The title of this blogpost sounds like a bad movie. Oh wait! It is—from 1994.
But I’m not talking about a bad movie.
If you have asthma, or know someone with asthma, you know the terror of not being able to breathe. And the most life threatening attacks always occur at night, making you pray for the morning.
I remember as a child struggling to breathe while my mom had me kneel over the vaporizer and breathe in the steam as vicks vapor rub permeated the air. There were not many resources back then. No inhalers or nebulizer treatments. No steroid shots. Just, steam, vicks vapor rub, and God’s hand on me with His natural remedies. One time on the way to the doctors office for a bad attack, I threw up and somehow that cleared enough mucous from my airways to help me breathe.
Another time I was taken to a chiropractor during an attack and the adjustment he did to my back, along with some tool he vibrated in the area of my lungs, helped clear my airways. I was around eight-years-old and don’t remember exactly what it was. The doctors at Winston Baptist Hospital taught my mom to do percussion and postural drainage on me.
Now we have so many more options for treatment, and yet, people still die from asthma attacks.
I have two different grandsons with the asthma gene. We have had several night time trips to the ER on both sides. One grandson had an attack of appendicitis. It ruptured right before they got him into surgery. It happened at night.
On Friday night, our six-year-old grandson had to be rushed to the ER because a virus caused his asthma to flare. He was transferred to a children’s hospital where he could receive better care. I went to stay with his brothers.
As I lay on my son’s couch, at 4 a.m. trying to get a little sleep before the other boys woke up, I felt the terror enveloping me. Even though I was exhausted, I was afraid to stop praying to sleep. I’d done the same thing when our other grandson had appendicitis. It doesn’t matter how sick and tired you are, the terror of stopping the prayers keeps you awake and praying… even when there is nothing left to pray and you are exhausted from not understanding life and what is going on.
And then…
the story of Peter from Acts chapter 12 popped in my head. Herod was killing the Christians. James, John’s brother, had just been killed, and Peter was put in prison. Prayer was being made for him “without ceasing”. Herod was planning to kill Peter that same night. Peter was chained between two soldiers awaiting execution. And what was Peter doing?
He was sleeping.
Was he extremely tired? Or was he resting in extreme faith?
I prefer to think it was the latter.
And as I thought on that story, I decided that we all should have that extreme faith. That no matter what is going on in our lives, or what is going on with our loved ones, we should be able to lay our heads down and rest in God’s perfect peace. Because what else is there to do? Can we change anything?
Only God who is in charge of this great universe—only He—can change the outcome, and after you have prayed… it’s time to rest in His love, grace, mercy, and peace.
Sometimes when I think of myself, I know there is nothing special about me that God would think of me with favor. I have not done anything great for God.
And then I am reminded of Hagar and Ishmael and God’s care for them, even though they were not the chosen seed. Hager had Godly encounters twice. Once when she was first pregnant with Ishmael… see Genesis 16:7-16. And again in Genesis 21:9-21 when she was cast out of her home with Ishmael and had run out of water to drink. Due to that encounter she called God, El Roi—”God who sees”. (Genesis 16:13)
GOD SEES
It doesn’t matter who you are… God sees YOU!
He sees my grandsons as they struggle to breathe with asthma attacks, or their appendix ruptures. He sees them, and He helps them.
He saw the poor beggar Lazarus, covered in sores, longing for food. And He took him to “Abraham’s bosom” when he died. I’m sure there was healing of sores and rich foods for him to eat there. (See Luke 16:19-31)
God sees us—
in our pain, and hurts, and weariness with life. And the terror flees. And we sleep.
Have you had a time when God carried you through the terror of night, and when the sun came up— all was well?
Thanks for sharing, Jane. I’m so grateful for God’s grace (unmerited favor) and that He loves me no matter what. I’m also thankful He removes my fears when I ask Him – but it certainly is difficult when I’m still feeling the fear. Praying for you and your family.
Absolutely… fear is a huge battle to overcome. Thanks for the reminder we just need to ask God for help constantly. Thanks for your prayers!
Great post, Jane. My wife uses a saying she got from somewhere, but I don’t know where it was. She says, “God sees and we trust.” Thanks for sharing your experieinces.
Thanks for sharing that quote, Tim. “God sees and we trust”… implies we don’t see and that is so true. We have to rely on God’s sight to get us through the hard times. I will always think of that quote now every time I’m experiencing the hard things of life and that I just need to rely on God’s sight:)
I’ve definitely had to cling to the Lord and rest in His protection many times with small children. I’ve gone to bed many times praying for God to keep someone’s airways open and properly functioning all night long and asking Him to help me sleep peacefully unless the child needs me in the middle of the night. Trust is a posture of the heart so it’s not a natural inclination to us because we think we have some sort of control when we do not have any control at all.
You are absolutely right, Allison! We have no control at all. So instead of trying to force control on a situation we have no control over, like Peter, I guess we just need to go to sleep at night and let God work it all out:) (After we have used the resources He has provided us in the way of medication, inhalers, vaporizers, ect.)