Amazing Grace: 3/20 My first blog brings awesome news

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

3/20 My first blog brings awesome news

As I mentioned, my first blog is one of awesome news....

This news comes via Kathy Ross, ... aka ' the blue angel' ... our dear friend and nurse at Children's hospital. Annie's dad Paul gave Kathy this nickname because as she wears her blue hospital scrubs, Kathy has and continues to be an angel of care and guidance to Annie and her family.

Annie has her breathing tube out and every system in her body is working! Our beloved Annie is now asking Paul and Jane a million questions so that she can come up to speed with all that has occurred these past few days.

So as we continue to give praise and glory to our precious Lord, we also give many thanks to all of you for your endless prayers for Annie and her family.

Giving praise to our gracious Lord

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not.
In all your ways be mindful of him, and He will make straight your paths."
-Proverbs 3:5-6

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: I don't know Annie very well, but I want her and you, Paul, to know that you are all in mine and my family's prayers! God has been by your side, and will continue to be. I am amazed by how strong your whole family has been through this all! I hope that Annie continues to get better!
Holly Zepernick; March 20, 2007 at 7:39 PM
Becky said...: What wonderful news. I have been checking off and on all day for an update and what a way to end the day by reading your post Mary.

Blessings to Jane, Paul, Ben and most especially to Annie.; March 20, 2007 at 8:13 PM
Samantha said...: I just want everyone to know that everyday I have been praying for Annie's recovery and so have my family and friends. Annie is blessed by all the wonderful people that surround her and the loving God that is supporting us all. She is in great hands and we all hope she gets better very soon! :); March 20, 2007 at 9:35 PM
Anonymous said...: Praise God in all of His glory! Let's keep praying for continued recovery. Thanks for keeping us up to date, Mary.

Mr & Mrs Mason; March 20, 2007 at 9:38 PM
Anonymous said...: We were thrilled to hear of Annie's progress today. How wonderful it is that she is breathing on her own and can speak!Christ's light is shining brightly through Annie and her family.We continue to pray that our loving God holds Annie in the palm of his hand as she works at the task of recovering.
love and God's Blessings,
Margaret, Bill, Melissa, Christina & David Street; March 21, 2007 at 12:18 AM
Anonymous said...: Go Annie! =); March 21, 2007 at 10:42 AM

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Annie's Witness

When I was born, I was diagnosed with a disease called Alagille syndrome. This disease affected my heart, kidneys, and liver. My heart valve didn’t work right so when I was just over a year old I had a surgery to repair it. When the doctors did that they also discovered that the arteries going from my heart to my lungs were constricted. So over the past 15 years I have had several surgeries to attempt to improve my flow. Just this past September, while I was in the hospital with liver problems, they did a more aggressive procedure and for the first time I had near normal flow from my heart. That heart procedure was a bit of a miracle, because if it had not been successful I would not have been eligible for a liver transplant.My liver has caused me the most problems since I was born. Because it has not functioned normally, I have had brittle bones, been constantly itchy, tired, run down, and I had trouble growing. I had scabs all over my body from the itching. And I had these bumps or deformations on my elbows. I have yellow skin and yellow eyes from the bile that is in my liver. I remember when I went to kindergarten when I was 5, and was worried that the kids were going to make fun for the yellow skin and eyes, for the scabs and the bumps, and that they would not accept me. That is another great story – the kids and teachers at Holy Family were very understanding and supportive. The love I felt there was amazing. I had such great friends and teachers, and I felt so accepted and loved. About a year ago my liver really started to shut down. I started being more tired and run down, and by last September I was unable to go to school I was so tired. I ended up in the hospital a couple of times in September and October. I only went to Bishop Blanchet a couple of days in September and since then I have been home. I was heartbroken that I wasn’t going to be able to go back to school and finish my senior year. But I knew in my heart that God had a plan for me, I don’t know what it is, but I trust that it will be for the greater good. Knowing that helps me when I realize I can’t go back to high school. Right now I am on a waiting list for a liver transplant. In order to get better I need a new liver because there is nothing the doctors can do to repair mine.One thing I have done since I was a little is to pray. You might find this a bit funny, but I have not really prayed to God for my own healing. It didn’t seem right for me to pray for myself because I thought it would be selfish. I saw more people that I thought needed the prayer more than me. I learned very young I could offer up my prayer and my suffering for others. For example, when I was in 2nd grade I had to start taking shots. Initially it was twice a week, and then it was every day. The shots hurt me a lot and I remember how painful they were. Then I started offering up my shots for others in need. Each night before my shot I would say a prayer and then offer it up for someone in need. Offering up my shots didn’t take away the pain or the fear, but it did help me to bring some good out of it. I believe that offering up my pain to God was a strong and helpful prayer for others.Now that I have been cooped up at home since last September, I offer up every day for people in need. I have offered it up for my family members and friends. And it seems that the more I pray for them the more people I see who are in need of prayer.I have learned that God can use everything for the good, even sickness. I am actually grateful for the struggles because it has brought so much good in my life. I have been surrounded by some really great friends and supported by their love. Being sick all my life, it would be easy to think that I would become depressed and down. But that is not the case. I have much joy and peace and I am filled with happiness. I have strength to continue on each day. I know this is all a gift from God, a grace. I have felt God in my life from when I was very young. I have experienced many small miracles where he has touched my life and healed me physically or given me peace, joy and strength in the midst of struggles. God has been at my side and is still at my side. All of us have struggles in our lives. It is not always poor health like I have had. It might be struggles within your family, it might be personal addictions, or it might be worries over someone close to you. But it is important to know that God is by your side just like he has been by my side. I have found that I need to trust God; I need to turn to him in prayer in order to be able to know that he is by my side. I think God wants us to turn to him in our troubles; he wants us to take a step towards him through prayer. And when we do take a little step towards God, he takes a big step towards us and picks us up and holds us in his arms and blesses us with his grace. If I could give you any advice it would be this. Turn to God. Reach out to him in prayer. Share your troubles with Him. And trust him that he will help you. And don’t be disappointed if he doesn’t answer you the way you want. In the long run his answer will be better than you could have asked for. If he had healed me completely when I was two years old, or ten years old, I would not be the person I am today. I would not be as close to him, I would not be filled with so many of his gifts. I am ever so grateful to God for all he as done for me. And I know that what he wants for me is good, I just have to learn to put my trust in him and I know he will take care of me.

Amazing Grace

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

3/20 My first blog brings awesome news

6 comments:

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