Impact

Today I had a couple conversations with staffers here. I started telling them how everyone (staff) seems to want to be Dempsey's nurse and come hang out in our room. They enthusiastically told me this general sentiment: He is precious! We don't see children like him very often, so when we do we want to spend time with them, play with them.

What a sweet reality we are experiencing- strangers loving our boy(s).

I truly believe God is using us to touch this floor... and beyond. We are able to have deep conversations with our nurses, assistants, doctors, and anyone else we interact with. The more we are blessed with the same staffers, the more we get to know them and that opens up the possibilities for intentional conversations. It does the extrovert good to connect with people like this.

On Saturday night, before leaving for home, I was able to talk at length with our night nurse, Rose, and the CA, Noe. I got to brag on our WACC and Eastside communities, talk about Serve Weekend, explain how a WACC Community Group blessed us with new floors, explain that Eastside is looking into holding a blood drive... all of this giving God the glory for the hearts full of love and service and generosity. It was powerful to watch Rose's jaw just drop in disbelief. She was shocked by the generous giving and the lavish love I was talking about.

It is an honor to get to pray for these nurses/ staffers. They do such a wonderful job. They care- a lot. You can't do this job and not care. They willingly take the brunt of attitudes, anger, frustration, confusion, etc so that youth can get better. They do the dirty work so that parents can spend time loving their kids. They are totally open with communication and have NO PROBLEM answering the same question 100 times. It takes a special heart to do this job. I don't have that heart. I value that heart and am grateful God designed people to be different.

We are constantly told Dempsey is: polite, smart, kind, brave, funny, fun, precious, adorable, sweet... He really is all these things, and more. He is handling this struggle like a champ. This little boy is having a big impact on so many people. I'm certain he will never realize the width and depth of his impact on the world. Hopefully this blog will go a long way to show him what he went through from a parent's perspective (with comments from friends, family, and strangers).

Our desire, through all of this, is to honor God and glorify him in all of it. The trials and tribulation are all worth it if God gets the glory for the blessings and provision. Scripture tells us a few key points that I hold onto with vigor:
God causes it to rain (hard times) on the righteous and unrighteous alike. Basically, good and bad people have bad things happen and vice versa).
God works all things together for good

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

 I love that it is not on me to have all the answers. There is freedom in putting the big stuff on God's shoulders. He can handle it.

Prayer requests: Pray that hearts are touched. Pray that we emulate Jesus. Pray that we draw people to God through our presence here. Pray for the right words to come in all of our communication.