Help! 

When I heard Bobby’s desperate scream from his room, fear shot through my heart. I couldn’t get to him fast enough.

My ten-year-old son had fallen on top of a folding chair which collapsed onto his right thumb and crushed it.

The pain paralyzed Bobby, making it impossible for him to lift himself off the chair. His thumb remained imprisoned in a vise grip.

I rushed to Bobby, snatched him up, and gasped.

What once was a thumb now appeared to be a spatula. A short, flat, bleeding spatula.

His thumbnail — now split down the middle — gushed blood. His flesh pushed through the crack in his nail.

Don’t faint, Jean. And certainly not onto Bobby. 

I staggered to the phone and called my good friend and pediatrician Lynn.

She decoded my plea for help and said, “Jean, you need to calm down. And you need to squeeze his thumb to stop the bleeding.”

Squeeze Bobby’s crushed, bleeding, pain-inflicted thumb? Seriously?

I want a new friend and new pediatrician.

I took a deep breath and followed her orders. And I prayed a desperate prayer.

“Lord, do you see my son? He needs You. Now! Help him, please.”

The bleeding stopped. The pain didn’t. But eventually, Bobby’s thumb healed, and we moved on with our lives.

But that’s not always the case.

When Our Desperate Needs Won’t Go Away

My friend Callie texted me yesterday morning with a plea of desperation.

“Please pray for Elijah. He is in terrible pain this morning. Moaning and crying. Mommy’s heart is breaking.”

I cried for my dear friend and Elijah, her 10-year-old son.

Elijah has a rare — and cruel — immune disorder called Eosinophilic Esophagitis. It causes Elijah debilitating pain. For the past 30 days. Thirty long, excruciating days. 

“Lord, do You see Callie’s son? Do you see Elijah?”

History and God’s Word proves God sees, and He cares.

Our present circumstances sometimes seem to challenge it, but the Truth remains. 

Even if God doesn’t remove our desperate need the moment we pray, He sees and cares. He knows what He’s doing.

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
~Psalm 34:17

Really? God delivers them from all their troubles? What about Elijah? He’s still in pain.

Our rescue doesn’t always come when and how we want. But it comes. God never fails.

As humans, we’re short-sighted. We can’t see the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). We can’t see all the moving — and non-moving — parts.

All we see is the small picture in front of us and what we’ve learned.

And what screams at us. 

As Bobby screamed, I couldn’t see anything but his pain and my plea. I couldn’t see the Lord’s help.

I can’t see Elijah’s help with my physical eyes. But I can see it with my spiritual eyes. His help and his hope are in the Lord.

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
~Psalm 121:2

†

And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.
~Psalm 39:7

Stand on God’s Character

When it seems God isn’t meeting your desperate needs, remember who He is.

Don’t lose sight of God or His unchanging character.

We’ll never understand all His ways or thoughts in this life. But we can always trust them (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Don’t walk away from God in your desperate need.

I know you’re hurt and angry. He knows it, too. He’s OK with raw emotion. Run to Him with it.

You can trust Him. You can trust His character.

This single unchanging truth has held me up when my circumstances threatened to crush me down. It will hold you, too. Don’t let go.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
~ Psalm 34:18

Because we can trust God, we can say as Jesus did as He faced the cross:

Not my will but Yours be done.
~ Luke 22:42

Even if God doesn’t remove our circumstance in the fires of our pain and fear, we can trust in Him.

We can hold on. He will deliver us.

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the LORD.
~Psalm 27:13-14

Elijah’s Story & MercyMe’s Song of Hope “Even If”

I’ve shared a bit of Elijah’s story with you. Now I want you to hear from him. Listen to Elijah speak from his heart. Hear his hope even in the pain of his diagnosis.

And pray for him. Pray for Elijah.

Elijah and MercyMe share a message of hope we all need to hear and remember.

Even If. Even if our we must wait on the Lord, we never wait in vain. 

When our hope is in God, our help is on the way. It will be well with our soul. Amen.

Click the links below to hear from Elijah and listen to MercyMe sing Even If:

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