Dig Deep

In September my youngest son, Eric, celebrated his sixteenth birthday; two days later he was in the intensive care unit at our hospital. On Sunday, the day before he was admitted, we had taken him to the emergency room with a severe infection in his jaw which had caused the left side of his face to blow up like a balloon.

Early Monday morning he had a severe reaction to the medication the ER doctor had prescribed and so I took him to his pediatrician's office. The doctor on duty at the satellite office of our group of pediatricians took one look at Eric, asked a few questions, and decided my poor puff-ball of a son needed to be hospitalized.

Eric was so sick that I left him in the examination room while I ran home to pick up a few things before we drove to the hospital ten miles away. When I got into the car I bowed my head and prayed for Eric's healing, but also that he would be able to endure the shots I knew would be waiting for him once he was admitted. Unfortunately, Eric had an extreme fear of shots that turned routine inoculations, dental work,and yearly blood work from simple procedures into major ordeals. This had been going on for years and, in the months prior to the infection, Eric had been going through shot desensitization with a counselor. Thus, my prayer was that Eric would finally face shots without any fear.

Well, we got to the hospital, he didn't want shots, and I intervened when I realized that Panic had, once again, scored a victory. Although the nursing staff had been forewarned of  Eric's fear, they had not realized how severe it was. Upon my request they called another doctor from our main pediatrician's office (which, thankfully, was located in the hospital) who was more familiar with Eric and had actually been part of the shot desensitization process with him. Eric, to this day, loves and trusts this doctor and eventually Dr. T was able to administer the necessary shots to my ailing son; an answer to my prayers.

Dr. T soothed Eric enough that the sick teen was able to dig deep and calmly receive the shots. Eric quietly asked for "updates" as the doctor worked his magic. "Are you almost done?" Eric inquired on several occasions. At one point, while Eric squeezed his dad's hand and I rubbed his swollen face, I saw Eric's eyes roll back in head. Poor thing, he was doing everything he could to steal that victory from his old nemesis Panic. When it was all over Eric had dug deep and proudly handed Panic a searing defeat.

Practical Christianity often requires us to dig deep. Saints throughout the ages have had to dig deep to profess their faith...sometimes unto to death. Missionaries dig deep to endure hostile and/or uncomfortable circumstances to evangelize the world. And believers all over the world dig deep every day to be obedient to God, sensitive to the Spirit, and forgive others. The list goes on, but sometimes it takes the deepest digging to accomplish the most basic things like forgiving a family member or being kind to a rascally person.

Several years ago I didn't like the principal at my son's elementary school. It's a long story, but suffice it to say, we were always at odds. On one occasion, I was trying to implement an "awards" system at the school that recognized the children for meaningful accomplishments instead of ridiculous things such as "being nice to 'So-and-So' and putting a happy note in her mail cubby when she was having a bad day." The school's awards were so silly that even the students thought they were a joke.

Unfortunately, on one of my least gracious days I told the principal that my family filed the silly awards "in the trashcan!" The next day, I was convicted of my lousy attitude and ungracious words and had to apologize. I had to dig deep for that one! I apologized for my delivery but not my message and, although my eyes were not rolling back in my head, I did have to fight the urge to "roll my eyes" during the apology process.

I will never forget the principal's response..."It's nice to run into someone who not only talks the talk, but walks the walk." When I heard those words, I was so glad I hadn't rolled my eyes. Although this gentleman and I never did see eye-to-eye, there was a sense of mutual respect that lived beyond that moment when I decided to dig deep.

Is there an area of your life that you need to dig deep in order to find success? I encourage you to go to the Bible and pull out your spiritual shovel and go for it! The Bible is full of stories of average people who accomplished mighty things by digging deep...Moses, the prophets, Paul, and best of all, Jesus. Pick a story and be inspired to dig. If Eric can get shots for healing and I can apologize without rolling my eyes, I know you can accomplish great things too. So, Dig Deep!

 

(c)2009 Shona Neff

Comments

[Julie Arduini]

Shona,
This was just perfect for me to read today. My son has similar issues (no where near as severe but the fear factor for such things is there) and this week, starting back to school, fear just choked him this week. We kept praying he'd choose victory over defeat and in one choice, he big time chose defeat. Your article really helped me. In order to pray him to victory, I need to dig deep as well! Keep up the awesome work!