Lord, Have MERCY....

It's Five Minute Friday!  Lord, Have MERCY.

A homeless man aimlessly wanders the streets in tattered rags.  His rust-colored mane twisted in a knotted,matted mess.  His bare feet rub the rugged, scorching hot pavement.  He stops in the middle of traffic and does an about-face.  And for a second, we lock eyes through the windshield of my car - his eyes, wide, bewildered, vacant....

Lord, have mercy......

7:30am.  A teenage girl stands on a street corner with her headphones on while eating a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos.  Dressed in low-top gym shoes and khaki pants, her red polo shirt exposes her growing belly. A crowd of kids about her age, all strapped down with backpacks, stand about two feet away from her; they talk and laugh amongst themselves and occasionally throw a side-glance her way. She gingerly steps off the curb to search the street for the bus that will carry her to school...

Lord, have mercy...

A beautiful baby boy sleeps in a hospital bassinet. A wide tube is inserted into his windpipe and smaller,thinner tubes are taped to his arm. Seemingly, he is oblivious to the flashing lights and hum of activity around him.  His parents hold a prayer vigil at his I.C.U. bedside as they fretfully watch the mechanical rise and fall of his tiny chest...

Lord, have mercy.
It is a whispered prayer,
a plea of compassion,
an act of submission,
a desperate surrendering of the spirit,
a heart-to-heart
with Him
who knows and cares and grieves and heals and lifts up and loves.  Thank you, God, for your MERCY.  Amen!

Five Minute Friday - RED

Funny how some people either love the color red or hate it; it's just one of those things that you can't be on the fence about.
I used to be a red hater myself - couldn't stand her!                    
 Too different, too out there, too much!                                                       

But, over the last couple of years, I've come to appreciate and respect red.

She has come a long way in obtaining status, power and RESPECT.
She has fought unspeakable battles.
She has redefined quality of life.
She has a powerful story to tell if you would just take the time to listen with an empathetic, non-judgmental ear.

Yeah, RED is bold and brilliant - don't hate her because she is beautiful.
               RED is a survivor and she is here to stay baby!

                 C'mon and show RED some love.  

Link up with Lisa Jo and the Five Minute Friday community and write for five minutes, UNEDITED on the given prompt.

Strong Faith!

We've come this far by faith,

leaning on the Lord,

trusting in His holy word,

He’s never failed me yet.

Oh, can’t turn around,

we've come this far by faith.

Lyrics by Carlton Pearson

I was cleaning out Malachi’s bedroom closet the other day when I ran across a home video; it was a video diary that my family and I made twelve years ago entitled, A Day in the Life of Malachi.  We created the video for a fundraiser benefit for Malachi; our friends and family graciously planned a fundraiser event on our behalf to assist our family in purchasing a mini-van to transport Malachi, his nurse and all of his life-saving equipment to medical appointments and family outings. The video was our way of sharing with our friends and family our unique challenges and the impact of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) on our family life.  Seeing that video again was awe-inspiring for me; it reminded me of how far we've come as a family and how far we've come in our faith.   

My two boys are 16 and 14 now, but in the video, they were just little guys – Joshua was 4 and Malachi was 2.  As I watched the video, I reflected on our family’s journey.   I remember our rocky beginning – the shocking details of the diagnosis, the fragility of Malachi’s life, having to learn his life-sustaining care, the constant influx of nurses in and out of our home and the search to purchase a home so that we could bring Malachi home from the hospital.  The doctors’ prognosis for Malachi was two years of life.  TWO YEARS OF LIFE!  It all seemed surreal.  We were devastated – and scared.  Scared of the responsibility of his care and scared that the burden would tear our family apart.   Our feelings were as fragile as our faith; we experienced emotional highs and lows as we learned how to replace the fear and doubt with love and faith.   Prior to that moment, we thought we knew what it meant to be faith-filled, but our faith hadn't truly been tested.  That was in the beginning…

 As time marched on, the burden of Malachi’s care intensified and how we practiced our faith intensified as well.  Malachi triumphed over medical trials and we began to share his story and testimony to anyone who would listen!  We ministered to other couples who were facing similar struggles with their ill child.  We focused on the good parts of our life rather than our woes and limitations and encouraged others to stand in that grace as well.   As I watched the video, I smiled and marveled at the resilience of my family.  Together, we weathered many storms, but those storms didn't overtake us because we were standing on a solid foundation that God was with us through it all, no matter what.

Medical science predicted that Malachi would not live past the age of two and now he is an endearing, bossy little teenager!  Due to the severity of Malachi’s diagnosis, the odds were stacked against my marriage and my family remaining intact, however, today we remain an intact family.   The naysayers would have you believe that the challenges my family endured would cause us to be bitter and broken.   But for the grace of our loving and sovereign God, we are more resilient and faith-filled than ever before!  Indeed, we've come this far – a mighty long way, by faith.   We started out with mustard seed faith and over trials and time, God grew our faith BIGGER.   You can’t see that transition in our home video, but then again, faith is not about seeing, it is a knowing.  

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Hebrews 11:1