Paths

For those of you following Michael’s story, I should probably apologize.  These past few weeks have been crazy full with life, youth ministry events and end of the year parties.  In addition to all of that, I’ve been pretty busy with my photography business as well.  Sometimes the changing pace of life catches us off guard, and I’ve certainly felt that way as I’ve worked to adjust to a busier time in our lives this June.

All that being said, I’m so thankful that I had the chance to visit Michael both last Thursday and this past Thursday.  Both visits included fun friends, the first being our amazing Emily Prott.  Emily spent the past five months down in Mexico on a YWAM Discipleship Training.  A few days after she got home, we made plans to go up and visit Michael.  I was able to show her the book that we made for Michael that featured a huge picture of her team and she was excited to see it.  It was also so sweet to see her get to see Michael for the first time.  She and Michael have been great friends and she shared how challenging it was to work through being away when she had wanted to be here for him.  Emily flew out for her DTS the day Michael had his accident.  She was able to share with her team and they spent a lot of time praying for Michael in those early months.

Then a few days ago, Kristin Anderson and I drove up to see Michael.  She’s another close friend of his who met his sister Sarah in Third Grade and so has known Michael for many, many years.  She and I got to have some quality time with Michael when we first got to the Rehab.  He was in between therapies and so we had about 40 minutes to just hang out with Michael and to tell him how much we all loved him.  When Sally came and Michael headed out to therapy, the three of us walked down to catch a beautiful lunch by the Bay.  We ended our time with a hike up through the woods stopping her where a kind stranger took this picture for us.

Both visits with Michael were good, but he has had some struggles this past week.   Many of them have been challenging to figure out, and it’s something that I know Sally was feeling discouraged about.  I talked to her today and she shared the coolest story which happened within another cool story, which I will now share with you.

So Sally shared that much of this week was spent trying to figure out what is causing Michael discomfort which has been leading to neuro-storming.  She shared they even had a meeting with his doctors about it but nothing was really clear.  She said she was determined to figure it out herself, but that it was exhausting.  In addition to trying to work through everything with Michael, Sally’s been working which is great, but tiring too. Finally, she wasn’t able to get much sleep between everything that has been going on.  She headed into work today, to find out that there was a scheduling mishap and they didn’t need her.  So she headed home for a bit to get a few things before driving up to Michael.

She had shared with her friend Donna whose son James is also at rehab about Michael’s Bible and a 5 of hearts playing card that was in it.  She couldn’t remember the name of the Bible or where the card was.  When she got home, the Bible was on her dresser.  It was a Bible that Michael had gotten from NTS Camp (a camp our youth group attends which stands for “Never the Same”).  The Bible was called, “Don’t Climb Alone.”  It emphasizes the importance of doing life together, which was the first encouragement that Sally received.  The next was when she found the card and it was right in Proverbs in chapter 3:5-6.

This was just the verses that Sally needed to hear.  She was so beautifully reminded that God doesn’t want us to try to figure things out on our own, but to trust in Him.  When we do this, God is the one who will direct our paths.  Isn’t this such a beautiful reminder for us all?

The next story I wanted to share came as Sally was telling me this story.  She had also shared that she came home because she had lost on of her her credit cards.  She was looking all over for it.  When she called, and was telling me the story of the playing card in the Bible, all of a sudden the phone cut out.  I could only hear really weird beeps and noises, but not Sally.  Since we couldn’t hear each other, she hung up.  She told me that she thought maybe her cheap phone case was the reason why her reception was bad.  When she pulled the case off, out popped her credit card.  She was so happy to have found it, and happy to have better reception after that as well.

I know that God is working in all of this.  It has been the most challenging time for our Michael and for his family.  But I know that God is working and that we can continue to trust Him.

Sally did share that some of Michael’s storming is getting better.  She shared some encouraging stories of how Michael had responded very clearly and positively with eye blinks during therapy this past week.  His therapists were asking clear questions that would show how much Michael was understanding and he got them all right!  He’s also been more alert and is continuing to work hard in his therapies.  Michael continues to need our prayers for strength and healing but we can continue to know that God is indeed working.

Life is never easy.  But God promises to show us where to go and what paths to take.  Please continue to pray for the Einfeldts.  Pray for God to direct them all through this challenging time.  Pray for peace and rest for this family.  And continue to pray for our Michael and for his recovery.  Thank you so much for sharing in this update!

*another one of Sally’s beautiful sunset shots from Kings Park 🙂