Sabina will turning six in a few weeks! (that's a HUGE blessing!) Her daily seizures have been off and on the last few years, but have ceased to be an everyday occurrence since December of 2013. To date, Sabina's seizures are rare and only happen when she is: 1) either very tired or 2) is coming down with something. Thankfully, we have not had a number 2 in a very long time. Albeit a bout with UTI in September of last year, Sabina is relatively healthy and well as can be! Praise God! She also had a stye removed in the summer of 2012 (that was a horror as it was removed in the OR without any anesthesia. Poor Sabina!) Other than that, I thank the Lord for sustaining her this far since I last wrote.
This year, we started Advanced Biomechanical Rehabilitation (ABR) therapy with Sabina. ABR addresses fascia/connective tissue but you have to commit to doing the manual exercises with her at least 2 hours a day.. With ABR, there is a realistic expectation for Sabina to sit unsupported. (which is what I have been praying for) And while I am the sole "therapist" in this new endeavor, I really pray and hope that God does bless the work of my hands and through ABR, allow Sabina to finally sit on her own! Last May, we also began Speech therapy. (our goal if of course for Sabina to talk and say our names, but for now, it is for her to be able to communicate with us and for us to communicate with her in a more tangible way). We also got an Occupational Therapist who specializes in feeding to address her feeding issues (choking on liquids and learning to eat foods that do not have to be blended or pureed). Both therapists have been such a huge blessing and are truly God sent!
So as I write a new post after so long, and hopefully will be able to start writing again regularly, I want to share what the Lord reminded me yesterday during church. I know this truth already, but yesterday it was refreshed and I was encouraged anew in this journey of life we have with my little Sabina.
Because we hold the Bible to be our absolute truth and authority. I know, that all things were created by God. The Bible says this in the book of Genesis. Because this amazing world was not created by some random accident or chance, what more people, who were created in the image of God! All human beings were created special -- in His likeness the Bible says, and therefore called for a purpose. So that means even children with disabilities and medical conditions whatever they may be, were created in God's image and likeness just the same. These children are not accidents or unlucky kids that got the worst end of the deal, or were somehow chosen in a life lottery. God created these children the same way He created you and me and they too have a God given purpose for being on this earth. Children with special needs are not any more different than you and I. They are just that -- different; like all of us are different in race, color, looks, personalities etc.. These children with handicaps and disabilities are highly valued by our Creator and Heavenly Father like any other human being. Jesus died on the cross for them too because He loves them as much as He loves the rest of us.
There's a verse in Acts that says that the Lord set and determined the times where people should live so that they may seek God. The Lord has determined Sabina to live in this time and in our family and for us to be her parents. He has made her the way she is for a bigger purpose outside ourselves. Our prayer is that through her life, we can point others to Jesus, that they may seek God! What a privilege to be able to live out that purpose and calling that we have received.
So my dearest Sabina... There may be people who think nothing of you. Who do not want to see that you are a person just the same. Who think that your value is less than the rest of us, just because you are not able to do what normal kids do. Sabina, you are created by the Lord and fearfully and wonderfully made just like any normal person. You are His daughter and His child and made to be special! You are not a random or an accident. You are a beautiful creation of our Heavenly Father and your purpose on earth is probably even higher than the rest of us. I praise God that despite your mitochondrial disease, you are able to give Him all the glory, honor and praise just by being you!
Genesis 1: 26-27
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.
So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female He created them.
Acts 17:24-27
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.
