Well, March’s claim to fame is “in like a lion,” and it has certainly lived up to that in this house! The last couple of weeks have been yet another adventure with Harper. She started having some new symptoms that were totally unrelated to her seizure issues, and we went to the doctor for a suspected UTI (again). In addition to those symptoms, she has also been having spells of terrible abdominal pain every night and vomiting (not viral or illness-related). This has been happening for over a week now, but no real indication yet of what the cause is.

We also finally got word back about the sleep study Harper had done back in the fall and had to see a sleep specialist neuro from Duke last week, who has referred her for surgery to have her tonsils and adenoids removed. She has had three sleep studies done and they’ve all been borderline, but on this last study she was only in REM sleep for 5% of the night, and her tonsils have gotten larger. The concern is that even her mild apnea can cause additional risks with her seizures, so it’s better to go ahead and have the surgery. It will be done at Duke so that the neuro team can be paged if there are any issues, and we will make another trip this week to meet with the ENT and get everything lined up. While we are there they will also do lab work to try to pinpoint if her new abdominal issues are related to her medications.

So, Miss Priss has had us on our toes. Between all of these appointments and labs, plus therapy, and Daddy being gone on military orders, and keeping up with her big sisters, and school and church and life in general, we are ready for March to march on out of here!

Yet, through it all, there is a peace that surpasses all understanding. I don’t know how people go through life without Jesus! As crazy as our days have been lately, they do not compare to the battles so many others are fighting right now. My heart has been broken over the pain so many of my precious friends in Christ have been wrestling with in recent days. Loss of life, loss of love, loss of jobs… brokenness and burdens that make no sense in our human understanding.

But we hold on to the hope found only in a sovereign God. Isaiah 43:1-2 states: But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

That is some good stuff. We have been created and formed by the Great I AM. He commands us not to fear. He has redeemed us. He calls us by name. He says we are HIS! He intimately knows us, knows our thoughts and fears, our feelings and emotions, our strengths and our weaknesses. He knows our insecurities and short comings and the ways we have failed- yet He still calls us His own. It doesn’t matter who we have or don’t have in this crazy world- we are HIS.

And He promises to never leave us. He sticks around, no matter what. When we are utterly overwhelmed and feel like we are drowning in our sorrows or in our busyness or even in our loneliness, He is there. “I will be with you.” And when we are put to the test and think we cannot take one more thing, He protects us. “You shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

Tonight I am so thankful for the promises of His Word. I am grateful for a God who doesn’t desert me, who walks with me through the trials of this world, and who gives me the assurance of a beautiful eternity in His presence regardless of what my present circumstances look like. We shall not be consumed!