We have moved more times than I care to count. I hate moving! It's stressful, tiresome, and expensive. It never ceases to amaze me how much useless stuff you find hidden in all those closets and drawers. Where does it all come from? How did we manage to collect all this stuff in the first place? Sort it, box it, and tape it up. It all has to go. Moving tests your patience and zaps your energy. I would rate it right up there with a root canal on my list of "the things I hate to do".
Moving every few years or so is bad enough. I can't imagine moving as a steady diet, but that is exactly what Christopher does. He works for a moving company in our area. Desks, chairs, and boxes all have to be packed, organized, and loaded into the trucks day in and day out. It is exhausting work that requires incredible amounts of energy. Christopher has to eat large amounts of food to keep up with the demands of his jobs.
Before the healing miracle that God blessed him with, it would have been impossible for Christopher to keep up with the calories needed to work at a moving job. It just would have been next to impossible to drip it in fast enough. Tube feeding is slow and steady, and so it provides a slow and steady energy source. Working as a mover and tube feeding just don't work well together.
When Christopher was first born and we found out that he would have to be tube fed for the rest of his life, we didn't give much thought to how it might effect his future employment. We were more concerned with the uncomfortable question of whether or not he even had a future. His prognosis was unclear at best. There were lots of questions but few answers. As a parent, you want reassurance from your doctor. You only want to hear about the "miracle pill" or "new surgical procedure" that will cure your child. The idea of a life-long, chronic illness just seemed unthinkable. How did this happen? How did we get here? It seemed so unfair, so unnatural. I couldn't help but focus on all the things that he was going to miss out on, all the foods he would never get to enjoy. I concentrated on all the things that could go wrong. I busied my mind with fears and regrets, and I was angry every time I went into his nursery and saw the IV pole amongst the normal baby furniture. The crib, rocking chair, and changing table belonged, but that feeding tube just didn't belong.
With time, my attitude about tube feeding changed as I realized that it was a blessing in disguise. It wasn't the way I had ever imagined feeding my child, but I soon came to realize that the IV pole in his room meant that he would be able to live, grow, and thrive. Maybe it belonged there after all.
Tube feeding may have been the only viable solution, but it came with some definite drawbacks. The most obvious one being that the taste and satisfaction aspect of eating is lost with tube feeding. Liquid nutrition through a tube in your abdomen just doesn't compare with tasty nutrition on a spoon in your mouth. Then, of course, is the real problem with decreased energy levels. We didn't even know that this was an issue until after the healing miracle. Christopher had been tube fed his entire life. It was normal for him, but after he started eating by mouth he noticed a HUGE difference in his energy level. It was a real surprise and a very welcome one at that. He was able to do so much more than he'd ever been able to do before, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Christopher needed large amounts of energy for his new moving job.
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| The gift of a miracle |
If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can pray like this:
More tomorrow...
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