Thank you for your continued prayers for Kaden. He was placed in the PICU yesterday due to a bacterial infection and very high fever. He is doing much better today, and they are hoping to transfer him back to his floor in the near future. However, there is a possibility they may have to change the central line which is used to give him all his medications and chemo. If this is the case, he would have to undergo another surgery. There is much uncertainty on what direction to go in order to ensure the infection does not return, so please pray for wisdom and discernment for Kaden’s doctors and parents. Please also continue to pray…
· That his numbers will begin to rise
· For the postponed MRI—that it will be 100% clear
· For a positive hearing test tomorrow and that the next three rounds of chemo will also have no impact on his hearing
· For HOPE and healing
Tonight we are reminded of the urgency and need to pray. I have prayed recently that the Lord would teach me how to pray. It’s an area I would probably have boasted about a month ago—an area in which I have felt much pride. But the Lord never lets us revel too long in our pride, and I have been humbled lately by how overwhelmed I have been with life—at how hard it has been to pray. So I prayed a few weeks back very specifically: Lord, teach me how to pray. Among other things, He brought me to a book called A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller.
As I literally sit typing, praying that you will continue the prayer challenge with me for Kaden, I feel compelled to encourage you not to be afraid to pray. God calls us to come like little children. That means we don’t have to be perfect in our prayers. That means it’s okay if you don’t pray at exactly the same time every morning, or if you forget one morning to pray altogether, or if you don’t know what to say and you just sit in silence asking the Lord to hear your heart cry out for Kaden. No matter where you are at in your prayer life—whether your prayers sound like a seasoned preacher or like a little child--God wants to hear from you.
Miller says, “This is the gospel, the welcoming heart of God. God also cheers when we come to him with our wobbling, unsteady prayers. Jesus does not say, “Come to me, all you who have learned how to concentrate in prayer, whose minds no longer wander, and I will give rest.” No, Jesus opens his arms to his needy children and says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28, NASB). The criteria for coming to Jesus is weariness. Come overwhelmed with life. Come with your wandering mind. Come messy.”
Come messy. We are all a mess, aren’t we? So let’s go to God, mess and all, and beg for mercy for this little boy. As the song so rightly puts,
"There is power in the name of Jesus... ."
THERE IS POWER IN PRAYER!
Our prayers don’t have to be perfect—they just need to come with a genuine belief in the great Father who gave his only Son that we, who are sinners, might have eternal life.
A God that good may not answer the prayers exactly as we want them to be answered, but He will answer in His good and perfect will.
May we continue to come to Jesus like little children—for this little child.
