Raise Him Up

The car that we parked next to yesterday at the hospital had this sunflower on it’s antenna.  And it made me smile because it just seemed so hopeful, amidst the cloudy skies and the old piles of dirty, melting snow.  As we are walking through this journey in support of our friend Michael, I’m learning just how powerful hope placed right can be.

Today, walking into Michael’s room, we met up with Sally who’s pretty much been by her son’s side non-stop throughout these part three weeks.  She really wanted me to share just how thankful and appreciative she is for everyone’s prayers and for how powerful they are helping Michael with his different needs.

There is a pretty awesome section in James 5, where it talks about the power of prayer.  It starts off in verse 13 saying that prayer (which is simply talking to God) is something we should do all the time.  It specifically goes into how prayer can work healing for those who are sick.  In verse 15 it says that the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well because the Lord will raise him up.  This is something that we have seen many times in Michael’s situation and when I think of all of the different things that we’ve prayed for over the past three weeks and how we’ve seen God answer those prayers, it’s really been something that has truly made a huge impact.

We had a nice visit with Michael today.  He was more tired and didn’t open his eyes, but throughout our time in talking and praying for him, he would squeeze our hands just a bit and that was a great encouragement.

After a quick lunch in the cafeteria, Sally actually came back with us to check on things at home for a bit and also to walk Cody.  To my knowledge, the only other time she’s been home was the day after the accident and only for a few hours.

I was glad that she was able to come back for a bit and even got to take a nice walk with her and Cody.  And if you were wondering, Cody is the Einfeldt’s amazing dog.  He was so happy to see Sally and also to get out for his walk.  We ended up doing a nice mile and it was really nice to get out in the fresh air and get a little exercise in as well.

As far as an update for Michael today, there are many good things to share.  His pressures remain low which is great and so there have been other things that his doctors have worked on.  Yesterday he had a mini surgery that was successful and for that we are thankful.  Today, they also removed his chest tube and that was another step in a good direction.

Most exciting though, was how Michael responded to his Vent.  The attending doctor came in today to lower it to see how Michael would tolerate it.  And PRAISE GOD, we were able to witness Michael being able to breathe on his own on those much lower levels!  Sally explained that this is HUGE.  The part where his brain was injured controls things like breathing, so it’s been unknown how he would respond.  But we praise God that with the vent being lowered, Michael was able to breathe over it and this is a wonderful answer to our prayers!

Tonight, we pray with thanksgiving for these wonderful steps that Michael is taking.  He still has a fever, so we pray that they will successfully find the source of this and that his fever would go away.  We also pray for increased movement and for peace as he continues to come off of the sedation and some of his heavy pain medications.  Thank you so much for your prayers and for faithfully following Michael’s story.  Please continue to share this wonderful news of how God is working and healing our wonderful friend.