A Special Gift: Taking a Chance on Trusting

(Thanks to everyone who prayed for Stephen yesterday. His endoscopy went well. Thankfully our GI doctor is wonderful and even printed pictures from the scope to show us what was going on. Basically, he has granulation tissue built up around his feeding tube on the inside (normally this only happens on the outside), and whenever his tube gets pulled (S thinks it is a toy, lol) or rubs the inside where this delicate tissue is, it bleeds. They will be able to get rid of this tissue when they put in his Mic*Key button next week. We are praising GOD that nothing else bad is going on. Also, his esophogus looks really good, thanks to Prevacid and CaraCream from MARCI-kids/Reflux Solutions. He still refluxes but the acid is under control and isn't causing esophigitis, or the lining of his esophogus to be irritated!)

"A Special Gift: A Devotional for Mothers of Children with Unique Challenges"

Day 4: Taking a Chance on Trusting

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." ~ Proverbs 3:5-6

    Across the highway from my house, two red-tailed hawks took up residence in a towering tree. I could sit in my living room and look across our balcony to watch the hawks build their massive nest. Stick by stick they painstakingly constructed their home.
    Finally, one day, there appeared three eggs in the nest. (With my home on a hill above the highway, I had the vantage point to look into the next with binoculars). Patiently, the female hawk tended the nest. Her mate hovered nearby, coaxing her from the nest periodically, to soar into the sky. At long last the eggs hatched. I watched as the babies grew fuzz and then feathers. Their hungry mouths kept their parents busy. Frantically, the parents would search for food. I covered our rabbits in the backyard, fearing they, too, would soon be supper for the baby hawks.
    Soon, by some God-ordained order, the mother hawk knew the time had come to send her babies out on their own. They perched on the edge of the nest, teetering in what seemed to be fear. Trusting their mother, they eased themselves over the edge. I watched in horror as the first plummeted toward the earth. Suddenly, the little hawk spread out his wings and began to soar. The mother joined it, and soon all four birds were effortlessly skating across the sky.
    The mother hawk did not know the physics of flight. She did not discuss the procedure with her young. She did not have a parenting manual to guide her. She just did her job as a mother and, without understanding, allowed the Lord to direct her path.
    So it is with us. As loving parents, we build our "nests," preparing for our baby. We tend her and nurture her, all the while gently pushing her to achieve the God-ordained plan for her life.
    The mother hawk had to trust that her young would fly. She prepared them, gently pushed them, and then left the flying to the hand of God.
    We must trust that God, who cares for the hawk, will also care for our babies. We simply provide for them and teach them and love them as God molds them into the person He desires them to become.
     Our children may be more limited in their accomplishments than some, but that is OK. God will direct their paths - and ours - no matter what they may be, so long as we trust those paths to Him.

Prayer: Lord, I may not understand the path you have set before me, but I am trusting You to lead me. I ask that You teach me to trust You with all of my heart.

Copyright 2000 by Carrie T. Gruman-Trinkner