"Would you skip a day of dialysis for Samuel?" I heard it loud and clear. I was asleep and all of a sudden I was aware of this conversation happening.
"Of course I wouldn't." My mind immediately answered.
"Then why do you skip days of reading the Word?" was the response, and then the voice was gone.
It was still dark, and I guessed it to be around four in the morning. I was sleeping beside my daughter, as I was too tired to go up and down the stairs again tonight when either his dialysis machine beeped (asking for me to reposition him), or her glucose sensor alarm went off (alerting me her blood sugar was either too high or too low).
I knew that it was the Lord that had just entered the room of my thoughts. There are times like these when I know His voice. It's direct. Clear. Wise; concepts that immediately make sense, but that I know I did not think, because after it's gone, I am still trying to reason, or process, what was just said.
This was the case here. My mind started to understand.
What would happen if I skipped a day of dialysis for my son? His body would start to work less efficiently because the toxins in his bloodstream would become too much. It would not happen immediately, but there would be a gradual decline in how he feels.
How was the Word of God like a Dialysis Machine? I knew the response was that the Bible is like the bags of solution we use.
Each night, for nearly a year, my son has been on Peritoneal Dialysis. It is my understanding that the fluid is pumped into his peritoneal cavity (imagine your abs area) in what are called cycles. Then the fluid remains there for a period of time; in his case over an hour per cycle. The solution has been prepared with specific elements that are used to stimulate the transferring of the toxic waste in the body to itself. After a period of time, the dialysis machine switches the direction of flow and now draws back out the fluid that is now containing those impurities. Then, it repeats this process multiple times (known as cycles); sending in the fresh solution that has the properties needed to draw out the impurities from the body. At the very last cycle, it sends in a fraction of the new solution to remain doing its' job in the peritoneal cavity the entire day until the next time he is reconnected to the Dialysis machine.
Apparently, the Lord was pointing out to me that the impurities I consume intentionally, or absorb unintentionally, on this earth (physically, emotionally, spiritually) are toxic to my spiritual body, and His Word (which is His voice) is what will fill my Spirit with the elements needed to draw out the impure things and help me to continue living with the fruits of His Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. (That last sentence was a new thought He just gave me as I now record this story.)
As I write this, I realize this was not just for me to read my Bible every day no matter what, but that He is guiding me as a parent to have my children do the same. It should not be an option.
Yesterday, I just spent over an hour trying to teach my teen daughters about our internal good and bad selves, and that we must practice denying the desires of the "mean" self in order to shut that down; instead, force ourselves to practice walking in the ways of the Word that builds up our "good godly" self. This will be the path to becoming more of who we want each other to be, as well as who God wants us to be as His light in the world. I even talked about a strategy to stop and re-do the moments as they become self-aware of that old pattern of behavior; to humbly correct it right there, or to immediately leave the situation and go to their room until the power of their ill-emotions simmers down and is gone.
However, it now occurs to me, that I based my conversation with them solely on will-power and did not include the ever obvious concept that we must feed our Spirit from the Word of God DAILY in order to maintain clothed with His Spirit and be able to more easily access the fruits of His Spirit.
As I laid in the dark trying to commit to memory what lesson I just received from the Lord, I kept hearing myself think, "It is a matter of life and death."
I reasoned that skipping one night of Dialysis would not cause immediate death. But, in my awake state of mind, I think what the Lord was telling me was that over time, when we neglect the daily habit of reading His Word, we are choosing death (even if just circumstantially) instead of the life He gave to give us ours.
Here is a plan if you have read this and are ready to make a commitment to read your Bible every day. https://bibleplan.org/
"Of course I wouldn't." My mind immediately answered.
"Then why do you skip days of reading the Word?" was the response, and then the voice was gone.
It was still dark, and I guessed it to be around four in the morning. I was sleeping beside my daughter, as I was too tired to go up and down the stairs again tonight when either his dialysis machine beeped (asking for me to reposition him), or her glucose sensor alarm went off (alerting me her blood sugar was either too high or too low).
I knew that it was the Lord that had just entered the room of my thoughts. There are times like these when I know His voice. It's direct. Clear. Wise; concepts that immediately make sense, but that I know I did not think, because after it's gone, I am still trying to reason, or process, what was just said.
This was the case here. My mind started to understand.
What would happen if I skipped a day of dialysis for my son? His body would start to work less efficiently because the toxins in his bloodstream would become too much. It would not happen immediately, but there would be a gradual decline in how he feels.
How was the Word of God like a Dialysis Machine? I knew the response was that the Bible is like the bags of solution we use.
Each night, for nearly a year, my son has been on Peritoneal Dialysis. It is my understanding that the fluid is pumped into his peritoneal cavity (imagine your abs area) in what are called cycles. Then the fluid remains there for a period of time; in his case over an hour per cycle. The solution has been prepared with specific elements that are used to stimulate the transferring of the toxic waste in the body to itself. After a period of time, the dialysis machine switches the direction of flow and now draws back out the fluid that is now containing those impurities. Then, it repeats this process multiple times (known as cycles); sending in the fresh solution that has the properties needed to draw out the impurities from the body. At the very last cycle, it sends in a fraction of the new solution to remain doing its' job in the peritoneal cavity the entire day until the next time he is reconnected to the Dialysis machine.
Apparently, the Lord was pointing out to me that the impurities I consume intentionally, or absorb unintentionally, on this earth (physically, emotionally, spiritually) are toxic to my spiritual body, and His Word (which is His voice) is what will fill my Spirit with the elements needed to draw out the impure things and help me to continue living with the fruits of His Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. (That last sentence was a new thought He just gave me as I now record this story.)
As I write this, I realize this was not just for me to read my Bible every day no matter what, but that He is guiding me as a parent to have my children do the same. It should not be an option.
Yesterday, I just spent over an hour trying to teach my teen daughters about our internal good and bad selves, and that we must practice denying the desires of the "mean" self in order to shut that down; instead, force ourselves to practice walking in the ways of the Word that builds up our "good godly" self. This will be the path to becoming more of who we want each other to be, as well as who God wants us to be as His light in the world. I even talked about a strategy to stop and re-do the moments as they become self-aware of that old pattern of behavior; to humbly correct it right there, or to immediately leave the situation and go to their room until the power of their ill-emotions simmers down and is gone.
However, it now occurs to me, that I based my conversation with them solely on will-power and did not include the ever obvious concept that we must feed our Spirit from the Word of God DAILY in order to maintain clothed with His Spirit and be able to more easily access the fruits of His Spirit.
As I laid in the dark trying to commit to memory what lesson I just received from the Lord, I kept hearing myself think, "It is a matter of life and death."
I reasoned that skipping one night of Dialysis would not cause immediate death. But, in my awake state of mind, I think what the Lord was telling me was that over time, when we neglect the daily habit of reading His Word, we are choosing death (even if just circumstantially) instead of the life He gave to give us ours.
Here is a plan if you have read this and are ready to make a commitment to read your Bible every day. https://bibleplan.org/
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