Life's Challenges

Monday, March 22, 2010
sarah beth had a difficult night last night into this morning. she had longer periods of apnea followed by more labored breathing. later in the morning, though, her breathing returned to the more steady, although rapid, rate. she slept most of the day again today, and tonight had a short period of time when her eyes were open. she didn't really seem to follow anyone with her eyes tonight, though. but that didn't keep us from talking to her. (we talk to her whether her eyes are open or not. just because she can't respond with words doesn't mean she can't hear ours.) make the most of every opportunity, right? we reassure her of our love for her, of our presence with her, of the prayers that are being spoken to the Lord for her. and we just include her in whatever conversation happens to be going on in her room at the time. time with sarah beth, both when she's awake and when she's asleep, is giving our family so many opportunities to love and care for each other. and so many chances to talk this through - talk about sarah beth's life, share memories, cry if needed and laugh quite a bit together. we talked awhile today about some comments we had heard from people who wonder how in the world we are going through this the way we are. and the only explanation we have is that we are holding on to our faith in God. that may seem too simple to some, maybe even ridiculous. but it's true. the Lord has brought us through enough things in our lives, individually and as a family, for us to think it's any other way. kathleen said it well - "you just take what life gives you and you deal with it." it's not a matter of what's fair or unfair. it's not about who deserves what. this world is not perfect. and life happens. we can either let it roll over us or we can stand and fight. walk through it. in sarah beth's case these past 5 years, she hasn't always felt like pushing through - she's had some pretty hard times emotionally. but she has stood to face it, relying on God's strength and not her own. and believe me when i say, that is what our family is doing now. we are not perfect. we are not strong enough to do this on our own. by ourselves, facing the death of our sweet sarah beth, we would have crumbled long ago. fortunately we are not on our own. we have Jesus Christ and His strength, and God's power available to us. power that raised Christ from the dead. we realize that we will grieve. we are grieving now. but we keep in mind the hope that we have that even with the finality of her last breath on this planet, as Christians, we have the promise of heaven. we will stand before God, and maybe even right next to sarah beth, to worship Him face to face. death doesn't win. Jesus already won.from sarah beth, january 2009"I can promise you that He doesn't leave us. He is there the entire time. Sometimes it's hard to believe that when we don't "feel" His presence, but that is where faith comes in. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see...and without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who believes in Him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him. (Heb. 11:1,6) So, if we have faith, believe that the word of God is God-breathed, then we can have hope no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in.""Let's pray and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ to live boldly for God. Encourage one another in love when we are going through trials. Use your spiritual gift that the Lord has given you to encourage those around you. I have no idea who reads this, but know that I pray for you and have hope that you have given yourself to the Lord Jesus. There is nothing more secure and never will there be anything more secure than a relationship with God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit."

thank you for your faithfulness to pray for sarah beth and for our family. we are loving you dearly. and we know that sarah does too.

leigh ann