Friday, April 18, 2008

Special Prayers for Ethan

I have shared often about my third child Ethan. He is deaf, but through the brilliance of a few men, he is wearing Cochlear Implants, which have allowed him to hear through technological means.

He did not start hearing until he was three years old. He will be six this month. He has holes in his language and in his understanding of anything that is not concrete. It often takes much more dialogue, any kind of parallels I can bring in to help him along. He is doing excellent in school, as education at his age is very concrete in the process of learning.

Last night he was afraid of going to sleep. I can not imagine hearing absolutely nothing, and then closing your eyes. This is common for deaf children. So we have allowed him to sleep with his devices on, and we go and take them off after he has fallen into sleep.

I asked him if we should pray and ask Jesus to take away the fear of going to sleep and he started crying and said that he did not have Jesus in his heart. I said, you can ask Jesus into your heart. He responded with more tears and said he was not ready to leave the earth. He still wanted to be part of our family. I realized that his complete understanding of having Jesus in our hearts was that we would go to heaven. For him and his thought process that meant that he would then be going to heaven. He said he did not want to die now.

I explained that mommy and papa have Jesus in our hearts and we are still on earth, his sister and his older brother, all have Jesus in their hearts and they are still here. That if there was an accident and you died then yes if you have Jesus in your heart you will got to heaven, but for now Jesus has lots of work for us to here on earth.

I began to weep over how his handicap will challenge him in his process of learning. As he gets older, this will become less as he has still had to go through all the levels of learning language. My heart just ached to see his heart so desire to have Jesus, but he could not get over the fact that heaven was the next step. I asked him if he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart, but he could not grasp that he would still be here, on earth with his family, so he said no.

I pray over all of my children, but today I pray more for Ethan as he struggles with his passion to know Jesus, takes time to read his little Bible, works hard as he learns his Bible passages from school, and yet will not ask him into his heart for the fear that this is the final step before heaven. I know God is going to use this boy in amazing ways, and I am here to guide him, pray over him, and live my life as an example of who He is. Thanks for reading and please pray a special little prayer for Ethan.

9 comments:

  1. Wow, what a testimony this little guy has! What we often see as 'bad' God can and does use it for HIS good! PTL.

    I tried emailing you, and it was returned. Sorry for posting this in your comments. I didn't know how else to contact you. Hello! My name is Sharon Snavely, and I'm the owner/moderator of the Assembly of God Blog Ring and the Assembly of God Blogs site. Tonight I went onto RingSurf and clicked a tab I've never noticed before called "failed sites". Wow, was I surprised! There were a bunch of sites on this list, including yours. Apparently at some point you signed up to join this Ring, and this ministry! I can't tell you how thrilled I am, and how much I would love for your blog to be a part of this growing ministry!

    Please understand, I did not ignore your request, or deny your request. I didn't know you wanted to join! RingSurf sends out "spiders" to check your site to verify the ring code is in place. If it's not in place, I'm not notified. So, I had no idea or I would have emailed you sooner!

    You need to do two things to be part of the Assembly of God Blog Ring:
    Code needs to be added to your blog in a permanent spot, preferably in the sidebar. If you are apprehensive about adding code, I have some tips on the site. If you read the tips, and still need help, I'd be willing to put it on for you. The code you need to add can be found here or here. (Please use the code from these sites. The code at RingSurf is incomplete.)
    Once the code is up, you will need to return to RingSurf. If you "joined" at RingSurf since April 1, 2008, you just need to log-in. If you attempted to "join" prior to April 1st, you will need to rejoin. (RingSurf updated their databases.) To JOIN RingSurf, click here.

    I sincerely apologize, and hope you understand. I look forward to adding your blog to the Ring. If you have any questions, or problems, please email me! I desire you to be a part of this ministry, and will help you out in any way possible.

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  2. What a beautiful, real, and honest story. Thank you for sharing from your heart. I will lift Ethan up in prayer.

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  3. Very beautiful and I agree God has amazing things in store for him. His mind just needs to grasp the idea of Jesus in his heart and heaven. Seems reasonable but heavy upon your heart. I will pray for little Ethan. Blessings.

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  4. Your story about your precious son touched my heart tonight. What a sweet little boy you have there. I may be stretching it a bit here, but I know that his fear of Jesus being in his heart shows me a true reverence about God. There is no doubt he believes in Jesus. If he didn't, he wouldn't worry one bit that Jesus would have the power to take his life. I too have led some of my children, friends and my own mother 'to ask Jesus into their hearts' but your post made me think on this a bit more deeply. The thief on the cross never asked Jesus into his heart. He asked him to remember him. No doubt he believed who Jesus was.

    I will be praying.

    You are such a good mommy Elizabeth.

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  5. Ethan sounds like such a special little boy. He has such faith even though at this time, he does not yet grasp it all.

    I'll be praying for him too.

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  6. I am lifting precious Ethan up in my prayers.

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  7. I will be praying for sweet little Ethan. Praying Jesus will give him peace in his night times of silence.

    Keep on praying... Be assured the LORD has a special plan for this little guy.

    Are you A/G? Saw Sharon's comment above. I am a part of the AG blogring.

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  8. Elizabeth, I prayed for Ethan and for you, my friend. May God continue to bless you both. May God reveal himself to Ethan in a way that is as special and unique as Ethan is. And may Ethan learn to love Jesus in his own special way.

    {{{{{hugs}}}}}}}God Bless you.

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  9. Hi! I had to smile today when I came across your site and read about your discussion with Ethan. I am mom to 4 boys, and I have 2 that reminded me so much of Ethan in totally different ways.

    Thomason is 7 and is mortified to go to heaven. He is a normally hearing child who can't grasp the concept of eternity - hello, at 38 I'm not so sure I totally get it. Whenever we talk about being with Jesus in heaven forever, he balks. He doesn't want to go and says, "We HAVE to be there forever. I don't want to do that!" I am praying for his understanding of God to get bigger and for his love for Jesus to be so much that he WANTS to hang out with him forever - I know it will come with time and maturity! Kids are so precious, aren't they.

    Our fourth, Finlay, is 17 months olds and is deaf. His bilateral Freedom CI's were activated just 3 days before his 1st bday so he has been hearing for 5 months now. Isn't it amazing? I am so thankful for this miracle. It is good to read your blog and see what you go through with a big family and a child with CI's. God's blessings to you and your family!

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