All You Need Is One

Buzzer in hand, thumb resting on the alert button. The fingers of my other hand are waffled with my deliberately sleep-deprived teenage son’s. The minutes in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit tick on endlessly.

Day one had gone more quickly with settling in, the novelty of watching pediatric floor kid tv, having forty plus leads attached to his scalp, meeting the staff and testing monitoring equipment. After his meds were stopped abruptly to induce seizure activity, we both sat on pins and needles waiting for something to happen.

Who knew sitting and waiting could be so exhausting? I’m usually a night owl, but staying awake until 2:00 am in close quarters and waking up at 6:00 am for the second and third and fourth days in a row made us both more than a little testy. My outdoor loving boy was way past being confined to bed with a sixth floor view of the skyline, a game console that wouldn’t work, and only his mother and a fidget toy to distract him. I was over being polite with his complaints, tired of watching for twitches that didn’t come, and sick to death of Moana, but there we sat, under 24/7 video surveillance. God’s Word was my saving grace.

“I stay awake through the night, thinking about your promise.”

Psalms 119:148 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.119.148.NLT

Looking back, we can laugh a bit at ourselves, but it was one of those hard seasons best glimpsed in the rear view mirror. The end result of that week of scans and testing and the surgeries that followed is an independent young man, mature beyond his almost 24 years. He is married, drives himself to and from work, and is the father of a much anticipated baby girl. Would this season have been more bearable had we been able to see and know what we know now? Maybe. Would we have grown in unimaginable ways through the process of trusting everything to God? Doubtful! I learned during this season that one verse is all you need to hold it together, that God is sovereign over every detail, and He is entirely trustworthy! The Bible teaches that “we live by believing and not by seeing.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

There’s a scene that shows up in several movies that Jacob and I have enjoyed together over the years in which the main character must cross a cavernous space on invisible stepping stones. Each step is perilous but necessary to gain the opposite side. Progress requires believing that solid ground will appear.

“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone.

It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on.

Whoever believes need never be shaken.”

Isaiah 28:16 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.28.16.NLT

Jesus, the chief cornerstone (Psalm 118:22), is the Rock who is rejected by some (I Peter 2:4-8), and over whom some will stumble (Luke 20:18), but firm footing can be found in every situation when I fix my thoughts on Him. Sometimes, all I can manage is His name and in those moments, He is enough. Other times, His Word comes to mind and I hold onto Him by repeating a phrase or a verse again and again.

“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”

Isaiah 26:3 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.26.3.NLT

“We were given this hope when we were saved.

(If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

Romans 8:24-28 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.8.24-28.NLT

Scenes like this, frozen in time, become anchor points for my faith. Believing is seeing and seeing is believing! The psalmist put it this way- “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need.” (Psalms 34:8-9) Faith recognizes Jesus as all I need in every situation. “As a result, I can show others the goodness of God, who called me out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)