"Love is at the Heart of Healing"

The temperature inside our church yesterday must have been in the 80's thanks to a broken compressor in the air conditioning system.

I was tired and a bit stressed about the hand bell piece we would soon be performing.

And, to be brutally honest, I was not paying as much attention to the sermon as I should have been.  Then these words jumped out at me.

"Love is at the heart of healing."

Wow!  That got my attention.  I actually took out a piece of paper and wrote it down.

While those words can mean a lot of things to different people, for me it was all about Ian.  With the events of the last few weeks concerning the STX209 drug trial, it was a good reminder that all the drugs in the world can't give my sweet boy what I can.  Love.  Pure and simple, it is the most powerful medicine there is.

 It is a gift from a God that loves us.

I would be lying if I did not admit that there are times when I am angry at God.  Why my boy?  Why all of our children?  Is it a punishment?  Did this happen because we did bad things, or is it to strengthen us in some way?

Then I calm down and realize it just IS.

  I believe God gave us the curiosity and the great brains that we have to make things better, to find cures and treatments, to figure out ways to adjust to what we are given.  And if this treatment doesn't work, or if it does work and someone says we can't have it, then there will be those who fight those decisions.  And they will use the talents that they were given by God to get it done.

But, in the meantime, we will heal with love.

Ian has been off of STX209 for almost a month.  His behavior at school has been mostly great, he has been funny and loving and doing great things.  He wakes up every morning and goes to bed every night with a smile.  It's not perfect, but it's good.  Really good.

And his love is at the heart of healing me too.

Ian reaching for a bubble as a toddler