Spare-Me-the-Details Sick!

Cold and flu season hit us hard this year. This was no tired and sniffly sickness. I'm talking hug-the-bowl, pray-for-mercy, laid-up ill!

It started just as we began to eat dinner when our three year old Anna's lunch decided to pay us a visit. She showed no warning signs of illness, no dip in energy, or complaint of pain. I wasn't sure what had happened, and she simply suggested she had too much food in her mouth. Unfortunately, a few minutes later Anna performed the sequel to the earlier regurgitative performance.

After the next few recurring episodes, I finally gave up changing her into clean clothes. Down to her diaper, I wrapped Anna in a blanket, played her favorite movie on the portable DVD player, and rocked her in my arms. While Daddy cleaned the floors and kept the baby out of harm's way, Anna and I cuddled on the hallway floor right outside the bathroom. She barely moved, rather she just hugged my arm and only spoke to warn me to get her to the toilet.

This was the first time she had ever been really sick. This was the most pain I had ever seen her in and it broke my heart. While we cuddled on the floor, I prayed. I wished I could take her place. I would gladly have been the one to get sick if it meant she would escape it. I wanted to take her place, give her my health for her illness, my strength for her weakness, but I couldn't.

I finally put Anna to bed around 10 p.m. I laid the futon mattress next to her bed and stayed by her all night long, giving her little sips of water each time she woke up. There was no way I was going to leave her side.

As I wrestled with sleep that night, I thought about how God completely understands what we go through. God knows the physical pain of this world because, in Christ, He bore the pain of the whole world. And, God knows the pain of a parent having to watch her child suffer. Our Heavenly Father watched His Son, Jesus, suffer - even to the point of death.

Jesus did for us what I couldn't do for my daughter. He took our place. He didn't take our place in a temporary ailment, but in death. He gave us His health for our sickness of sin. He gave us His strength and took our weakness, and He took it all the way to the cross.

Why? Why would He do this? He did it out of sheer grace for you and for me! Jesus endured pain and died to save us from the disease that threatens our souls. Now, even death can't keep us away from eternity with God. And until the day that we are restored to eternal health, He will never leave our side!

Who wants to "sleep like a baby" anyway?

I want to meet the person who coined the phrase, “sleep like a baby.” I have a few questions for him, questions like, “Are you kidding me!?!” “What in the world were you thinking!?!” “Why would anyone want to sleep like a baby!?!”

My guess is that this genius either didn’t have a child of his own, or was so sleep deprived that he didn’t know what he was saying! You see, I have had two babies and there is no way I would want to sleep like one. My youngest is the noisiest little squirmy thing you’ll ever meet, grunting and flailing as she busts out of her swaddling clothes!

The unfortunate thing about having a baby who sleeps like a baby is that you sleep like a baby, too. You wake up at every mumble, struggling to quiet her down before she wakes the whole house. If you are lucky, you can get back to bed before the brain starts spinning with all the things you will have to do—sleep-deprived—the next day.

When I don’t get enough sleep, I’m not quite as patient, not as kind. As someone once said, “Without enough sleep, we all become tall two year olds.” And that’s really not good when there is already a two year old in the house, albeit a short one. We think, just a little more sleep and I’d be okay.

The problem with sleep, however, is that even when you get a lot of it, you still might feel off. It’s like you got enough sleep but found no rest. There may be times you just want to shout out, like Job, “I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil!"

In these moments, we have nowhere to turn but to the Lord. We pray, “Lord, at this time in life, I am not able to sleep as much as my body desires! You know what I need. Please, Lord, sustain and strengthen me, that I might be a good mother, wife, employee, friend, and witness in this time of sleeplessness. Though I may not be getting enough sleep, please bless me with rest in the sleep I am able to get. May I always remember that You give me life, salvation in Jesus Christ, and all I need to live every day to the glory of Your Holy Name. Amen!”

God is so good that, even in the middle of our struggles, He provides blessings. In the middle of the night when my baby wakes up—again—something happens that I treasure as much as sleep. I get a few stolen moments with my baby. I get a few extra cuddles, a few extra kisses, a few extra tears to dry, a few extra feedings to provide, a few extra glances to capture, a few extra songs to sing, a few extra prayers to say, a few extra moments for me to share with my precious child before she goes back to bed. This blessing comes amid the struggle of sleeplessness, and I thank God for it.

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus who knows your struggles, saved you from them, and walks with you through them! Here are some verses that I hope bless you as they do me:

Psalm 62:5-8
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
He is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in Him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to Him,
for God is our refuge.

Psalm 116:7-9
Be at rest once more, O my soul,
for the LORD has been good to you.
For You, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.

Amen!

Here's my angel when she is acutally sleeping!