An Answered Prayer

Yesterday morning we woke up dark and early to take Micah in for his third set of ear tubes and to have his adenoids removed.  I am such a wuss.  I do not have to be anywhere by 7 in the morning anymore.  My time at Starbucks will give me an appreciation for that until the day I die.  I despised getting up in the four o'clock hour to be at work.  I felt like junk the rest of day, even if I took a nap when I got off work.  I salute you, overnight and early morning shift workers everywhere.  You all keep the modern world moving along while the rest of us sleep and I know how hard that is on a body.   I hope some newbie will come along and pay their dues to the midnight hour so you don't have to anymore.

Anyway, Micah has been a healthy kid but his ears have always been his nemesis.  He is so used to it that he barely complains when they get infected.  Over the last few years it has really started to affect his hearing though.  It's very similar to living with an old man who has lost his hearing aids.  It can be a challenge.  Jeff and I hope this is the last time he will have to do this procedure, but Micah actually may not feel that way.  He loves getting to pick out his "something for being brave" at Target and getting to eat whatever he wants after surgery.  The doctor always has a basket of stuffed animals/toys for him to pick something from when we get to the hospital too.  Since gifts are his love language, this makes for a good day no matter what they do to him.   It's totally worth it.  He might sign up for experimental surgery if the prize was right.

I knew he had grown up since the last time he had surgery when he picked a book over a toy at Target.  Maybe this is sad, but it was actually a proud parent moment.  My kid loves to read!

This is at 7 a.m.  Be still my heart.  I also love that he wanted to bring his Sonic stuffed animal.
 He is still a little boy for a few more years.  

After we got checked in he bravely went down the hall will three cheerful nurses while we waved goodbye and headed to the waiting room.  After the surgery was over, our doctor came out to give us the report.  He said everything went well but he noticed something while he was removing his adenoids.  Micah has a "remnant" of a submucous cleft palate.  He rattled off a few more things, reiterated that he did great, and buzzed off to do his next surgery.  He had no idea what news he just delivered.  I plan to tell him at our follow up appointment though.

The second he said the words "cleft palate" I remembered something from 7 1/2 years ago.  When I was pregnant with Micah we went in for our 20 week ultrasound.  After my OB looked at the images she had some concerns about a cleft palate.   We had to go back at 28 weeks so they could take another look.  She said she just wanted to get better images of his mouth but it was probably nothing to be worried about.  As if that's possible to not worry about for eight weeks.  In the mean time I asked God to heal him if something was wrong.  I was trying to trust that God would carry us and him no matter what the outcome.  To be truthful, my legs were still feeble after walking through a miscarriage a couple years before.  I felt ready for bad news but I was going to be grateful to bring him home regardless of what the next ultrasound revealed.  Thankfully, after the next one she said everything looked normal.  I think we chalked it up to bad angles on the picture or just misreading the images...until today.

I did some quick research.  According the Cleft Palate Foundation (cleftline.org) a submucous cleft palate carries the same genetic (hereditary) risk as an obvious cleft palate.  That is good for us to know should Micah have kids someday.  Also, a submucous cleft palate can sometimes lead to eating/swallowing issues, speech delays, and persistent middle ear disease.  It can also require surgery.  As you already know, an obvious cleft palate would have required many surgeries.  Micah has only a "remnant."  I believe that remnant is still present today so that we would know GOD HEALED HIM IN THE WOMB.  I absolutely believe He did.  I don't care what anyone else thinks, I'm giving Him praise for a miracle.  It may be the cause of his ear issues but we could have walked a very different road after he was born.  God is so patient in the ways He reveals Himself.  Seven and a half years later I am finally giving Him thanks for what He did.  He answered our prayers with a yes.  Maybe it means more for me to learn that news now than it would have then.  I don't know.

Today I am filled with gratitude and a new reminder that God's ways are mysterious and He is kind.  There are many times He says no, but He also does indeed say YES.  He is more than able.  How many miracles has He done and how many crises have been averted because God intervened without our knowing?  Yesterday I also found myself inches away from being in a car accident in case I needed the message to be any clearer.  I am so thankful for His kindness.

I don't know what circumstances you find yourself in today.  Receiving a no or waiting for an answer is often painful and hard.  There are some prayers that I have been laying at God's feet for a very long time.  There are questions that I do not have answers to and desperately want.  I probably won't see all of my questions answered on this side of heaven.  None of us will.  But while we wait I hope you will be reminded, as I am, that God is still listening and He will answer.  One day, here on Earth or in His presence, we will see what He was doing all along.

More than receiving the answer to our prayers we will receive more of Him as we continue to draw near in prayer and His Word.  Because of all that God has done in my life over the last 7 1/2 years I am far more convinced of that today than I was back then.

Don't give up on praying.  Keep beckoning Him to answer.  Wait.  Watch.  Draw near.  Give thanks.

Devote yourselves to prayer.  Being watchful and thankful. 

Colosssians 4:2