Mustard Seed Faith - It Can Move Mountains

In February last year, we wrote about our daughter Eden and her seizure condition. The title of the post was "Godliness With Contentment Is Great Gain". The post can  be found here if you missed it! We are sharing again about how God has worked in Eden's life with her medical condition.

We felt so blessed last year to finally receive the news after 5 years that Eden was seizure free. Although her brain activity was abnormal, the abnormal activity did not last long enough to manifest as a seizure! This was a huge answer to prayer for us. Eden continues to amaze us with her ability to defy the odds. We however understand that it is not Eden defying the odds, but it is GOD without a doubt!

Since last year, Eden has been doing really well. She continues to grow, mature, and develop "normally." She excels at anything she puts her mind to and she has such a caring and compassionate heart toward others. We are so proud of her and her ability to deal with all of the doctor's appointments and tests. Even though sometimes neither of us desire to go, we maintain our thankfulness to God for how He has blessed her and also how He has placed the medical professionals in her life. So when we get those feelings of not wanting to go to another doctor's appointment, we quickly squelch those thoughts and learn to be content.

In knowing we have been blessed and knowing how God has worked in Eden's life, we obviously would not have asked God to change anything. Yes, we still ask for a miracle to heal her completely however we always end with "the Lord's will be done". We are also of the mindset that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." So the last thing we would have considered is changing medications. Especially since Eden achieved seizure free status after waiting for 5 years! However God was allowing something different to happen.

Last year, Eden's neurologist asked if we had considered trying another medication. We responded, "No. What she is on is working." You see, the medication Eden was taking could cause her to go blind in her peripheral vision. The fact that you take it at all in any dosage can cause the blindness (even when you go off of it)! A big risk! We knew this! However we had to choose years ago between continued seizures or stopping seizures with the chance of blindness. We accepted the risk of blindness and prayed fervently for God's protection. To date, I am thankful to say that God has protected her both with good vision and from her seizures. So why in the world would we want to mess up a good thing?

Well, unbeknownst to us, things were changing. Something we did not expect. INSURANCE! Yes, one day our medical insurance provider decided to change their policy about what medications they were going to cover. It just so happened that the medical insurance provider was no longer going to cover the medicine that had stopped Eden's seizures overnight when she was about a year old and while on the same dosage for 5 years (a miracle by the way since that is not normal) maintained that progression toward being seizure free. The question from the neurologist about changing medications quickly became a reality. To add to that, the medication without insurance coverage would cost over $5,0000 per month. There were some grants we could apply for to help with the premium but they were not guaranteed.

Upon hearing this news, something rose up in us. FAITH! It was a mustard seed faith to be exact. Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, "If ye have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." We had no choice but to have faith in God that He was going to work this out. We honestly did not know how it was going to turn out, but we had faith in God that He knew and we needed to trust Him. We no longer had the safety net of the other medication either. It was too expensive and problematic to get approval. Therefore we had to march forward with a new medication.

Of course the new medication brought on it's own risks, namely, a life threatening rash. We decided to start it in the winter just in case Eden contracted poison ivy/oak we wouldn't have a false alarm over the medicine. We had to ramp up very slowly over several weeks continuously checking her from head to toe for any signs of a rash. Praise be to God, Eden tolerated the change to the new medicine and also continued to show positive signs externally weening off the of the previous medication. Eden remained on the new medication alone for about 1 and a half months. Then came the ultimate verification that the new medication was working: An Overnight EEG.

Previously we had the overnight EEG at the Children's Hospital (shared some pictures of that in the blog last year). This time we were offered an EEG overnight at home. We gladly accepted this invitation. In April 2016 Eden had the overnight EEG conducted at home and the actual EEG was seamless (other than removing the electrodes the next day, that was a little trying). After several weeks, we received the results from her neurologist. This long of a waiting period was new for us since when the EEG is performed at the hospital overnight, you know the high level results right away. So we had to practice patience and FAITH yet again!

I am thankful to report though, Eden is still seizure free! Jesus said if we had enough faith even the size of a mustard seed mountains can be moved! This was a big mountain facing us. It was not one we desired to encounter, however God uses things like this so we will trust Him more! We are so thankful for God's goodness and mercy with Eden and all of our family! We have seen it many times, FAITH IN GOD DOES MOVE MOUNTAINS, however sometimes you have to endure the valley!

This is Eden playing the piano during her overnight EEG. I wonder what "Frog In The Middle" looks like in her brain waves? :-)