Through the Fire

My daughter Anna came down with a fever on Sunday night and was complaining of her stomach hurting, so this week started with me spending a night on the couch tossing and turning with motherly alertness. In the morning when she woke up she was burning up with fever and looked so miserable that I gave her a fever reducer. Hours later her nose started bleeding profusely and didn’t stop for thirty minutes! I was exhausted but not too terribly worried. She looked good, the fever was low (due to the Advil) and she was in good spirits watching her favorite day time cartoons. And then an hour later she got the second nose bleed, just like the first profuse and long lasting. And then another, and another, and another!

In twelve hours she had had five nose bleeds. And as I sat on the edge of the bed with Anna between her father and I switching back and forth between tissues on her nose I was spent. I had been dealing with this blood all day long. I was tired and scared and done fighting this fight. And I prayed, “Lord, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t go on.” Yet there sat the daughter that I love, bleeding and scared and so much more exhausted than I was. As I looked at her I remembered that while God doesn’t keep us from all the fires in life; He is always in them with us. He gives us the strength to take just one more step, and then another and another, and another. Until we find ourselves out of the fire, unbound and not even smelling like smoke. (Read Daniel 3.) God wasn’t delivering me from the fire of this moment, but He was in it with me. And because He was there, is here, with me I know I can face whatever life throws my way.

I looked at my daughter, blood still flowing, took a deep breath and sat up a little taller because I knew that no matter what the rest of the night held I could and would face it. A few minutes later the bleeding stopped and we slept; all night long.

Come to find out, the very thing I gave her to make her feel better, is what caused the bleeding. By me trying to remove my daughter from the thing that was making her uncomfortable, I caused her so much more discomfort. Sometimes, God keeps us away from circumstances that will cause us pain. But sometimes we need to go through the fire in order to burn off things that may be hindering us. It is through these fires that we cling to the Truth that He will never leave us or forsake us. That in those times of burning and pain He is right there with us, giving us the strength to keep going.

At this moment she has only had one more nose bleed that was light and very brief, under 5 minutes. And it was only because she picked her nose; unlike before where she would merely swallow or cough and everything would break loose again. She still has the fever, but it’s still not bad. We all slept VERY well last night, all night long Praise God!!! Thank you all so very very much for all your prayers! I would be surprised if she ever has another nose bleed again!!! J In Jesus’ name!