Blessings in the Midst of the Storm By Holly Otten

Photo from creative commons library

"He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you."
​Deuteronomy 31:8 ESV

Not one, but two. Two of my baby boy's toes gone forever. My 16 year old "baby boy" ran his foot over with our family lawn mower on Memorial Day. I ran to my boy's loud screams from inside our home. I immediately put pressure on his foot to keep his life-blood from pouring out of his body. Later, the ER doctor stated that he was expecting to have to administer a blood transfusion, but realized there was no need. Thank you God for sparing David* from this.
    For years I had been praying for God's angelic protection over my family, including my 3 boys. I prayed almost daily, "For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all of your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, that you do not strike your foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11-12). I questioned God on this, while reminding Him of this very promise. "Is this a joke? My son ran his foot over with the lawn mower." But that's just it! He didn't lose his foot! The devil wanted to take my son's foot, but God didn't let him. Thank you God for not allowing the devil to take David's foot.
    All of our faith-filled friends and family were seeking God in faith and asking that He take all pain from David. And each day following the accident, the doctor visited my son and asked him, "What is your pain level on a scale from 1 to 10?" He prepared to give him a prescription of pain medication. Each day David would reply, "I have no pain." So no pain meds were given past the original date of the accident. Thank you God for taking all pain from David's body.
    David left the hospital in a wheelchair, with the instructions to undergo weeks of physical therapy, as his foot would have to learn to balance while walking with only 3 toes. David lost the toes (numbers 3 and 4), located in the middle of his foot, hence his recovery would not be as long and strenuous as it could've been if he had lost numbers 1, 2 or 5. Come to find out, my husband inspected the lawn mower following the accident and discovered that the mower blade was on backwards, which means that the dull side is what made contact with David's foot. Had the sharp side made contact, David most likely would've lost all 5 toes! Thank you God for sparing David's 3 toes!
    David was also told that he could not go back to playing that year's football season. This was one more loss and major disappointment that David had to process. However, things did not happen as the doctor had thought. After the long process of healing, going from a wheelchair and then crutches, David visited the therapist to have his cast removed. That day the therapist told us that David would have to have many more visits to learn to balance on his foot, and also because he lost strength in his leg and foot from not having used it for months. However, when David returned home from the therapist's office that day, he placed his crutches against the wall as a symbol that he was not going to use them another minute. He began walking without them with ease and perfect balance. Thank you God for David's speedy recovery!
    David was doing well enough that he talked his doctor into giving his football coach the "thumbs-up" so that he could play out the final weeks of the football season. Thank you God for granting David this desire of his heart.
    There are 2 different ways that one could view the events of this "storm" that our family experienced. We can view the circumstances with eyes that see God as a mean and unloving God, a God who doesn't care and who doesn't answer prayer. We could be like Job and cry out "WHY GOD?!" Or we could open our eyes to see the circumstances in which God manifested Himself to us and affirmed that He was with us in the midst of the storm. As you can see from my testimony, there were blessings in the midst of the trauma, the pain, the loss and the disappointment. With each blessing, God was saying, "I'm here. I hear your prayers. I love you. I will never leave you nor forsake you."
    My response was and remains today, "God, even when I don't understand, I still choose You."


* Name has been changed.

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