26/04/2024
Update: April 26, 2024 (This one is long, but what a great week! I have to share this testimony.)
**Prayer request at the end**
The week started off amazing!! Sunday morning, I awoke to the sound of praise and worship music and commotion downstairs. I immediately was shocked, because I thought it was my niece, who has been staying with us, actually up early for church. As I lied in bed trying to wake fully, I could hear footsteps coming up the stairs, suddenly, my door opens and there stands Jasmine with a huge smile and carrying plates of food. She greeted us with a very enthusiastic, “Good morning, family!” 😁
She was not only dressed and ready for church at 7 AM, but she had even made breakfast!! She has not been able to stand long enough to warm a meal in the microwave w/o passing out, so for her to cook a meal for an entire family, was a blessing!!🙌🏽 Sunday, her spirits remained high, for the first time in a year, she was able to stand the ENTIRE praise & worship set at church and she didn’t pass out! It was such a wonderful feeling as a mom to see my baby praising God and not without incident or limitations!!🙌🏽❤️
She was able to teach youth, which if you know Jasmine, you know she has a heart for kids and truly loves teaching them about the goodness of God! I sat in service, and when Pastor Larry finished his wonderful sermon, I realized I had gotten no texts from her or Geni that she was not feeling the best!
After service she mingled and STOOD around without incident! It was truly a glorious Sunday morning.
Fast forward to the afternoon and following day.
After returning home from church, she did have a mild episode, but after, I had to force her to take a nap, because it is important that she gets a nap daily, especially if she was up early. The rest of the day/night went well, and although she was tired, she was able to eat well that day, so we count it all joy for Sunday!
Monday through Thursday brought its on troubles, as she has had multiple episodes, some followed by extreme confusion and long bouts of crying (which happens when she is post ictal (after a seizure). 😔These were most likely a result of lack sleep, due to early morning appointments and fasting. She had more tests this week, as well as, a dentist appointment to have a crown placed, which resulted in passing out in the dental chair, but thankfully they are super understanding and very patient with her every time she comes in.🤗
Unfortunately, last night she had another episode that left her without speech for a bit and also left her without the ability to move her body from the neck down. Because her wheelchair does not fit upstairs, we waited for about an hour for her to have enough strength to use her walker (affectionately named, Betsy) to get her into bed. She was scheduled for a 4 hour test this morning, but due to the late hour of her finally getting to sleep (after 5 AM), we decided to reschedule.
It’s so easy to start to doubt, especially when you are feeling so amazing one day only to be knocked down the next 5 days! But the joy, the peace, and the faith that Jas holds onto is amazing. Even when she had no speech last night, she still tried to push out the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23 as I spoke them over her. The Bible says, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal,” Isaiah 26:3-4, NIV.
My family and I have witnessed this promise first hand.🙂
The enemy has used this ordeal to try and tear apart our family, my marriage, our faith, our mental stability, and he continues to try and throw darts of fire our way by even attacking Genesis…but God!!🙌🏽🙌🏽 He has been our refuge for strength, and we continue to praise and trust Him, and what the enemy meant to use to harm and tear us apart, has only brought us closer than when this all started (and we were already pretty close)!!
So to the devil we say 😝👊🏽💪🏽🙏🏽!!
So whatever type of day we or anyone of you are having, we encourage you to keep praying, keep fighting, keep praising, because we CAN have “joy in chaos”, we CAN have “peace that makes no sense”!
(Lyrics from Firm Foundation 🎶 https://youtu.be/ulFGXnASE4Q?si=VXZhQEdnVl9ZtaVB )
If you read this far, thank you so much, and as I always say,
“Trust the process. Embrace the journey. And always, trust God! Be blessed and be a blessing.”
*** Side note - Prayer Request ***
This Sunday (April 28th) Jas and I will be returning back to singing on the praise & worship team. We are not naive to think the enemy will not try to stop this from happening, so we ask for your prayers in advance! We are believing for a repeat of this past Sunday!!🙏🏽
