncertainty made life difficult and taxing for us all, but all was not lost.

The new feeding tubes changed everything. Finally, the sun began to peak out from behind the clouds after three long years of stormy weather, and we were able to develop a workable routine, a new normal. It was still very different at our house with the endless doctors appointments, tube feeding paraphernalia, stomach draining, and late night tube replacements... BUT at least it was our normal at our house. Normal was a welcome blessing.

The sun was out. The world rejoiced in blooms.

Things went pretty smoothly for the next few years. There were a few bumps in the road but no major potholes. Michael and Ryan started school, and it wasn't long before Christopher was riding that school bus too. His first year of Kindergarten was at a private Christian school. He was sick with minor infections for much of that year, so it was decided that he would repeat the entire Kindergarten year.

Mike and I had been giving a lot of thought about the educational futures of our children. For many reasons we decided that a private, Christian education was what was best for our kids. We started looking at schools in our area and talking to other parents who had decided to go that route with their kids.

There was one particular school that I was drawn to. It was a K-12 Christian school not far from our home that had a stellar academic reputation. I made an appointment with the principal to come in for an interview and take a tour of the school.

School days

At that particular time Michael and Ryan were in elementary school, and Christopher was in his first year of half day Kindergarten. That "half day" all by myself was like manna from heaven. I had a whole "half day" (really about 3 hours) to run errands, get a haircut, or go grocery shopping. It was MY time, and I could use it doing whatever I wanted to. I often scheduled appointments during that time, so it made sense to make an appointment with the school principal while all the kids were at school.

When the day of the appointment came, I dropped Christopher off at school and made my way back home to take a shower and get ready for the appointment. As I walked in our bedroom, I saw it. The bed was unmade, and it was beckoning me to just lay down for awhile and rest. I had a few minutes, but I was afraid I would fall asleep and miss the appointment. I set my alarm clock for 15 minutes and fell almost instantly asleep. What seemed like only seconds later, I was shocked awake by the alarm clock (I literally hate that sound). It was time to get up, but I didn't want to go. Why? The appointment with the principal was a good thing...right? I should go. I should get up, get ready, and go. Something was holding me back. Maybe this wasn't the right school after all. Maybe I should just change the appointment to another day. Maybe I should just lay back down and go to sleep. I was so tired.

A special moment in time.

I decided to give into the sleepy side of me. I set the clock again, so I could wake up in an hour to reschedule the appointment for another time...or maybe never. My eyes were heavy, and my head barely hit the pillow before I was asleep. It was at that VERY MOMENT that the course and direction of my life changed. I encountered something so personal and so extraordinary that it is difficult to find the words that accurately describe the events and feelings of that moment.

You might be thinking...Wow! She really was tired, so tired that she was delusional! There were no witnesses. I was alone in the room. I have no video or photographic evidence. I only have what I know in my heart and my soul to be true. God directed my soul in a way that was so ethereal, yet so tangible at the same time.

Trust His plans for your life!

I was still in that twilight sleep where you are almost asleep but not quite. I was thinking about the appointment. Should I go? Should I cancel? I was laying on my stomach when all of a sudden I sensed that someone was in the room. I was startled awake because I knew I was no longer alone. Then I felt it. Someone had grabbed me by the back of the neck and was lifting me off the bed. Alarm bells were instantly going off in my head (and it wasn't the alarm clock). I was shivering, and I had goosebumps running up and down my back. Then I heard Him. He said in a clear and definite tone, "Get up! You don't know the plans I have. Get up and go!"

I was up and out of that bed in record breaking time! I had no idea I could move that fast. My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest, and I was breathing so hard that you would have thought I had just run a marathon. My eyes were searching the room for an intruder who I knew was not there, but my soul was screaming, "Yes, Lord!"

I stood in the shower with hot water running over my shoulders, but I was still shivering. My head was spinning. I kept hearing Him over and over again in my mind. When the Lord bends down and picks you up by the back of the neck, YOU GET MOVING! He said go, so I went. It wasn't that He hadn't been prodding me all along. It was just that I hadn't been listening. I made excuses. I ignored His direction, but He had plans.

About an hour later I pulled into the school parking lot. I was on time and still shaking from the encounter that I had experienced. When I opened the front door of the school and walked in, I looked up. Right, straight above me there was a banner that read:

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I chuckled inside my head as I read it. The irony was not lost on me. God had a plan, and He needed me to let go of my own agendas and do His will. All three of the boys were enrolled in school there that year, and it has made all the difference. God has done some wonderful things in their lives (and ours) through the people and the experiences that they have had at their school. As it turned out, the school was the "cloud of witnesses" that God had in mind for them (and for us), and it would play a vital role in helping Christopher through the tough times that were to come.

God's divine plans are for our benefit, and are infinitely wiser than our own. I am so thankful, eternally grateful, that God chose to give me a firm and definite direction that day. That miraculous encounter would lead to so many good things, and I have been humbled and blessed as I have watched His plans unfold over the years. His ways are higher than our own. Our heavenly Father knows best!

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can pray like this: