The Ultimate Health Care Plan!

Listen to my prayer, O God; don't hide Yourself when I cry to you! Hear Me, Lord! Listen to me! For I groan and weep beneath my woe! Ps55:1-2
But I will call upon the Lord to save me and He will. I will pray morning, noon and night pleading aloud with God; and He will hear and answer.vs 16-17. God Himself- God from the everlasting age past will answer them!vs 19a ( taken from the Living Psalms)

This was my cry to the Father the last two weeks after our visit with the Doctor. Every time something big comes my way, I always run to my heavenly Father for answers. Sometimes I don't get the answers and sometimes I get the answer and it's not what I wanted to hear and sometimes I get a Miracle!
After my visit with Fastina's Cardiologist two weeks ago , I was in anguish as the writer of Psalms is in this passage. The thought of your child having to go under the knife a third time on an organ of the body that is the most vital was disheartening. The MD painted a very bleak picture to us. I feel the doubt seep in to my very bones and the fear as I sit in the very sterile chair in the examing room. I say to myself "no, I am not going to go there. She didn't come this far in life for this to happen." I see my very calm,precious child begin to cry( the child that rarely breaks down and has the strength of an army) she is broken and she says to me " This is my worst nightmare."
Let me back up, Our seventeen year old daughter Fastina came to grace our lives 4 years ago. She was 12 turning 13. Fastina was born in Haiti, she contracted rhuematic fever at a young age that destroyed her mitral valve. She came in contact with an organization called Haitian Hearts and Dr. John Carroll. Dr. John brought Fastina to OSF to have her mitral valve replaced at 8 eight years old. She was returned to Haiti after her recovery in the States. After a year , she was fluent in English and this was a huge thing as she returned to school in Haiti. Approx. 4 years later Fastina's heart was in crisis again. She was extremely ill, her heart was not functioning and she needed to have her valve replaced again. However this time, she was going to have to have a mechanical valve and would need to be on long term coumadin therapy and due to the damage in the heart was going to need other medications also to survive. Doing a second surgery was not even an option unless, she stayed in the States for ongoing follow up with cardiac doctors and medication. As many of you know, medication, medical coverage is not something that exist in Haiti. The weak die and the ones with weak hearts die faster. She came back to the United States and got her second surgery and then a search for a family began and that is when we came into the picture. We had already adopted our oldest daughter Vivianna and when we heard of Fastina we knew that she was supposed to be with us!

This is sweet little 12 year old fastina waiting to come to America!



The best way for me to describe this child is that she is like an oak tree. Her roots run deep in the Lord. She has wisdom beyond her years. She has a gentle, quiet meek, spirit that I can learn from and she also bubbles over with the joy of the Lord . She as been a true joy in our lives and it has been an honor to be a part of her life.
You can imagine how I felt two weeks ago as this news is dropped in our lap. "No not my oak tree"( I am thinking). To see her cry and feel her pain was utter agony in my heart.
I think to myself " where does my help come from?" and he says back to me " It comes from me". So I call out to the Father and I ask him to take care of this situation. "Lord, I don't want Fastina to have open heart surgery . I want you to heal her heart and give the surgeon wisdom in this situation to see that it is not needed". Sunday at the Altar, I weep and groan before the Lord. I am strong and I don't cry. It takes alot for me to cry. I don't weep but when it comes to my children and their life - I do weep! I wept before my Heavenly Father.
Weeping is cleansing, refreshing, renewing and if there is one place that we can go to weep it is in front of our Lord. He knows all and He knows all of our Heart. I can be vunerable before him and I know it is okay. In fact, when we let our hair down and really let it out before Him and he can handle it all, even the ugly parts. I think that we become closer and He can cleanse us deeper. As I wept at the altar before my Lord, I felt the peace seep in and I also felt the doubt begin to fall away. The peace had taken control but the answer was still not there.
That is when the battle of doubt begins and things run through my head like" Does God really hear us?" Does he really still do miracles?" The questions come and go and our different each time but it is still the doubt game that we all play in our heads. It is the measure of our faith and the molding of the pot that he puts us all through.
So the answer came yesterday and I have to say that "Yes, he answers prayers and he really does hear our cry!" We got a phone call from cardiologist and they are not going to do the open heart surgery! Praise God! They also are going to wait on the pacemaker and are going to play with some of the medications and are hoping that this is the reason for some of the issues. So I am doing a little dance today! A little dance of Joy!
My encouragement to you, today! Don't give up on Him! He does hear our prayers and he is the Ultimate Health Care Plan and He still does miracles!!!!