When People Pray

There is so much on my heart that I want to share. Problem is, I don’t know exactly where to begin.

First let me say that Josh and I felt (with abundance) the prayers that were directed our way during our time in Anchorage.

I have been steady in my faith for a long, long time. I received God’s gift of salvation when I was a child and have only grown through life’s circumstances through the years. But never have I been able to see his hand at work-guarding us, protecting us, keeping us in his arms-like I did while we were in Anchorage.

There are so many little things that just…happened at the right time, in the right way and in our favor. So many things that weren’t just coincidental.

Firstly, we were able to reserve a room for our trip at the Alaska Fisher House – one of the friendliest and most welcoming lodging facilities I have ever been to. The staff was remarkable…they made us, and our boys, feel at home. They welcomed Noah and Jonah like they were family…even with their excitement and tendencies to be rambunctious, we never heard a negative remark made about our kids.

On our first night there, we bumped into friends who were stationed with us during our time in Florida. They moved to Alaska a year after we did and were also staying at the Fisher House while awaiting the arrival of their little girl. We were able to reconnect with them during our stay and they graciously and willingly looked after Noah for us on the morning I had to have my spinal tap.

If you follow me on Facebook, you probably remember seeing a post about my having to have a lumbar puncture. And you probably remember the fact that I was a complete and total wreck the day before and the morning of. I felt the waves of prayer wash over me the morning I went in for the procedure. The doctor who actually administered the test had one of the most personable and uplifting bedside manners of any doctor I’ve ever known or worked with. His demeanor literally eased my nerves within minutes. The nursing staff who assisted him made me laugh and reassured me over and over again that I would be okay.

I didn’t bruise during the blood draws. I didn’t bruise after the five attempts they made to start an IV. I didn’t endure the horrible headaches that tend to follow having a lumbar puncture performed. I was okay.

Probably the most baffling and revealing of all things, were the MRI results. Before we left Kodiak, we were under the impression that we were going to receive an MS diagnosis. Josh and I had both already prepared ourselves mentally and emotionally for it. We’d already talked to our families about it and had them ready to hear the news. We had been told that I had “multiple white matter lesions of significant size” on my brain. When the doctor went to view the scans that I had done here in Kodiak, they were few. And small. Nothing large or what we would consider significant.

We were prepared to receive the MS Spinal Fluid results that would read the MS was a definite…that it was something I would be living with from here on out.

But last Friday those results came in.

And they were negative.

I have no doubts that the reason they were negative is because of all of YOU. Those of you who prayed, even if you only prayed once, on my behalf and on the behalf of my family…YOU are the reason that God worked the way he did. I’m not foolish enough to believe that the initial tests here in Kodiak were wrong. I’m faithful enough to believe that GOD did the healing. That HE changed the views of those scans…healed the spots that were there…took away what could have been a life changing disease.

And I thank you for that. Each and every one of you.

You will never know how much your friendships (whether you are near and know us personally or far away, having only met me through a screen) mean to myself and my family.

Thank You.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1