May 6 , 2012 was a Sunday morning at the beginning of yet another journey of prayer for our family . Just before our church congregation was gathering for the first service my wife , Theresa , drove herself to the hospital to be checked out . She was just a little over 34 weeks pregnant with our fifth child and was experiencing some discharge . We decided I would stay at home with our other four children and anxiously awaited to hear her report .
Many of you know me as our Culinary Services Director at Calvary Church . Many of you also know that two of our five children have a rare genetic disorder that manifests itself very uniquely to each that are affected by it . Our oldest with CHARGE Syndrome will be 16 years old this summer and Isaac will be five in May .
I want to share with you an answered prayer that began that morning of May 6 as our congregation prayed for our soon to be born Isaac . Theresa was actually in labor and , ready or not , Isaac was going to be born six weeks early . Gone were the plans to have Isaac born in Ann Arbor at U of M Hospital with a specially chosen team of doctors who were ready to address each of Isaac ’ s “ known ” anomalies . Much like the birth of Matthew we were faced with many decisions that morning … Airlift mom and baby to U of M ? Airlift baby right after birth ? As our congregation prayed the team that was on call for that morning at DeVos Children ’ s Hospital was Theresa ’ s primary “ high risk ” doctor … and , the neonatologist just “ happened ” to be the same one that received Matthew at Devos ten years before ! We were in good hands despite our fears .
Isaac spent three months in the NICU and over the past five years with Isaac and nearly 16 years with Matthew we have been through many prayer journeys . Isaac has had somewhere around 40 sedated surgeries , procedures or tests ( with more coming in the near future ). He has been medically fragile from day one . He requires 24-hour care which we cover during the day and have a nurse in our home at night so we can sleep . Because of this arrangement we have to have a well-orchestrated plan to be able to do anything outside the walls of our home … often a plan to attend an event for our children , appointments , etc . needs to be planned months in advance to assure nursing care for Isaac and / or a trained caregiver for Matthew . The alternate plan is to always have Theresa or myself at home while the other leaves .
Between Matthew and Isaac we have requested and have been bathed in prayer for each step . We know that God answers prayer with one of three answers … Yes , No , and in His time . As Charles Spurgeon wrote , “ If you believe in prayer at all , expect God to hear you . If you do not expect , you will not have . God will not hear you unless you believe He will hear you ; but if you believe He will , He will be as good as your faith .”
One constant prayer we have had since Isaac was born was to be able to worship as a family once again . Since Isaac was born in 2012 we have had to worship separately , in shifts or via the online service . Isaac has just been too medically fragile and Matthew requires trained supervision as well . Over the past year we have seen God work in wonderful ways with Isaac ’ s health and with Matthew ’ s behavior challenges .
Through a coordinated effort with Calvary ’ s Special Needs Ministry , on January 22 all seven of us attended services together as a family for the first time in four and a half years . “ Welcome Home ” has never sounded or felt so good . Sometimes God answers our prayer in his perfect timing … even though that timing doesn ’ t make sense or may take many years to come about . I know it was no coincidence that one of the songs we sang that morning was “ 10,000 Reasons ” by Matt Redman . It was
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