*NEW* Update at the end of this post!I love it when God gives me one of the those ever appreciated slaps upside the head! I got one yesterday, and although I know I will likely need a reminder again, I sure hope that I've learned my lesson this time. It's pretty incredible that God chose to give me a miraculous answer to prayer in order to teach me this particular lesson. When will I ever learn to just trust Him, and stop relying on my own (failing) knowledge?!
As you may have gathered, if you read my blog regularly, James is not exactly a champion night sleeper. Over the past few months his nights have seemingly gone from okay, to not great, to pretty bad. We were feeling pretty tired, and it's been taking a toll on us emotionally, physically, socially... and for me, spiritually. This sleep-deprivation problem became magnified this week as James came down with a bad cold, began teething hard core, crawling, etc. I don't believe I got more than about 3 hours of (unrestful) sleep over the last week. We were both, to term, absolutely exhausted - almost to the brink and teetering on complete melt down. This is NOT a good state for any parent to be in at all. I kept praying for sleep, and each night I would crawl into bed with dread in my heart for the up-coming night. Anxiety would keep me from falling into sleep, and before long James was awake and crying - and the night adventures of sleeplessness would begin again.
Yesterday afternoon I went on a walk with my amazing neighbour and friend Rebekah, and she prayed with me about the problem. I felt slightly lighter as I made my way home, and just asked God to help me make Him a part of the rest of my day. As I walked through the yard, I decided that I would eliminate ALL medications for James that day. I would also make sure he didn't get any other sources of sugar. I had sort of figured lately that the meds were making him hyper, and he had also been getting a lot of unauthorized sweet treats from grandparents lately too.
Around 8:00pm I began to get that lump in my throat as the dread of the night started to sneak into my soul. Aloud I told Satan to stop attacking my mind, and immediately I felt that I needed to go to James' room. I stepped into his room, and almost felt the hand of God Himself push me to my knees. I sat on the floor and weeped, and asked God to be present in that room. Again, I asked God out loud to get rid of all evil in that room. I prayed and quoted Scripture over James' crib, asking God to make it free of sickness, fear, and insecurity. I asked that his room be filled with the peace of God, and angels of protection. I prayed in his room for about 45 minutes, and was left with a four-word phrase that I had heard many years ago - "Fully Rely On God". You may remember the days of W.W.J.D., and one of these such phrases was F.R.O.G. I went to bed, and had continuous urges to feel anxiety, but I would say to myself "fully rely on God, fully rely on God". I fought Satan's attacks on my mind, and with God's help, I fell into a GOOD sleep and decided to let God be in charge of the night.
I woke up around midnight to a silent house. Before I had a chance to fret, the phrase came into my head "fully rely on God". I stopped my negative thoughts, chastized Satan for tempting me to worry, and went back to sleep. I woke again at 2:00am, to a silent house! I went back to sleep. Finally, at 3:00am I actually awoke to James' soft crying - but Ryan was on his way in with a bottle. James was quiet within minutes, and back to sleep quickly. I fell back to sleep. My next awakening was at 6:50am, when James woke up for the day. He played happily in his crib until 7:15am, when I went in to get him and brought him into our bed to play.
PRAISE BE TO GOD - THE HEALER, THE MIRACLE MAKER, THE CREATOR - MY SAVIOUR!
I can only hope and pray that we continue to improve our sleep, and James' nights. I am going to do the same thing again tonight, and just hand over this problem to God. Please pray that I will not be discouraged even if tonight does not go well. I hope I've encouraged you today to F.R.O.G. It worked for me!
UPDATE: Once again, I prayed over James' room last night. James went to bed at 8:30pm, and woke up at 11:00pm for a bottle. He had a little bit of a tough time getting back to sleep, but finally was asleep by 12:00am. He slept until 6:00am, and then was up on-and-off until about 6:45am. I caved in at that time and went to get him. All in all, a pretty good night once again! A bit of an early morning, but oh well!
8 comments :
Heather, your post brought tears to my eyes! I remember doing the SAME THING a couple months back...I thought Annika was coming down with something, teething, etc...but what I truly believe happened was that our household was under a serious attack from Satan, and I PUSHED him out (like you did) of our home and told him that he has NO hold over me, Annika or Rusty! PRAISE GOD! You WILL have better nights with God watching over...
This brought tears to my eyes too! I think in the blur of no sleep we forget that we need to rely on God! He can do anything...and helping our babies sleep through the night is a small task for Him but He cares about it! God has been speaking to me too about praying for my babies more and now you have confirmed it! Praise The Lord!
I feel led to share this. I am reading a book on prayer right now and just want to encourage you with a tidbit...
Don't give up, don't let any cries or "what seems to be a 'nonfruitful prayer'" to discourage you. God is faithful, and listening to you.
These are the times that really truly develop your perseverance and character as a woman of faith.
Blessings on this journey of faith....I also will commit to praying for you as God leads.
Oh Heather, I love you too! :0) I am so glad God met you in this process. I totally am convinced that many sleepless nights could be due to the Enemy at work. I am glad God moved you to pray. I am also glad that I have a friend nearby who wants more of Jesus and hopefully we can encourage eachother in that. Did you get my emails?
How incredible is GOd!! I think it's hard as a mom to remember that God cares about those things too, not just the 'life and death' things, although, with no sleep it really starts to feel like life and death!
I don't know why I didn't think of this, but I remember Rowan having sleep issues too, when I gave him infant Dimetapp or Tylenol. I always thought it was supposed to help them sleep BETTER when they are sick, but it did the opposite for him. Some kids are just more affected by meds than others I guess. Good for you for trying what you thought was best! It's hard to make those decisions, with constant thoughts of 'what if I'm wrong'. Be encouraged today, that God really does care about James' sleeping!
Why do we keep thinking God doesn't care or won't hear us if we cling to Him in all of our worries and anxieties of our children. First of all,they are HIS children why won't He care?! He does care and He wants us to pray over them with every little and big step they do make. He is the HEALER!! Yes, we do need a shake every now and then Thank you for the challenge.
that's awesome Heather!
and last nite - when i was frustrated with Kamryn - i remembered your post and i prayed over Kamryn's room. something i really, really want to remember to do more often.
i love you.
I am so glad that God answered your prayer like this! I have had a few nights that I have prayed over Rhys and his room, our house and my husband and I as well. It is hard to remember when you are tired that that is how Satan wants you to stay - exhausted, emotional and at the end of your rope, so of course the bad nights are going to continue. Thank Gor that He doesn't want that for us and is so much bigger and more powerful!
Post a Comment