What Mother’s Day Means to Me
By Lenny Josef
You’ll probably think, okay Mother’s Day- just another day for mothers. Well, for me- it is more than just a day for me being a mother. It is a day I have to reflect back 7 years ago when I planned to dedicate our youngest son to the Lord. It should have been an exciting day! A day that the Lord has made for us to thank the Lord for another child that He has entrusted to us BUT that did not happen on that day.
Seven years ago our son (Ray) became sick and gradually became lethargic and weak. We brought him to the emergency room but the ER doctor misdiagnosed him and advised us to take him home and give him Tylenol every four hours. As a mother, we take heed of the advice of the physician; however, early the morning of Mother’s day of 1993 Ray started having seizure activities. We brought him back to the hospital and sure enough after a few minutes doctors are panicking and rushing our son to the intensive care unit. Ray was 5 months old at this time, he lost all motor control and a pediatric neurologist gave us 70/30 chance of survival and said if he does survive “he will have brain damage.”
At that time, I never thought that I could cry as hard as I can for my son. It was a cry that I could not even describe until now. But I knew that my God is watching every tear that’s falling out of my eyes. My husband and I prayed and asked the Lord to give us strength to handle whatever His will is for our son. Every time they allowed us to be with our son- we laid our hands on him and prayed. Five days finally went by, and Ray was stable and was moved to a regular private room, but not allowed to go home yet. We knew that people from our church were praying for us. On our seventh day at the hospital, while we were praying together with our daughter- the Lord spoke to us and assured us that our son would be all right, and that every report that the doctor gave to us, God would do the opposite and Ray would be smart and would excel in everything that he would do. God assured us that he would grow up as a living testimony for the Lord for people to see how good and great our God is. God led us to His word. In “whose report are we going to believe?” The next day Ray was ready for discharge. And we have to confess every single day of our life we believe in the report of the Lord.
Since then, our son started getting better. He totally recovered from all the complications of meningitis. He is now 7 years old, and in the first grade and excelling in school, walking and talking like other kids are and most of all loves the Lord and has been a testimony for the goodness and greatness of our Lord.
Mother’s day is not just another day for me; IT IS A DAY TO THANK THE LORD FOR HIS GOODNESS AND FAITHFULNESS. HE NEVER LEFT US NOR FORSAKE US especially those times when we needed HIM most. GOD CARRIES US THROUGH BOTH IN GOOD TIMES AND IN TOUGH TIMES FOR HE CARES!
To God be the glory, great things He has done. |
