One of the hardest things I have ever gone through was when my oldest son, Sam, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at the age of two. I will never forget the day the doctor told me that my son had an incurable disease. My heart broke into a million pieces. Nothing hurts greater than when something happens to your family. I have never felt so helpless than when my son wants me to “fix” it, and all I can do is hold him and say, “I’m sorry”. Or at least I thought that was all I could do.
We have since started an organization called “Imagine A Cure,” and it is my greatest desire to find a cure for my son. “Imagine A Cure” financially supports cutting edge organizations like JDRF ( juvenile diabetes research foundation) who are determined to work themselves out of a job by finding a cure. Not only are we trying to make a difference financially, but more importantly we are trying to make a difference through prayer, and we need your help. If you are able to give financially then praise God, but all of my fellow believers can pray. And that is exactly what I am asking you to do.
Pray for the hearts and minds of the scientist and doctors trying to find a cure. Pray for everyone who is experiencing this terrible disease first hand. Pray that God find greater glory through a cure. And, at the risk of sounding selfish, pray for my family. Pray for Mommy and Daddy to be patient with this “new normal.” Pray for Sam’s health. And more than anything else, pray that, regardless of a cure, God be glorified through Sam’s life.
-bart
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kelli
January 20th, 2008 at 7:09 amThere is nothing selfish about asking for prayer. I’ve found that sometimes it’s the only thing I can ask for while I walk through my own “incurable” issues.
Please know you have our support, prayer.
Lara
January 20th, 2008 at 10:30 amI absolutely understand the heartache you feel about not being able to “fix” it. As silly as this may sound, I have often tried to bargain with God to give me the diabetes and free my daughter. Of course, He knows that I am not nearly as strong as she. She is amazing!
Trust that the steps you have taken to start the foundation are just the first toward “fixing” it for Sam, my daughter and everyone else who must live the diabetic lifestyle. Thank you!
My prayers are with you. By the way, “Holdfast”.
Michelle Bentham
January 20th, 2008 at 4:49 pmHey there MercyMe and Bart (especially) -
First of all, Bart - I know the pain of being a parent who can do nothing more than sit by and watch as medicine predicts and dictates outcomes about your child that you feel incompetent to deal with. My son was 17 years old and diagnosed with Bi-Polar disorder and ADHD. He had been slipping into rages and was hiding the fact that he had stopped taking his medicine when life seemed to flying out of control for our family. I didn’t even know how to pray - I had been fighting the emotional and social battle related to his many problems for so long that I just felt completely and utterly useless and defeated. Then God did this amazing thing, He took me through a Bible lesson that required me to write my most ardent prayer request down on an index card and lift it physically only — when I did to commit to never pray over that request again, but instead every time I thought of it to praise God and thank for the answer prepared in advance that I believed would come by faith. I wrote one word on my card, “Justin.” I watched him struggled through those ways - navigating the darker streets from childhood to adulthood as he fell into trouble with the police and had to make tough decisions like whether or not to return to school in the fall or just get his GED - how to pay off his legal fees when he had no income… and how to deal with the mounting scrutiny in his life as his decisions went from bad to worse. Justin had great personality, he had a great heart, he just had weaknesses in his mind and his flesh. He would drag his friends to church on a weekly basis and then head back out and live in the world with them all week. He was so tender to the hurting people he knew he often asked me to pray for someone whose Mom had cancer or whose Dad was strung out on drugs. It was hard to stay upset with him very long because he just had this way about him that wouldn’t let you harden your heart against him. He never met a stranger, he was polite and considerate of his elders at church and he loved music - all kinds. He attended Mark Matlock’s planet wisdom in the winter/spring of 2003 and you guys were there. He had been listening to me crank up the volume on the “Almost there” CD for months so when you guys came out and sang - he was so excited. So moved. He would go down at every service he attended and repent, begging God to help him stay the course. He came home that night and was breathless to tell me, “Oh Mom, you should have been there… they sang ‘your song’ -(I Can Only Imagine).” His favorite song from that cd was “House of God”… but I digress.
I sat and watched this for months believing God for a miracle when I got a call that would change our lives forever. My son, out with friends, was in a car accident that left him dead on the scene after being thrown 50 feet from the vehicle he was riding in. He was revived and care-flited to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth and lived in a coma for 8 days before the brain injury he had suffered claimed his life and God took him home to heaven.
