http://youtu.be/J0QWAmxcRtw - Finally Home - Mercy Me
http://youtu.be/I3tipjZzVOo - the boy who came back from heaven
If we really knew how wonderful heaven is, I think we would look forward to the day when Jesus calls us Home instead of fearing death. Until God decides it's time, I want to live each moment of my life bringing Him glory. But when I've done what He has for me to do, I'm ready to go Home. I'm not in rush, mind you, but I'm ready to be at Home with Jesus.
http://youtu.be/TK322wVJLNg - I can only imagine - Mercy Me
1 Timothy 4:12
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
I just finished reading "The boy who came back from heaven" and couldn't help but think of Jessica Boone. Just like Alex, Jessie has been a living testimony to God's faithful through adversity.
Alex Malarkey was only 6 when a terrible auto accident left him in a coma for 2 months. Alex was essentially internally decapitated. His spine was complete severed from his skull. People don't generally survive that kind of traumatic injury. But God had a purpose for Alex.
When Jessica Boone hit the tree while snow skiing, her injuries were traumatic and no one expected her to live. At least no medical personnel. But her family prayed and believed in a God with whom nothing is impossible. And Jessica came back from that accident in amazing ways. She continues to improve every day.
If Alex Malarkey hadn't been in that accident, if his dad hadn't written a book about Alex's encounter with Jesus, he wouldn't have impacted the lives of so many people. He might not have had an opportunity to share how faithful Christ is without this platform of suffering and struggles. He loves life but longs for Home. Oh, I want my children to love Jesus so much that they, too, look forward to going Home when God calls them.
The same is true with Jessie Boone. Because she endured a terrible accident and long recovery, her mom has been able to share an incredible testimony of faith - her own faith and Jessica's faith. God took something so horrible and used it for good. I dare say no one can follow Lisa's Care Page posts
without having their faith renewed.
Jessica and Alex are exceptional young people. They bring the verse to life - "remember your creator in the days of your youth ". Jessie and Alex prove no one is too young to teach others about Jesus. I love the New Living Translation of this passage:
Ecclesiastes 12
1 Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.” 2 Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky. 3 Remember him before your legs—the guards of your house—start to tremble; and before your shoulders—the strong men—stoop. Remember him before your teeth—your few remaining servants—stop grinding; and before your eyes—the women looking through the windows—see dimly.
4 Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint.
5 Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caper berry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.
6 Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. 7 For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Alex and Jessica knew Jesus before their accidents. They both were believers who trusted in the One who is their Savior. What a precious gift their parents gave them! Both Alex and Jessie have leaned on Christ during incredibly difficult, painful times and their faith has not wavered. They're just children but they have a faith that is so much stronger than many of us.
Alex was an active, competitive little boy. He loved sports and adventures... Jessie was an athlete and very involved in school and church. She had lots of friends and was full of life. They lost so much, yet neither Alex nor Jessica dwell on what they can't do. They continue to praise God and point others to Him.
God forbid! but what if an accident left one of our children in the same condition as Alex or Jessie? Have we taught our children how to trust in God through all circumstances? Are they living their lives with Christ as the foundation of everything they think, say or do? Are our children dreaming of their real home in heaven, or have we taught them that things of this earth are most important?
I've learned so much from reading Alex's and Jessica's stories. I don't want to set the things I'm learning from them aside and go about my life without making changes that I need to make. I want to "pray without ceasing" like Alex says.
"Daddy, I'm always in prayer because part of my brain, through the Holy Spirit, is in constant communication with Heaven. My mouth is for talking to people." - Alex Malarkey
We have to equip our children before they experience suffering or hardship of any kind. We have to give them the gift of Faith so that they know where to turn when bad things happen because bad things will happen.
One particularly disturbing thing in the book was when Alex shared that while he was in the car after the accident, he was complete paralyzed and unable to even breathe, the Enemy came to him and told little 6 year old Alex that his dad was dead and it was his fault! Can you imagine someone so evil, so cruel who would tell a little boy who appeared to be dying, that the accident was all his fault and that his daddy was dead because of something he did? That is who we are fighting. That is who our Enemy is.
Thankfully, Alex knew Jesus and the ministering angels lifted his spirit out of that car. But this scene made me wonder how many times the Enemy whispers to my children words of defeat, inferiority, discouragement, hopeless... How many children have tried to kill themselves because the Enemy got them to believe his lies? We must prepare our children to face the Enemy with the mighty Power of Heaven. We have to teach them to call on the Name Jesus when they are attacked.
Even after the accident, when Alex was surviving against all expectations of the doctors, the Enemy would visit him and spew lies. It scared Alex very much. But then a faithful prayer warrior taught Alex how to shut the devil up by calling on the name of Jesus. God tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from us.
James 4:7-8
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
How do we resist the devil? If we are Christians, if we have died with Christ and been raised to a new life in Him, we can call on our Savior whenever we feel threatened by the Enemy. Jesus has already defeated him and we belong to Christ alone. His voice is all we need to hear and believe.
Colossians 2
6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
8 Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. 9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross...
20 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world.
