Monthly Archives: June 2021

Waiting for the Promotion and Not Giving Up on Your Dreams

God’s Plan of Promotion

God’s plan of promotion is so different than ours. Often, God’s promotion can be summed up in one word…TIME. Whereas, we want the raise, the huge platform, the fame, and the income now.

Your dreams may look like they are never going to come true. You may feel like this thing God has called you to is just not working out, and you may begin to doubt yourself and doubt what you thought God wanted you to do. Feeling like a failure because this is not how you saw your life going, you begin to doubt yourself and question God’s purpose for your life.

Don’t Give Up

When those doubts come, don’t jump ship. Don’t give up on the dream God has given you. His plan is completely different than yours. We see the here and now; God sees eternity. He can do far more than we could ever even imagine or ask for in our wildest dreams.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Ephesians 3:20 NLT

David’s Promotion

David was a nobody until God made him a somebody. He simply fulfilled his duty. He showed up every day to fulfill the task he’d been given. It wasn’t glamorous, and it wasn’t fun. Yet because he was faithful in the small things, when the time was right, God pulled him into the big leagues.

Then he chose David, his servant,
    handpicked him from his work in the sheep pens.
One day he was caring for the ewes and their lambs,
    the next day God had him shepherding Jacob,
    his people Israel, his prize possession.
His good heart made him a good shepherd;
    he guided the people wisely and well.

Psalm 78:70-72

David had no idea when he got up early to go tend sheep that his life was going to change forever that day.

Show Up Today

How do we get God to use us? It’s simple. Choose to show up today to whatever it is God has for you.

Too many of us are guilty of searching for our own significance. We try to find the perfect job, create an amazing platform, and promote ourselves until we’re blue in the face. What if instead, we chose to just show up and fulfill the roles we’ve already been given and wait for God to promote us.

But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

Psalm 75:7 KJV

Fear-of-God is a school in skilled living—
    first you learn humility, then you experience glory.

Proverbs 15:33 MSG

God decides when it’s time for us to enter the limelight. It’s his job to promote us in his timing. So if you’re stressing today, take a deep breath. Get back to the basics. Do what you need to do today to move forward. Take the next step, and leave the rest up to God. Don’t spend all your energy trying to promote yourself. Do what needs to be done today. Work hard; then leave the rest in God’s capable hands.

Created to Do More

Looking for books that inspire you to do something more with your life? Check out Called to Create: A Biblical Invitation to Create, Innovate, and Risk by Jordan Raynor, Soar: Build Your Vision from the Ground Up by T. D. Jakes, and Money-Making Mom: How Every Woman Can Earn More and Make a Difference by Crystal Paine. These books are all favorites of mine!

Also, check out my post Stop Praying and Take a Step of Faith.

Our Week in the ICU and God’s Grace for Every Moment

Needing God’s Grace and Strength

Last Sunday, I stood before our church family and gave one of the points of Matt’s message for the day. The point was this… God allows weakness into our lives so that we fully depend on God’s grace and strength. I spoke about how there is never going to be a day that we don’t need God. I had no idea that those words were about to play out in my life in a very real way. 

On Monday afternoon, we took our five-year old, Macey, to the emergency room. She had been throwing up for twenty-four hours and grown progressively weaker and dehydrated. She got to the point where she could no longer walk and had to be carried. 

Transfer to Chop

By the time we got to the emergency room, she was pretty much comatose. We could barely get her to respond, her heart rate was really high, and her eyes were sunken in. They immediately told us they suspected type 1 diabetes. Soon, they drew her blood and told us that her sugars were 1795—something they had never seen before. They immediately contacted Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania to come pick her up and transfer her.

Macey was completely comatose for the transport to CHOP. There was a team waiting for her in the ICU when we got there and they immediately got to work. They got three IVs going, and she was put on fluids and insulin. 

