Thank You Lord

Operator: "9-1-1 Emergency?"

Me: "Yes, we need someone now as my husband and I can't control my son's nosebleeding."

Operator: "I'll send help right away, Ma'am!"

Me: "[nervously speaking].....Yes, thank you so much!"





Our bedroom was almost empty. All of our things were already placed in a rented storage at this time. The date was June 10, 2003. We were about to move to another new house.

My son has a history of allergic rhinitis. The doctor had given him a nasal spray few weeks prior to this incident to help him breathe. For a while, it was helping him not to have swollen nasal membranes.

Before dawn, my son got up and sleepily said, "Mom, my nose is bleeding..." My husband heard it, too so he got up to get some paper towels. As we turned on the light, we were shocked to see how much he was bleeding from the nose. It was like a faucet that was running continuously.


Despite my knowledge of nursing, I was enveloped with fear. Trying to be calm, I instructed him to put pressure on his nose as I instructed my husband to get a cold pack. 15 minutes later, he was still bleeding....And that was when I placed that phone call to 911 services.

As the operator hung up, feeling desperate to control that bleeding, my husband and I looked at each other feeling each other's pain gnawing deep inside our hearts. To see our son in that state, we were just dumbfounded! That desperation led me to think, "Wait a minute! I haven't called this special 9-1-1 services that is also open 24/7".

I took my husband's hand, knelt down and bowed our heads. We started to pray...

"Ding-dong..." Three tall firemen were by our front door, dressed up in dark blue uniforms. One of them was carrying a heavy bag full of emergency supplies. I saw the firetruck with its flashing lights flooding our street. As I let them in to the room where my son was, my son who was tired putting pressure on his nose by then, looked up and said, "Mom, I'm not bleeding anymore..."

I didn't know what to tell these firemen. All I knew was that our prayers were answered! Deep in my heart as I was apologizing to them, I was praising God! They gave a pat to my husband and my shoulders and said, "It's okay. Glad that your son is okay now!"

The following day, I wanted to praise the Lord and He inspired me to write this song. My son making his own chocolate-chip pancake added, "I wanted to thank Him, too, Mom. Thank You Lord for healing me. Thank You, You're always there for me..." I wanted to thank the Lord and yet, He was the One Who gave me the song and the lyrics through my son that we can offer back to Him. How great is our God!!!

Thank You Lord

It doesn't matter what we do
It doesn't matter where we are
When we bow down and call our God
He's always there for us

Whenever you are feeling weak
And you think there's no way
But the Lord when we seek
He'll surely find a way

CHORUS:

Thank You Lord for Your gift of love
And all the blessings that come from up above
Thank You Lord for healing me
Thank You Lord, You're always there....for me....

Whenever you are hungry
Just eat the Bread of Life
Oh come and taste that His Words
Are sweeter than honey

Whenever you are in the dark
And you keep on falling
Just let the Light of the World
Brighten your way...

CHORUS:

Thank You Lord for Your gift of love
And all the blessings that come from up above
Thank You Lord for setting me free
Thank You Lord, for Your love and.........mercy.....

-rrrs/jks 07/09/04

Friendship?

Ecclesiastes 4:10: -"If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"




My teenage son was asking me a few days ago if he could invite a friend over. Though I knew who the friend was, he hasn't really been over our house and my husband and I haven't met his parents.

Being on his Spring break for another week, I was torn between just us going out and doing things together [spending quality time so to speak] vs. him inviting his friend. But because my son had been studying hard, I decided to let him do so and let him relax and have a good time with his friend...

So, he placed a phone call to that specific friend and before they hung up with each other, I overheard my son, "Yeah, let's have our moms talk to each other before you come over."

I can't tell you how proud I was of my son and that friend for being responsible despite their age, and for the respect they both had shown to us, their parents. 5 minutes later, my cell phone rang and it was K's mom. First, it was an awkward conversation since we didn't know each other, so I decided to introduce a little bit about myself and my husband. She did the same with me after that. All of a sudden, there was just a weird feeling like we were comfortable though we had not met each other. So, she said she would bring her son the following day.

The palm trees were swaying back and forth as they were being rocked by the gusts of wind in our front yard. A white big truck parked in front of the curb and out came, K and his mom. My son and I were waiting at the door and we both hollered, "Good morning."

I invited Mrs. K. and showed her around the house, showed her some family pics and offered her to sit down. She started telling me she was a cancer survivor and through that, when she was feeling left alone by everyone even her best friend, that was when she came to know Christ! She is a teacher here in our district.