Jesus defeated the Enemy - the spiritual powers and authorities of this earth. He did that for us so that we no longer are subject to their evil. We don't have to fall to our human nature. Jesus gave us power over our human nature by His death.
We have to learn to call on the Name of Jesus who has already fought the battle against the enemy. He is our Defender and Protector. He set us free from the spiritual powers of this world when we died with Him.
Do we teach our kids to trust Jesus when the Enemy lies to them? Do we pray that God will send His ministering angels to protect our children from the evil powers of this world? Or do we pray for physical things that don't matter from an eternal perspective?
Alex and Jessica don't have the lives that they anticipated. They've lost so much from a human perspective, but what God has done for them is so much more valuable than material blessing He might provide on this earth. We parents try to provide the best education we can for our kids. We put them in all kinds of athletic programs to teach them how to be "the best" in their chosen sports. We give them everything we can physically because we want them to have a great life, a successful future. But are we failing to train our children to put their hopes on things Eternal, things that will not pass away? We need to give our children Faith in the One who holds them in the palm of His loving hands. And the way we do that best is by example.
Alex and Jessica saw their parents putting Christ first in their lives. Do our children see us doing that? It's a lesson I need to learn and to obey. Jesus must be my first priority so that my children will make Him their first priority, too.
Update from Lisa Boone:
March 12, 2012 Monday
The effective fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much. James 5:16 Here we are 24 hrs later with a complete different clinical picture. The Infectious Disease doctor, Dr. Ramgopal made rounds last night on Jessica at 900PM, Sunday night. Gift..gift...gift... After reviewing her case he diagnosed and changed her IV antibiotic for this new resistant organism. Within 6 hours of administration, she began to rest, no longer complained of nausea or severe abdominal pain. The CT scan was negative for any abscesses. Her labs looked a little better this am and her biliary drain being clamped didn't seem to bother her or her lab work today.
This AM she arose and was smiling. She ate breakfast, took a shower, walked the halls, all before noon. They pulled her central line (potential source of infection) and replaced with a PICC line. She had PT which included a full flight of stairs, ate a small lunch, went outside in a wheelchair and got some Vitamin D, then enjoyed a small vanilla milkshake complements of her sis-in-law and even ate a few Reese's pieces.
I knew sometime in the middle of the night the storm was beginning to calm once again. Peace, be still as she began to quieten with her complaints of pain and misery. My heart was quiet and thankful. I also knew the prayers were being lifted for Jessie in so many different ways and places. One precious saint was even driving the streets at midnight just to stay awake so she could pray for her. This took me to the garden when Jesus asked His disciples to stay awake and pray...and they kept falling asleep. They needed a car so they could drive around to stay awake!
Today in Streams in the Desert it talked about the deliverance of the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt. One particular phrase grabbed my heart... "Yet at first it seemed that a strange and almost cruel thing was happening to Israel. It was as if the first deliverance had come only to hand them over to a more certain death." Then it talked about how those stormy winds parted the waters and actually were what ultimately delivered them to the peaceful Land of Promise.. There is gift in the storms...
Then a glimpse of an email from a sister...a deep worshipful moment of "Glorifying Your Name, Father ..."As you await the parting of suffering, so that you can make your exodus from that "hospital hell"...yet she (Jessie) still sings, "Glorify your name, Father..May you be immersed in the eternally worshipping community, as God prepares to the part the sea of suffering with Jesus' Cross and free all to sing His glory again and again and again outside those hospital walls..
To these beautiful words written by yet another saint..."Each evangelist has his own way of telling the Resurrection Story. Each of us has our own resurrection stories to tell and before every resurrection is a Good Friday. If we had a single logical narrative of the events of Jesus' Passion, with all the facts fitting neatly together, all questions answered, why would we need faith? Doubt, darkness, and bewilderment accompany our own experiences of suffering before light and new life break through...(Sister Lenora Black OSB)...
Being busy with her today was such a joy as it wasn't as much trying to comfort and relieve her symptoms instead it was more of a moving forward in recovery with the hopes of going home soon .
To a beautiful YELLOW poster of several children in a class taught by one of Jessie's old gymnastic buddies writing their prayers of love and healing with their pictures that have filled her heart with joy...
To a special visit from a dear Sunday School teacher when Jess was a little one, sharing the prayers of her 4 yr old class...
This evening in Jesus Calling.... "Keep your antennae out to pick up even the faintest glimmer of My Presence".
I have seen Your presence everywhere Father....in the hearts of Your loving people, in the words of Your Holy Scripture, in the openness of the heavens from the 7th floor, to the worshipping music of Glorify Your Name...to the kindness of people, in the prayers, to the warm sunlight on her pale face as she smiled watching 2 boys play catch outside today.....Thank You for the storms that continue to push back the walls of water leaving a path on the deep sea floor covered with His protective love...Thank you that You are leading all of us on this path to that peaceful Promise Land....Thank You for calming this storm and gifting her with some rest. We still have a great distance to travel...but know and are thankful never will we travel this path alone. amen and amen...
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Please continue to pray for Jessie and Alex and all our children, as Alex says, without ceasing.
It's not about me.
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