” Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12
” Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances;for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ” 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18
Joy, patience, prayer, thanksgiving … I thought a lot about these two verses the last few weeks … and what I learnt last year over and over again was that it is better to pray for every little thing than to be overwhelmed with worries.
We are very happy that Joshua has been eating 2 meals a day for 2 weeks now and that he has made progress with the support of his head. He still can`t hold his head up on his own, but he now controls the movements much better, the doctor says that he has made great progress. We consider any progress, no matter how small , a victory. Of coure the sad moments do not disappear completely either. Sometimes I find myself in situations where I automatically think of how life would be if Joshua was healthy. At one year old he should be much more independent than he is now. He would sit, crawl, etc. These thoughts come, but every time they do, God touches me with His love and peace. It is important that we stop seeing what we lost and begin to look forward to what is coming, no matter how it comes.
The biggest change that Joshua did was in our hearts and I noticed that in the moments of weakness, in the moments of doubt, they come more and more rarely now.
Patience, patience, patience … since Joshua was born, we really learnt what patience means. We need patience in all things … with Joshua’s eating, with the progress that comes very slowly, sometimes with the sleepless nights,the diagnoses … nothing is concrete in his case … in all areas we need patience to see how it will evolve.
We have many prayer requests for Joshua and we are grateful for every person who prays with us. Last week an EEG was made, according to the doctor the left side of the brain shows irregular waves , but he can’t say what that means exactly. He does not have any visible seizures ( seizures can be a side effect of microcephaly ) and we pray that this remains the same. The next EEG will be done in 3 Months. An area where God changed me in the past year has been that I am not concerened when I am given such news and he gives me his peace and comfort. I can not change anything anyway but what I can do is pray for him that God preserves him from epilepsy.
If someone has it in their hearts to pray for Joshua, here are a few prayer requests :
– that his head grows
– that he can hold his head, at the moment it still falls backwards
– that his muscles develop
– his brain develops properly so that he can understand and speak
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24
Our Life with Josua 