We had talked a little bit but I could tell, we were more comfortable now that we had met each other in person. The 2 boys had a great time playing together. I asked them, "What do you guys think happened that you both were just comfortable with each other yet you only have 1 class where you both go together?" Both of them said, they had the same interests, my son in designing cars and the other boy in designing airplanes, etc. etc...

I was trying to not interrupt the boys' answers, because before I even asked them that question, I already had a fixed answer in my mind...I blurted it out, "you both are brothers in Christ and that's why your friendship is neat because God had brought you together." My son goes, "thank You, Lord." K said, "Amen!"

When the night came and I was reflecting about us meeting this family, my heart was speaking with the Lord, saying, "To think that I almost didn't allow my son to invite his friend, not only that I, myself, would have missed out meeting a sister in Christ, Lord, I almost missed out on an answered prayer."

You see, during some of my own devotions, I always pray for my son for the Lord to always guide and protect him and most of all, give him Christian friends."...

"Lord, mighty are Your works! Thank You for Your friendship. It's not about finding true friends...It's about being one...."

Sponge Bob

[Image from markgorman.wordpress.com].

[Sponge Bob cartoon created by Stephen Hillenburg]

I was still half concious and woke up to a soft "aaaaaaaahhhhhh". My son just turned on the tv and I saw this square sponge cartoon flipping burgers.

Lots of kids adore this character. Where can you find a "cute sponge" who works in a restaurant, flipping the best burger and whose recipe"Plankton" tried to steal in many failed attempts?" The restaurant owned by "Mr. Krabs" who just loves "money!money!"

Sponge Bob has a starfish "Patrick" for his best friend. The show projecting "Patrick" as dumb in his ways as starfishes don't have brains.

As we live our Christian lives, I believe we must be careful with everything that attracts our interests. If we are not careful, it is so easy to have our minds polluted with worldly things and such things do not help in aiding with our spiritual walk with the Lord.

I told my son that I do have an obligation to share the Lord and His ways with him. With our daily devotions, I tell him how important it is to start and end the day with the Lord. There is no wisdom that can aid us with our spiritual walk, none better than His Word. Man's wisdom is just foolishness to the Lord. What's foolish to us, the Lord can use in mighty ways when He chooses to.

My son smiled, turned off the tv and grabbed his devotion book. I heard him whispered, "I'm sorry Lord."

Oh Lord, help us to be like Sponge Bob....like a "sponge" ready to absorb Your Word daily. May the words of our mouths and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to You today oh Lord. Help us to trust in You, and not with our own understanding. We commit all of our ways to You Lord for we know that when we do, You help our paths smooth.

Lord help us see things through Your eyes. For Your ways and thoughts are higher than ours. Please remove anything that is hindering our walks with You Lord.

Thank You for Your love, Your wisdom, Your grace and mercy. Thank You for always being with us as we battle in choosing the right road to take. Thank You for being our Shepherd Who loves us so much though we don't deserve that. Thank You for rescuing us when we are lost, afraid, confused, angry, miserable, in pain and weak. I love You Lord, yet thank You for loving me first.

Lord, I pray for many who don't know Your gift of salvation. That when they happen to peek at your blogging children's sites, may their hearts be open, their eyes able to see and their ears able to hear. May they come to absorb Your gift of forgiveness and offer of a personal relationship as they read our posts Lord. It's all about You...In Jesus' Name. Amen.

The Gardener

The Gardener

There was a gardener busy tending in the garden

Started pruning bushes and one of them complained

"Why did you cut my thick branches when I tried to grow?"

"And a lot of foliage sprung and you just had to prune them, too?"

The gardener replied, "Sorry but I had to prune

the thick branches will soon make you fall."

"If I don't cut carefully

Your roots will be uplifted and you'll drop to the ground."

"I am trimming you the way I want you to be"

"I don't want you to be so thick, I want the foliage with just the right amount"

"I don't want you to grow so tall, I want you to be strong"

"I am your gardener and you will understand"

"One day when you're rich with the life's experiences,

You will understand why I have to cut your branches."

The gardener moved into another location

Hired by another, thinking about promotion

But the promotion never came, to his dismay

Started asking God, "Why, oh why didn't You help me at all?"

And God answered, "Do you remember son?"

"When you spoke to the bush and you tried to make him understand?"

"That when you pruned him, you had better reasons than what he was thinking"

"You wanted him to be his best by cutting his branches?"

"I am your Gardener, I hope you will understand"

"That I didn't mean to make your life full of trials"

"For every suffering, you will grow wiser"

"For every breaking of your heart, you will grow stronger"

"Someday, you will understand"

"When you're full of life's experiences you will not get mad"

"That I pruned you the way you pruned that plant"

"Someday, you'll be a proud bush in my own garden, I hope you understand..."

rrrs 5/8/00