The Next Forty-Eight Hours

Over the course of the next forty-eight hours, she had blood work every two hours, finger pricks, shots, and more. They couldn’t get her blood to draw easily, so every time was complete torture—her screaming and crying for it to stop for twenty minutes every time. 

Every night when I laid down around midnight to get a little rest in between blood work, after Matt had gone home to be with our other kids and I was alone, the tears would start. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m not strong enough. I can’t take her pain. I hate this…”

Each morning, I would wake up, pray for a few minutes, read some of my Bible on my phone and start again. God would carry me through the day once again. It was literally an hour by hour thing of depending on God to get me through.

On Thursday, I got to hold her for the first time. Neither one of us said anything. She was just grateful to be held, and I was grateful to hold my little girl in my arms.

We got to leave the ICU on Thursday night and move to the endocrinology floor where Matt and I continued our training to be able to care for her at home.

We finished our training late Friday afternoon and finally got to begin the discharge process. Then, around dinner time, we got to take our precious girl home.

Our Lives Forever Changed

Our lives have forever changed, and so has Macey’s. We had absolutely no idea what we were dealing with when they diagnosed her. Wrongly, we assumed that we would have to limit her sugar, help her eat healthy and exercise, and give insulin when needed. 

We couldn’t have been more wrong. What we didn’t know was that Type 1 Diabetes is an auto-immune disease for which there is no cure. It’s not maintained by diet and exercise.

Simply put, her pancreas doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to. Because of that, she can’t put anything into her mouth ever again without first taking insulin. That means she has to check her blood sugar with finger pricks five to eight times a day and get as many shots.

We have to figure out how what and how much she is going to eat every time she eats and figure out how much insulin to give her before she eats. That doesn’t include a nightly dose of insulin as well as checking anytime throughout the day when we suspect her sugars are low or high. 

When we sat down and told her what was happening at the hospital—that she has diabetes and we were going to have to continue the finger pricks and shots at home, she cried… and my heart broke. To have to continue this every day for the rest of her life is staggering. To be the one to do it to her is absolutely crushing.  

The events of last week have been the hardest thing Matt and I have ever dealt with, and it’s not over. It’s just beginning. 

Grace for Today

When I opened my eyes on Saturday morning after a short, interrupted sleep, I thought of the words I spoke on Sunday…just a few days before. That there isn’t going to be a day we don’t need God. I recalled the verse I used from II Corinthians.

Paul asked for his problem to be taken away, and God said no. God didn’t take Paul’s problems away; instead He responded with this these words.

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

II Corinthians 12:9

During those long days in the hospital, those words were all that I had to cling to. That his grace and strength would be enough to carry me through to face another hour and another day. That he will be there for my little girl just as much as he was for me. 

Our New Normal

Life looks a little different at the Manney house than it did just a week ago. We have things I never thought we’d have like a medical shelf in our closet filled with syringes, glucose strips, alcohol wipes, and more. We have a medic bag we take with us everywhere we go.

It’s amazing, though, how God’s grace carries us through. Just a few days ago, I felt hopeless, confused, and exhausted. Yet, we are adjusting to this new normal and continuing on with life just as we did before Macey’s diagnosis. That’s God’s grace.

God's grace- Macey coloring

Macey is smiling again; she’s going to be just fine. Are there challenges ahead? Yes. Is everything perfect? No. Are there hard moments and tough days? Yes. But God will get us through them by His grace…one day at a time.

God’s Grace for Today

If you’re going through something today, and you don’t know how you can make it through. I understand; I get it. The words of hope I want to give you are the same words I clung to last week. God’s grace is enough for today. Cling to that thought today and let God’s Grace and strength carry you through the next day, the next hour, the next minute even. Don’t look ahead to the future; just focus on today.

More Encouragement

Two books to give you hope when you’re going through a difficult season would be It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lisa TerKeurst and my book, The Hidden Pain. Or check out these blog posts: When Problems Disrupt Our Lives and How to Prepare My Heart for a Difficult Season of Life.