A friend sent me an awesome word from Francis Frangipane today and so far I've read it 3 times and I know I'll read it again. It’s called Loving God where you are at. I know I make loving God a lot harder than it actually is and I’m trying to make it simple and easy. I know God loves me and I need to follow Him and pray and seek Him but I also know He loves me even when I mess it all up. He knows my mistakes before I make them and He loves me in spite of them. I want to feel every bit of how much God loves me all day every day and I know I will because He knows how much I want it and I'm trusting Him to get me to that place. I’ve been working on this for months now and I’ve gotten frustrated quite a bit but I’m not giving up and I know I’ll have it because God does not withhold from me. He loves me more than I could ever imagine. I know it in my soul but I want to experience the feeling of it. I know it'll come. God help me to know your love the way I know is possible.

The devil attacked me today trying to get my mind out of line with the Word of God and it was touch and go for a few hours but then it all popped back into place just a little while ago. Really what do you think you can do to me devil? My Father owns the universe and you don’t own squat. My Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills and all you can do is eat a bit of dung. I am grateful that I am a child of God because I know story after story of all the things God has done for my small family, my bigger family and my church family. All three of those together make up the most wonderful family in the world. There're some amazing stories that need to be told about the things God has done for me, my family and even my church family and so I will begin today telling about a miracle God did for my daughter Emma.

When Emma was about a year old we were visiting my grandparents in Texas in the spring and all the flowers and trees were budding out. There was tons of pollen in the air and on our first night there, Emma woke up in the middle of the night and she could barely breathe. John and I were up with her all night long trying anything we could to help her but we had no idea what was wrong. She screamed and cried which made it even harder for her to breathe and so all night long we walked the floors and worried. It was an awful night and we were glad to see the morning come rescue us from the fear that had consumed us. Facing the day with very little sleep was difficult and when she woke up, she looked like she had fought a bear and she was still wheezing and miserable. During that day, one of my grandmother’s friends came by to visit and when she heard Emma’s breathing, she told me, “That baby has asthma.” I was shocked and mad. Where did this even come from? We had no family history of asthma and I didn't want Emma to live with that misery the rest of her life.

After finishing that miserable trip and when we got back home, she was still wheezing terribly so as soon as possible I took her to the pediatrician. When her doctor walked in the room I immediately said to him, “Don’t tell me this baby has asthma.” And his response was, “Well OK but she does. But she may also grow out of it. Sometimes that can happen.” I was a young Christian and a frightened mother but for some reason I grabbed onto those words, “she may grow out of it” and I held on to them for dear life. But for the next couple of years the doctor treated Emma for the asthma and with each episode that occurred I remained worried and angry. Each time she would have an attack; it would come suddenly without warning and was terribly frightening. So we made regular trips to the doctor. We got a breathing machine. We got inhalers. And she continued to have awful bouts with the disease but John and I never forgot what the doctor told me that day. She didn’t have to have this all of her life. We remembered those words and kept hoping and praying for this nightmare to end.

We battled with and for our baby daughter, taking her to the doctor, giving breathing treatments and praying to God until one day she was having a particularly serious attack. Once more we made an emergency appointment and were off to the doctor again but this time it was not Emma’s regular doctor. Instead it was a very young doctor we'd never seen before. She was young and I was a little taken aback at her obvious youth and when she walked into the room she didn’t help my feelings by looking a little afraid. Almost immediately she said we should take her straight to the emergency room. It really seemed like she was more nervous than we were and John, who remains calm almost all the time, was trying to calm her down. As we all stood there discussing what to do, and I was panicking at the thought of putting her in the hospital, John said to her, “Can we at least try a shot before we go to the hospital?” After a moment, the doctor said, “OK but if she’s not better in 2 Hours you have to promise you'll take her straight to the emergency room.” We agreed and after much screaming, on Emma’s part, and one shot later, the three of us headed home. We were on the clock and we were praying for healing.

After the 15 minute ride home, Mom and Melanie came by to check on Emma and as I was standing in my driveway telling them what the doctor’s instructions were I said out loud and defiantly, “We are finished with asthma in Jesus name and she will not live with this the rest of her life.” All three of us agreed with the short prayer and stood firm on it. It was a very simple prayer but God heard it and answered it and Emma was healed that day. She was instantly healed that day. She never went to the hospital. She never had one more shot or breathing treatment and she never had one more single bout of asthma. And she never will. I have no real idea why that particular prayer worked on that particular day standing in my driveway, but it did. I do remember believing that day at that moment that we were finished with asthma for good and her little body was finished having to fight. It happened immediately and it never came back one more time. It was a miracle and we're still thankful for God healing our daughter.

Thank you God that 16 years ago you healed Emma of that terrible disease and she's never had one more problem since that day. He is the God that pardons, heals, redeems, crowns, and satisfies.

Psalm 103:1-5
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.