It was an impossible thing to realize, but what I have learned is that God is true to His Word - He will get you through and just like you said in your post - “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” It happens to good people, bad people - it just happens to people because we live in a fallen environment where the enemy is granted access to our lives, and our physical bodies, our minds and our hearts are subject to the curse of the original fall - the curse that will exist until Christ comes again even though we are delivered from the spiritual curse of eternal death, we are in the process of being redeemed from the mental and emotional and the willful side of the curse that is our sin nature and our bodies will be redeemed on that wonderful day when God finally takes us home.
Whether He comes on the clouds or my life ends in tragedy, illness or old age - I know one thing awaits - a glorious ending with my Savior and King and a welcome home party where my son will be among the cloud of witnesses that welcomes us home. I learned not to stop believing because God’s answer did not look like my prayer request and that God’s glory was strong - keep doing what you’re doing - tell Sam’s story and keep telling God’s story through the songs that you guys sing! It makes all the difference in the world one life can make!
By the way, at my son’s homegoing celebration - a dear and talented friend of ours sang “Homesick” which perfectly described the way my heart felt on that day when the machines stopped pulsing bursts of air into his lungs and it became clear that my son was no longer in an earthly state. God is good - even in the most devestating cases. I give Him all the glory and praise. Remember He is strongest in your weakness, He is your peace and your shelter when the storm comes. I’ve heard several pastors and teachers use the eagle analogy and I will close with that - An eagle looks for the storms. They watch for them with great anticipation and when the storms come they fly out into them and ride the storm because they know in the storm they can soar higher, fly farther and faster than they ever could on their own. I am glad that God’s Word tells us that those who wait upon Him will mount up wings as eagles, run and not grow weary, and walk and not grow faint… He has a plan and it is to send you higher, faster and farther than you could ever go on your own. It is all too His glory! I’ll be praying for a cure.
Blessings,
Michelle
Kelly
January 20th, 2008 at 9:25 pmHi Bart,
I am really grateful to God for using Brody Harper and his wife, Kristin, to introduce me to your site. God is good and your last sentence depicts your heart for our Father for He does know best. We pray expecting a cure for Sam and others with debilitating diseases, but His will is always best come what may and all glory belongs to Him. It was also great reading the other responses. Inspite of all that we go through in life, His joy is always our strength, He never fails to fill our cups when dry, He has given us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11)…wow, there no God like our God. Therefore I pray that He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30) These two songs {How Deep The Father’s Love For Us & We Bow Down} and a chapter in Psalm came to mind as I read…
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory
Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocing voice,
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that helf Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I knoww that it is finished
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast inJesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
(REPEAT)
===
We bow down and confess you are Lord in this place,
We bow down and confess you are Lord in this place,
You are all I need
its your face i seek
In the presence of your life
We bow down
We bow down
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Psalm 17
[8] Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
[15] As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
May God go before you all and continue to have His perfect way in your lives. In Jesus’ name, amen!
Scott
March 10th, 2008 at 9:42 pmI know exactly what you are feeling. My 7yo son was diagnosed with type 1 last year. No family history of it all all and nothing we did to cause it. I have prayed every way I know how for Jesus to take this burden off of him (let me take it God, etc. — All the stages of grief) He is the only one in his school to have it and his start to first grade and all day school nearly broke my wife and I. Nothing has every effected me so deeply. My son has done amazing well, but has had to endure more in this past year than most deal with in a lifetime.
NOBODY outside this disease understands the continual heartache and needed vigilance of parents with children with this disease. Very few also understand why my wife and and I can no longer just get a babysitter for a night out together. I know this sounds self centered, but it is hard not to sound selfish when you are continually reminded of it. For example, yesterday my son was rejected as a rider on our life insurance policy. Foreshadowing and reminding us of what he will may just have to deal with thoughout of his life.
We pray for either healing or a cure every moment we can for everyone dealing with type 1 diabetes. We thank Jesus in advance for taking away this horrible illness because it WILL be cured. Bart, the Spirit has spoken to both my wife and me and promised us that. We aren’t the Jesus-will-always-give-me-what-I-want kind of Christians either. We just both feel a strong conviction that Christ is in control and will resolve this in the next few years. And I’m sure you are like us…we plan on dancing in the streets when it happens! Keep Hope!
Eric
April 29th, 2008 at 6:43 amHey Bart - I greatly appreciate you sharing all of this. My son (11) was just diagnosed with type one five days ago. There hasn’t been a day that has passed that my wife and I haven’t cried. When you said your ‘heart broke in a million pieces’ describes exactly how we’ve felt. I too, join you in prayer for a cure, prayer for healing, and prayer for the strength to carry what we now must be carried.
All I can think of is that God is in control - blessed be His name.
I wish you every blessing!