Amy's 'momentary trouble'

Saturday is the only day in which I can sleep late, but even that doesn’t seem to be happening lately as something ALWAYS comes up; either the kids wake me up asking if I could run and get some doughnuts for breakfast or I have to run one of them somewhere or run some sort of errand. The one was no different, but it was just the start of a very long day of running here and there. Of course, I had to get up and run to get doughnuts and because someone (who shall remain nameless, but her initials are AMY HOWARD) doesn’t like our town bakery, I had to run to two separate places to retrieve our breakfast fare, not that I truly mind. Later I had to run to two grocery stores (one for bread and milk and the other for fruit – Sales…you run to two or three places to save a dollar and you end up burning four dollars in gas! Yeah, that’s savings!), our local butcher for some meat, ran Trevor over to the baseball diamond and then took the girls to Wal-Mart. Hope was at Wal-Mart the other day with my sister when she (get this) ‘spotted’ a pair of shoes that she needed to have. Now, please remember that Hope is 5…most 5 year old girls want to shop for dolls or books or maybe a jump rope. Not Hope, she spotted these red, high healed sandals that she wanted to spend her own money on. We got home just in time for Brittany to grab her books and a little something to eat before I had to run her over to Portage where she’s taking Drivers Ed. Britt wasn’t able to take it in Baraboo because her class schedule left no room for it. So, while waiting for her (2 hours), I run and get a car charger for my cell phone because the battery is quickly dying and I’m on call this weekend, I run over to McDonalds and grab lunch, then head back to the place she’s taking her class and wait. I listened to some music, played some electronic Yahtzee and spent some time in prayer. So, finally at 5:00pm I made it back home!

Amy was very tired today and spent a good share of the day resting and napping. She still deals with bouts of pain; most minor, some intense. To demonstrate how strong she really is, she said to me the other day, ‘Vince, I am so sick of letting this (pain) control my life. I am beginning to think that I just need to get up, get out and push/work through the pain.’ I told her find and good, but start with baby steps, don’t over do and if you find that you’re too tired, don’t get discouraged.

Dear heavenly Father, you are the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Above you there is no other. You are the one true God who is worthy to receive honor and glory and all of our praise. Thank you for being the loving and caring God that you are and that your wisdom, strength and mercy, being far greater than mine, you so generously lavish on those who love you. I pray now for Amy Lord, I lift her up to You who knew her before her first breath, who knitted her together in her mothers womb and who knows the very number of hairs on her head. We know Amy Lord, but You know her heart, You know her soul. I pray Lord that out of Your glorious riches You may strengthen her with power through your Holy Spirit in her inner being and I pray that she, being rooted and established in Your love, may have power and strength and rest and health so that all can grasp how wide and long and high and deep is Your love for Amy and all of Your children. Now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or can even imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.

Romans 8:31, 32, 35, 37-39
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare even His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is Amy's story as seen and told by me - V