Music Monday: “For the Good” by Riley Clemmons
by: Debbie
This week didn’t turn out exactly as I planned. As many of you know, I am gearing up to attend a friend’s wedding later this week; that being said, I am still looking for guest writers to blog during my absence. Unfortunately, I haven’t got many responses. Also, my dad is not feeling well, so things are up in the air now. Here’s hoping things get better; I look forward to seeing some of my college friends.
Still, it’s all in God’s hands- I am trying to remember that.
Learning from the Past
God has always been faithful to me in the past; there’s no reason He would stop now. This reminds me of a story I love to tell about God’s faithfulness. As many of you know, CP (cerebral palsy ) causes stiffness and muscle spasms throughout the body; for a while, we controlled that by an intrathecal pump (underneath the skin) that pumped medicine directly into my spine. The pump worked well for several years, except for the annoyance of having to get it refilled monthly; this meant getting poked by a needle in the stomach once a month.
The treatment had its cons, though. After a while, I began feeling depressed; although the doctors could not link the side effects to the pump, I was positive I didn’t feel like myself. But I was determined to work through it and try to make the best out of this situation, believing it would get better.
Several years went by, and there was little change. Finally, I asked doctors to change the dosage monthly to see if that would make a difference. Unfortunately, it did little good. As a result, I began taking anti-anxiety medication.
During this time, I was doing my best to maintain good grades and putting on a brave face for friends and family. However, it was a difficult time trying to balance my independence and trying to find appropriate personal care. As explained in previous blogs, I used agencies for personal care during the week and spent the weekends with family.
Our experience with agencies has been hit or miss. We either got personal care assistants with little to no experience, and my mom and I trained them, or we interviewed people who did not want the job because of the few hours. Despite the personal hands-on training, the personal assistants did not always follow instructions.
I then developed a sore on my tailbone; those who know about these are very difficult to heal and recover. Over the next few months, I did whatever I could to help it heal, including tilting my chair back for 45 minutes every hour or spending more time in bed. You can imagine what this did to my social life, etc.
Finally, one morning, I woke up with a terrible backache. I went to the doctor, and she recommended I go to the hospital immediately. I had developed a temperature, and my back was bright red and inflamed. Long story short, I spend a month in the hospital, trying to heal that infection and figure out where it is coming from. It finally takes a doctor ionizing my blood and putting it back in my system to realize that the blood goes to the middle of my back and where my pump is. Then doctors determined I must undergo emergency surgery to remove the infected screws from my back and pump.
Despite getting rid of most of the infection, doctors soon realized I would need a second surgery after regaining my energy from the first one.
God’s Intercession
Why am I telling you this?
I am trying to illustrate God’s ability to make masterpieces from life’s little messes. It doesn’t mean that things will automatically go our way and work perfectly. Instead, God knows our deepest desires and only wants the best for his children. Case in point: I never thought it would take surgery to get me living my best life again.
As it tells us in Romans 8 -26-28, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
My point is this: God’s intercession does not always look so cut and dry. Not only did the surgery got me and up feeling better quickly. But once I got the pump taken out, I immediately started laughing again, proving that the medication was affecting my emotions and personality. Taking oral medicines now reduces my “brain fog” and allows me to interact with the world again. It also reminded me of the importance of listening to your body and acting accordingly.
Today’s song, “For The Good” by Riley Clemmons, reminds us that God is with us no matter what may come in our lives, and he can turn anything around. It is important to note that God’s plan doesn’t always look like ours; remember what it says in Isaiah 55:9 (NIV):
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”