Chirp Chirp

Last night at 3 in the morning, we were awoken to that all-too-familiar-annoying chirp of a low battery in our smoke detector. Seriously, why can't these things hit low battery during the daytime?! The occasional chirp was not enough sound to detect which exact one was causing the issue. My dear husband went from room to room taking the batteries out, only to have one in another room chirp back at him! It suddenly became an overwhelming, confusing, and frustrating situation. Finally, he realized it was actually the carbon monoxide detector chirping and we experienced peace at last. But, then our minds couldn't rest as we dealt with the reality of this at our bedside: all of our smoke detectors disabled!

Scenes from recent "This Is Us" episodes began running through my head and I was thankful that my husband was willing to put one back together to get us through the remaining night!

In my last post, I shared a bit about our recent journey with our daughter's scoliosis diagnosis. Quite honestly, it has been an overwhelming, confusing, and frustrating situation at times! We are constantly bombarded with differing "chirps" from contradicting opinions, conflicting treatment methods, and varying advice. Each scoliosis story is unique with differing outcomes and goals. As parents, it's really hard to decide on a treatment plan that will not only benefit our daughter's health now, but also for the rest of her life!

For the past 2 weeks, Brooke has worked extremely hard at a local ScoliSmart therapy camp.

Her hard work and God's healing power has allowed her curvature to go from 49 degrees to 35 degrees in the two week period! Her neck has improved from 110% non-functioning to 79%. We are extremely thankful for God leading us to this treatment plan and pray that her curvature continues to lessen, even through her remaining 2 growth spurts. The doctor is confident that she can maintain a curve less than 30 for the rest of her life if she is consistent with her therapy.

A new sort of reality has recently hit me as we plan to return to a normal school schedule next week. Suddenly, we are faced with the overwhelming and frustrating reality of incorporating 2 hours worth of exercises into her days already packed with school, band, instrument lessons, church activities, and still allowing enough healthy "down time" for a 10 year old! I can identify with Missy Robertson in her book "Blessings, Blessings, Blessings" when she says , "The new realities of our lives required me to view the situation as one we need to manage for years, not one that could be fixed in weeks or months."

As I discussed this new reality with Brooke, I reminded her of God's promise not to give us more than we can handle with His help. 

Of any of my children, she is the most capable of handling an obstacle like this. She is task-oriented, focused, determined, and knows how to manage time. I can only pray and encourage her to stay motivated and strong, as this therapy will continue for the next 6 years until she is done growing. 

We are all facing different obstacles in our lives that can feel overwhelming, confusing, and frustrating. The "chirps" that we hear all around us can be hard to distinguish, and even harder to extinguish! I urge you to press into God. May you experience His faithfulness, His peace, and His divine provisions as you seek Him for His will. James 1:2-3 states "Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow." Joy comes from the faith that God is in control and it's been proven time and time again that the greatest amount of joy often comes from the biggest and most painful storms of life. No matter what your pain is today, may you be found clinging to the hand of God.