Faith Journey- Day 12

Day 12- Unpopular Decisions

On Day 11 we took a little Faith Journey detour. We had just dropped out youngest off at college and I felt led by the Holy Spirit to share my thoughts and heart on that emotional milestone.

Back on the road. Today, we will learn that God does not always work within the confines of cultural or worldly expertise. He’s God. He has a plan. Many times His plan means having the courage to step-out in faith in the midst of unpopular decisions that go against cultural or expert opinions.

Ryan was progressing well. He was able to communicate his basic wants and needs through Sign Language and was getting around in his walker with speed, but not necessarily with accuracy. Our poor walls and furniture took quite a beating.

Simultaneously (for almost a year), we had been testing various kinds of hearing aids. To our dismay, none worked. Ryan did, however, learn that if you take them off and throw them across the room…mommy runs, frantically. He thought that was hilarious. Hearing aids are NOT cheap, of course, I fetched them.

I had done a lot of research and talked with his ENT about an internal hearing device called a Cochlear Implant. At that time, it was still experimental and considered a last resort. Well, we were at our last resort. The surgery, itself, was intense and there was no guarantee it would work.

I, also, discovered in my research that the Cochlear Implant was frowned upon by many in the Deaf community. The general consensus was that hearing parents were trying to “fix” their Deaf children and that the choice should be left up to the child when they were old enough to make the decision.

The problem with waiting is that the part of your brain that processes sound begins to shut down, around age 5, if it’s not stimulated. In addition, the ability to produce speech is greatly diminished as well.

As parents, we want the best for our children. It’s our responsibility to give them every opportunity at our disposal. So that, they can become whatever God has planned for them. Ron and I discussed and prayed exhaustively over this decision. We prayerfully decided to move ahead with the Cochlear Implant. Our prayer was not to “fix” Ryan’s deafness, but to open up possibilities. Then later, allow Ryan make his own decision to continue to use the Cochlear Implant or not.

So, eight weeks before Ryan’s 3^rd birthday, he had surgery to receive the internal portion of his Cochlear Implant. It was a 5 hour procedure and 6 weeks of healing time. Looking back, I am so thankful Ryan had a year of Sign Language before the CI surgery. We did not miss a step in communication what-so-ever.

Six weeks later, through the miracle of technology, our Ryan heard mine and his dad’s voice for the very first time. I will never forget it…that day is forever an Ebenezer in my life.

In the weeks that followed, Ryan began “hearing therapy.” He had never heard sound before. He was very much like a new-born baby learning and processing sounds all around him. We were strongly encouraged by the speech and language specialist to discontinue Sign Language. We tried to be open-minded and set an appointment with a suggested school that specialized in speech without using Sign.

While we were in the waiting room, there was a video playing about the school and their methodology. After a few minutes, Ron and I looked at each other, shook our heads and walked out. This was not what God desired for us or for Ryan. We were not giving up the only communication Ryan had. We would work on his speech while continuing Sign Language. This method is called “total communication.” This was a significant decision for us. But, at the time, we did not realize just how important it was to our call in the not so distant future.

• Read Isaiah 55: 8-11

Explain in your own words what these verses mean to you.

 

 

• Read Psalm 103: 11-12

What does The Lord have toward us?

 

 

Tell about a time in your life God asked you to “go against” the cultural or expert advice you received. What happened?

 

 

When you and I have established a faithful trust walk with The Lord in our life, we are able to step-out and follow Him even when it’s not the most popular idea. His ways are higher than ours. He has great loving kindness toward us. His leading doesn’t always guide us down the easy path but it will lead us down the best path…one step closer to our calling.

**Warning**  On this note… Please understand that going “against the grain” of popular consensus  does NOT mean going against God’s Word. That’s not God’s leading, it’s the enemy’s. Do not be deceived, my friend! 

Pray for those decisions you need to make that are not popular but that you KNOW The Lord is leading you toward. Ask Him for the courage to step out in faith.

We are a little more than a third of the way in our Faith Journey together…stay with me. Jesus is worth the trek! Praying for you…