Charlie horse...Gallbladder...and Children

ARGGGGGGG!!!!! OWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!  HELP!  HELP! HELPPPPPP!

My poor husband was awaken to these sounds about 3 a.m. today.  I'm sure my screams were worse than my words can describe.  Oh the pain!  I hate having a charlie horse.  I hate that sudden attack and inability to move and worse yet, the helplessness it causes me to feel.

Flashback a week ago...steady uneasiness and uncomfortable feeling.  Can't get comfortable.  Can't decide what's wrong until it is too late.  First, awaken with pain in my back.  Did I sleep wrong?  Lay on heating pad...no help...starting to feel a heaviness in my right side, under my ribs.  Indigestion...but nothing helps. "OH NO!  NOT AGAIN!" runs through my head.  Tums, muscle relaxer, pain medicine....please...please don't be another gallbladder attack.  PLEASE!  Then the pain becomes more.  Inability to sit, or stand, or lay down, or move without pain.  Stretch out, curl up, walk, lay still, repeat.

My poor husband once again is helpless.  Watching me pace.  Watching me rock.  Then the nausea...and getting sick.  Sicker than I have been since having morning sickness years ago.  Laying on the bathroom floor (which in a travel trailer is hard...lol), wishing I could get up but then not wanting to move.  Finally...the nausea passes and I can get up and move to my chair again.  Ice pack.  Ice pack on my right side, under my ribs, with pressure.  Heating pad on my back.. Ice on my stomach/gallbladder.  Curled on my left side in my chair...pass out from exhaustion.  Sleep.

Again, helplessness takes control.  This attack wasn't sudden.  This one was slow and steady in progressing.  This one announced its coming but still left me helpless.  This one laid me out flat and attacked my whole body.  This one left marks on my eyes...tiny dots showing how hard and violent the attack had been.  It left me sore.  My arms felt like I could not move them.  Lack of oxygen?  Dehydration?  I don't know, but the pain was such that I could not even type.  Moving my fingers even hurt.  Helplessness...

When God laid these thoughts on my heart today to write about...the thought of children also was whispered to my heart.  Charlie horse, gallbladder and children?  What????  How in the world do these things go together? What was He trying to tell me?  One came on suddenly...one slowly.  Both are painful.  Both left me feeling helpless.  Then it hit me...as a parent there are so many times that we feel this same helplessness.  Sleepless nights, long days filled with fits and crying, illnesses that you can't figure out, injuries that come suddenly, heartbreaks, mean girls, school struggles, growing pains, boys...  Some events come on suddenly.  Some we see coming and they can't be stopped.  Some totally blindside us.  The teen years are a good example of that!  As much as we try to prevent or manage the events, some just leave us lying on the floor, exhausted and broken from the daily struggle to hold it all together.

The thing that I have learned through all of these is that there is only one way to overcome the helpless feelings that consume me.  It usually only happens when I am lying on the floor, overcome with pain, or at the bottom of my ability to cope.  What is it?  What do I do?  It is the most simple thing but for some reason it seems so hard.  It takes a total  "knock me off my feet" situation to make me turn to the only cure for the pain.  Jesus.  Cry out to Jesus!

In the midst of my gallbladder attacks...JESUS!  In the middle of a charlie horse...JESUS!  When I am at a loss as to how to help my child in her moments of need...JESUS!  When I am feeling alone, and totally isolated...JESUS!  When the world seems to have it's target for trouble set on me...JESUS!

I often pray.  I pray silently many times a day.  I talk out loud to God daily.  But to actually say the name of JESUS out loud has power!  So many songs come to my mind:  "Cry Out to Jesus," "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name," "In Christ Alone," "Jesus Messiah,""Jesus," and so many more!
https://worship-songs-resources.worshiptogether.com/music/Name-Of-Jesus-Songs

All of these point to the power of simply speaking the name of Jesus. The power of crying out to Jesus is mighty.  His name healed the lame, caused the blind to see, and has forgiven sin.  His name will cause every knee to bow and causes even demons to tremble.

This I have learned, in the middle of pain, in the middle of sadness, in the middle of depression, in the middle of defeat... JESUS.  Cry out His name...even if it is a whisper...say His name aloud.  Some days all I can do is whisper this song aloud as I cry...

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Sweetest name I know
Heals my every longing
Keeps me singing as I go...


Say His name...there is power there for the helplessness and the hopelessness of this world and for you.

In Him,
Denise