Today’s guest post comes from guest blogger, Rebekah Benimoff. Rebekah is well-acquainted with care giving since her husband and two sons have special needs diagnoses. For the next three days, she will share special needs lessons learned through recent chaos caused by her son’s wildly fluctuating glucose levels due to juvenile diabetes.
Praying in the Midst of Chaos
There are times when I am incredibly grateful for the blessing of modern medicine- and the accessibility we have to it. Today was one of those days. It started at 4 am, when my oldest son began throwing up uncontrollably. Distressing for any parent, but especially so with a child who has Type One Diabetes. Tyler’s blood glucose was over 400 and he had very large amounts of ketones spilling into his bloodstream. His breath had a strange “sweet smell” and he was approaching DKA- which can be life threatening if not treated quickly. When there are high ketones presents, the doctor calls for large doses of insulin to bring down the BG levels, through a syringe, not the insulin pump. But I coaxed him, and he submitted, though he “hates needles!!” We cleaned him up, and changed out his insulin. Then we headed towards Children’s Medical Center of Dallas as quickly as possible, first sending a shout out for prayer. The endocrinologist on call phoned ahead and let the ER staff know we were on our way- and they were ready for us when we arrived. (Another thing to be grateful for: our ER staff does not mess around with diabetes issues.)
About the time we were admitted, I noticed a change in Tyler. He was ashen, all the color had drained from his face, and his legs were shaking. I grabbed the glucometer and a quick finger stick revealed that his blood glucose levels had plummeted down to 35 (normal is 130). I grabbed a lollypop from my “fast sugar” supply in my purse, and we were rushed us back into the ER, the nurse and me supporting him. Within moments all kinds of staff members were rushing around the room- at least 7 at once, and another 2 others running down the halls calling out “Diabetic emergency. Call a doctor NOW.” This accomplished the desired effect of two physicians showing up, but not before I was holding off the beginning stages of panic, due largely to the frantic activity surrounding me. I held Tyler’s hand and stayed close, breathing a prayer for help, while soothing him, “You’ll feel better soon, baby.” Amazingly he had not passed out.
In moments like these, prayer is my life line. There are times when I’ve done all I can do for my son, and I have to wait. I do have a choice, though: tunnel into myself and “survive” the trauma, or reach out to the One who holds me through the chaos. In cases like these, I’ve heard people say, “All we can do now is pray.” No. The TRUTH is that prayer is our best strategy. Admitting our lack of control and surrendering the one we love to the One who loves them more- yes, this is the only path that leads to any measure of peace. Control is an illusion, but the God who meets us where we are is real and available. His promise is this: Come to Him authentically, bringing whatever you are struggling with, and He will BE with you.
Special Needs Lesson One Complete
Thank you, Rebekah, for reminding us of a vital life lesson. We can pray in the midst of chaos caused by our children’s special needs. Our prayers not only ground and calm us, but also calm our children as they sense our peace. Rebekah and I would love to hear about your experiences with prayer in the midst of special needs chaos. Leave a comment to share your story about how you learned or practice this faith-building lesson.
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