God is the Mover and Shaker!

Kristal and I have recieved quite a lot of new news today regarding Baby James. First of all, he is still progressing. The lactation consultant dropped by to see how well James is progressing with his sucking, swallowing, and gagging. The consensus is that his ability to swallow is getting better but definitely not where they want it; he is sucking a little bit, but has a long way to go, and they did get him to gag, but once again he has a long way to go. The Neurologist reviewed his last EEG test and said that his brain activity is getting more and more normal as time goes on. Therefore, Dr. Morris decided that it would be best to take him off the seizure medicine, which is a good thing because the seizure medicine has a sedative in it which of course makes him sleepy. Taking him off the seizure medicine may allow him to wake up a bit more so that he might be more able to work on his sucking, gagging, and swallowing. Like I have said before sucking, gagging, and swallowing are all of the things that make eating through the mouth a possibility. Right now the only thing keeping James in the Intensive Care Unit is his inability to eat orally. Please be praying that now that James is off the seizure medicine that he will be awake enough to relearn the natural instincts of sucking, gagging, and swallowing. Also please pray that he will have no seizures while off the medicine. They are confident that he will not have any, but it is still a possibility, and they want to test it now while he is still in the intensive care unit. The team of doctors that we have been working with since we have been here are at a point where they are discussing a plan for releasing James from the hospital. He is no longer in critical condition. This is a huge answer to prayer. We are really excited about the confidence that the doctors are showing in James' ability to survive without a nurse looking after him 24/7. However, there is a healthy dose of nerves for Kristal and I. There is a fear of bringing him home especially considering the fact that it was only a week ago when he could not breath on his own. Please pray that the doctors would make a wise decision about when James is able to come home. We of course want him home as soon as possible, but we would rather stay here longer if it means the health of our boy. We do believe that Baby James is getting more and more ready for coming home. Right now they are discussing plans for our bringing him home. Of course right now James cannot eat orally and so they are making plans for how we are going to be able to get around that. Right now the plan is to place a g-tube in his belly. A g-tube is a small tube that they poke through the inside of his belly. It is in a sense like a the hole through which you gas your car. The tube does not stick out of his belly--it does not stick out further than his skin, and the hole is covered by a little button. Whenever it is time to feed him you merely take the cap (or button) off and hook a little hose to it and feed him that way. The doctors say it is extremely easy to work and painless for the baby. It sounds much more scary than what it is. Kristal and I got to give James a bath last night which was really cool. He was pretty squirmy but handled it quite well.

As I said before, I am reading to James. I just finished the book of John with him. One of the nurses told me after I finished reading to him that in all of the years she has worked there, she has never heard anyone read the Bible. I said, "Well, it's a good book, of course I'm going to read it." To that she just sort of humored me and said, "Yes it is." I know that many people are hearing the word of God as I read it to James. There are a lot of nurses and a lot of parents who are in hearing distance from me when I read to him. And trust me, I am not trying to keep it down while reading to him. I am sure that there are some of you who have been reading my blogs and are thinking that I am on crack. It may appear to many of you that I have a wrong view of things. After all, Kristal and I are going through a crisis and it seems that I have said very little about the power of prayer. I have commented very little on those verses which speak about a believer's confidence in prayer. Well, even though it seems that I have not spoken directly about prayer, I actually have. The power of prayer is found in God. Every post so far has focused on the character of God because it is in the character of God that we find our confidence in our praying. We do not pray because we believe that prayer in and of itself changes things. We pray because God changes things. So many Christians today have an abstract confidence in prayer divorced from a Biblical view of the character of God. What is prayer without God? Prayer is only as good as the one to whom you are praying. Isn't this true? Aren't you dependent upon the one to whom you are praying to ANSWER your prayer. What if the one to whom you are praying is not able answer your prayer? Will that not make your prayers less effective. I believe this is the very point of the Psalmist in Psalm 115 when he says, "Why should the nations say, 'Where, now, is their God?' But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. The idols of the nations are silver and Gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they cannot see. They have ears, but they cannot hear; they have noses, but they cannot smell, they have hands, but they cannot feel; they have feet, but they cannot walk. They cannot make a sound with thier throat. Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them. O ISRAEL, TRUST IN THE LORD; HE IS THEIR HELP AND THEIR SHIELD."

What a powerful set of verses from Psalm 115! The whole point of the Psalmist is really to say, "Trusting is not enough. Who cares if you have faith. The only kind of faith that will endure is a faith placed specifically and only in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." I don't care if you pray. Prayer in and of itself is useless and weak. What I care about is if you are praying to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praying to saints is profitless because saints can't do anything for you or me. Why? Because they have the character of mere mortals. What good it is to pray to a God who is not in control of all things? If God is not in control of all things then His ability to answer prayer is limited. I focus on the character of God because the character of God is that which convinces me that his promises are true. The Israelites, in Psalm 115 were trusting in and praying to Idols which could not speak or feel. The Psalmist was telling them that these prayers were worthless. He exhorted them to "Trust the Lord." The question we need to ask is this, "Why trust the Lord?" Because the character of the Lord is much greater and more powerful than the character of Idols. This surely is a time to exhort people to prayer. However, we must remember who God is so that we might be able to believe Him when He makse such wonderful promises in His word. Our God is a God who cannot be defeated. Our God is the God is who merely SPOKE light into existence. Our God is the God who provided the Israelites manna in the desert to eat. Our God is the God who took away Job's family. Our God is the God who blessed Job with a bigger family in the end. Our God is the God who has rose from the grave. Our God is the God who "Does whatever he pleases." Our God is the God who exhorted us to "cast all our cares upon Him who cares for us." Our God is the God who is never taken by surprise. Our God is the God who has never lost one single battle "to the prince of the power of the air." Our God is the God who promised us that He "will work all things together for the good." Our God is the God who is "for us." Our God is the God who offers living water. Our God is the God is ABLE to do abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine. I focus on the character of God so that when I visit those verses about prayer, I might be able to know who said it. Don't find your hope in prayer itself. Don't find your hope in the amount of praying that you do. Don't find your hope in your great faith. Find your hope in God. For He is the mover and shaker of prayer. Focus on Him--And then go and visit those passages about the power of prayer. (which I will be doing shortly).