Witnessing a Miracle

We had quite the scare 2 nights ago. Eli's condition continued to worsen. His breathing looked like a severe asthma attack, gasping and choking for each breath, then coughing with each exhalation. Excruciating to watch, we called our pediatrician to verify taking Eli to the ER was the proper choice. He agreed. We expected a trip back into the ICU and intubation to control breathing. We began to pack some clothes, knowing we were staying the night.

Out of shear desperation, we decided it was time to pray. Literally fall to our hands and knees over Eli, and beg God to spare his life. As we prayed, Eli stopped wheezing, and started singing! When we opened our eyes, he was looking right at us with a huge smile, and breathing smoothly. We had to turn down his oxygen feed, because he was bumping off the high end of where we want his blood oxygen saturation to be! In a matter of seconds was a complete turnaround in his health.

We never left the house that night. As I began to process the experience, I became a little frustrated with myself. I wrote that night:

I wish my own maturity and discipline didn't require such drastic measures. For a second time, I recognize the need to be bold and vocal with my faith. This isn't comfortable for me. Praise be to Jesus, who has given me everything I have, and taken away what I don't need.

Very shortly after all this had happened, I got a phone call from Pastor Jim. He informed me there was a business meeting at the church that night, and at the exact minute we were praying, the 50+ members at the meeting decided to pray for Eli, as well! I was beginning to see the evidence of God's direct intervention that night. It took friends' realizations for me to completely open my eyes to the fact that we had just witnessed a real-life, Biblical-style, body healing miracle.

I later shared a realization with one of those friends, "I can't believe how blind we are to God's work. We read stories of miraculous instantaneous healing in the Bible, and wonder why God doesn't work that way any more." In our hearts, we know he does, but living strictly by faith can be so challenging at time. That night, we experienced it for ourselves, firsthand. Not someone else's inspiring, slightly unbelievable story, but our own.

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Fast forward back to today. Eli's in much better condition, now. He's still a little mucky down in there, and occasional coughs are productive. He's still getting loaded up with medicines pretty heavily. He gets nasal spray on occasion to relieve sinus pressure, and saline drops and suction to help remove the snot. We're using a nebulizer to give him budesonide (a steroid to help dry out the fluids) and Xopenex (a bronchial dilator), but have pulled back on the Xopenex, lately. All these drugs sure dry him out. We get a kick out of the video below, because you can see the effects of his dry mouth, he sucks on his lips. It makes us laugh.

Paige is staying with friends one more night. She'll come home tomorrow. It looks like she's over her cold, and her voice is coming back. We've missed her desperately, but are SO THANKFUL for those who have risked (and given up) their own health in order to protect Eli. Home life will be a little different for us now. Antibecterial soaps, wipes and sanitizing gel are now standard procedure. At work, I isolate myself from people as much as possible. I don't let anyone ride in my vehicle any more. We're hearing about so many friends who are getting sick, all over the nation. 'Tis the season, I guess. We've decided to hunker down, become shut-ins, and try to make it through this fall and winter as unscathed as possible. We'll write more on that, at another time.

For now, praise our Lord, Savior, Healer and Provider Jesus for giving us such a bold miracle in such simple terms that even we could see it. Here's Eli, tonight: