When I thought about writing this, 2 things came to mind about why I wanted to post it. 1. I want to share my testimony as a witness to the fullness of God , His power and love
2. I would like for all parents to be aware of how things can change in an instance, how your world can turn upside down in the next second and what to do in an emergency situation if you’ve never encountered one or if you just need a refresher to the frailty of life
On Friday July 6, our son Shadrach, 3, had a seizure. The day went as any other day. He played outside with friends, ate good meals, drank plenty of water and went with mom and dad to the grocery store. When we returned before dinner with our friends, he began to play in the living room. As I was putting groceries away and chatting , I saw him jumping on the couch. It felt like hours had passed but in reality it was probably less than 45 seconds. I turned around and saw part of his arm waving around above the couch. That gut feeling that comes in for moms (parents ) when you know something is absolutely wrong, sunk in. I immediately ran to him, in my mind I thought he was panicking because he got stuck in between the couch cushions. But As I picked him up and yelled out his name, he was in full seizure. He had never had anything happen like that before. I yelled out to friends and my husband to call 911. My husband has had experience with seizures from watching family members have them, and he knew what to do. *In a seizure, you must lay the person flat on the floor on their side. Watch for anything in their mouth and don’t put anything in their mouth. Also note how long the seizure is, whether or not both sides of the body are moving and anything else you can remember from the seizure so you can correctly tell doctors what happened, for a proper diagnosis. His seizure lasted about 2 min and he went into postictal state (fell asleep right after.)
We went to the ER and prayed. We both prayed the whole time. Tears ran down my face as I was in deep prayer asking God to please pull him through and bring my son out of this. I know that seizures happen often to people, that people with epilepsy can love normal lives but I never thought my healthy son would have one and with no known causes. I didn’t know what to expect. Why did he have a seizure? I kept asking myself and God. I took for granted that I had a healthy son, 2 healthy children. I wasn’t prepared for anything like this to happen, my heart wasn’t prepared but when can you ever be.
The ER doctors ran several tests which included: blood and urine samples, a CT scan and EKG. While we were waiting for all these tests, Shadrach eventually came to . He wasn’t exactly himself but he was alert. He was very combative and understandably upset about being in the hospital. Between each test, I fell to my knees, face down in prayer. Asking God to bring back normal results , meaning there was no infection and that he was ok. Now, I am sharing my personal time with God not to brag but to let you and anyone out there that hasn’t experienced God, know that there is indeed a God. A God who is faithful and gave His son for us because He loved us (John 3:16). I firmly and confidently believe in the power of prayer. Shawn prayed, our parents prayed, friends and friends of friends prayed. By the end of the night the doctor said all tests came back negative and that we could go home. By midnight Shadrach was back home, eating lucky charms and ok.
The next days were all so fast and all testimonies to the amazing things God can do. He moves mountains and we may not see physical landmarks move nowadays but God certainly does move them. Before I went to bed each night And after I woke up, I prayed thanking God he didn’t have another seizure. We asked our church to pray because we knew this next week would be filled with doctors appointments and more tests. Another bump in our road was that Shawn was scheduled to fly back to Kazakhstan on Wednesday just 5 days after the seizure. So let me stop for a minute to give another shout out to how awesome God is in His plans. If we had been in Kazakhstan and Shadrach had the seizure there, we would have been in a totally different situation. In Kazakhstan , we have a doctor on campus that can treat general things like colds and maybe the flu but the company will not allow anything further unless it is life-threatening (heart-attack). Therefore there is no medication or testing that would be done for a seizure. We would have been flown out on the next flight to the next big city with good medical care like London or Amsterdam and most likely it would only have been Shadrach and I. So for us to be in the United States with friends that would be able to care for our daughter while we were gone was all apart of God‘s plan. God put us in the right place at the right time because He knew what kind of care we would need to get through this. So this is how the last four days have gone, Monday we had a check up with the pediatrician for the kids regular yearly check up and the pedi said all was good. She said we needed an MRI and EEG. When we told her about Shawn’s flight, she said she would do her best to get us in as soon as possible. However , we needed to call another hospital to find out when the next available appointment was. But that most likely we wouldn’t be able to see anyone until Thursdaybecause our insurance needed to accept the claim before we could go on with the test. Shawn tried to reschedule his flight to Saturday but it was extremely expensive and we still didn’t know when the testing would be. When we were able to contact the hospital for the testing it took about an hour to rearrange schedules to find the best times to go for the testing. At first we were going to have to go to two separate locations one in Katy and one in the Woodlands , on two separate days in order for it to be done. But through it all, I know that people were praying to God that everything would work out in His perfect time. And it did! At the end of the hour, The receptionist said let me refresh my page again to see if we have any available times and she said suddenly there was an availability on Tuesday and Wednesday to have the tests done. Then Shawn received an email saying we can reschedule your flight to Thursday for roughly $300. This is about 1/5 of the cost to fly to Kazakhstan. So this was a huge weight off our shoulders.
Again, each night we prayed and the next couple of mornings I fasted ( refrained from eating breakfast) and prayed before our test. Shadrach was such a trooper. He is truly a superhero. He was very cooperative with the doctors and did both tests amazingly.
Everyone kept telling us, to pray that the results would come back negative. Our pastor, our friends, family, and my mother-in-law said to claim in Jesus name that his results would come back negative and that Shadrach would be OK. That this was a one time occurrence and wouldn’t happen again. Now I understood what they were saying, and I did pray this. But as Some may know, sometimes you have a shadow of a doubt that your prayers will get answered in the way you want them. We just don’t know what God’s will is. And I totally accept His will no matter the outcome but to pray that I wanted it to be the best results for us is hard to swallow. I don’t know God’s plans, I’m no where near His level to even decide what’s best. But I prayed even those these thoughts ran through my head. Will He answer this prayer as I wanted it ? I kept thinking who am I to ask God of this, I’m not worthy, I haven’t done anything that would grant me this wish. (I don’t have to actually do anything , He loves me and gives me grace and Mercy because He is God)
But my mother-in-law said you need to claim it and BELIEVE it that God will do this and He will. And to me that meant praying without ceasing, and putting my full trust in Him that I believe who God really is : that He is faithful, that He is good and just and loving and that He will stand by his word. The Bible says in John 15: 7 “if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you would ask whatever you desire and it will be done for you.” It also says that “where two or more are gathered in my name, I am among them.“ Matthew 18:20 . And the story of the father that asked Jesus to heal his son with «seizures». It was an evil spirit that was over him causing the boy to convulse and Become mute. “Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!””
Mark 9:23-24 NKJV and “So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.””
Mark 9:29 NKJV
So I quote these Scriptures because I had to believe that it was possible. And so I did. I threw myself into that prayer and knowing God‘s love. And I felt his peace , I felt his presence with me and I just left it alone. I did what I needed to do . We took him to the doctor, I took care of my son but I left it up to God. And now a week later, all tests have come back negative! Shadrach is fine, there is no activity of seizures or epileptic type of behavior. Now there’s still a chance he could have another seizure. But there is a chance that anyone could have a seizure at any time. But the most amazing thing to me is that God was glorified through all of this. We said it over and over, that we know God loves us, that He would be glorified through this situation, that no matter the outcome we would still praise God. I can’t even Catch my breath when I think about the answer to our prayer that God has given us. The power of prayer, the confidence that I now have in prayer. I thought that I had it before but I never really felt it. I never really felt it in my heart that, I knew without a shadow of a doubt, 100% that God was going to answer my prayer In the way that I wanted. I don’t want to sound arrogant or in anyway selfish with my prayer and my testimony and I know that even if it had went the other way , my faith was tested so much that it became stronger and that I would’ve still praised God for who He was. It wouldn’t matter if Shadrach had seizures and was epileptic , God was with me. He is still with us . He is going to help me get through every battle that comes up, just like He did with the first one. And so what I want everyone to know and realize is that tomorrow is not promised. A couple of scriptures come to mind I’d like to leave you with, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Philippians 4:6 ESV
"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6:34 ESV
And as I’ve stated before John 15:7 and John 3:16.
This life is temporary, we don’t know what tomorrow brings but we can trust in God that He has an amazing plan for us today. Hug your babies a little tighter, kiss them more than you did yesterday, be aware when you are near them, but also pray without ceasing that God would stand in the gap when you can’t be there because He will . God protects them and will always take care of them no matter what. Please continue to pray for Shadrach. I pray for all families that deal with illness in themselves and in their children. I know your pain and even if God doesn’t answer our prayers the way we want, he answers them with His best will. I will say it is well with my soul.
Beautiful songs that helped me through this: Even if by MercyMeand Thy will be done by Hillary Scott
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