Happy October!
Today, I’m going to share a story about what a team can do in assisting a widow as she fights for her daughter.
One evening, I took a walk after dinner as I usually do. The kids were cleaning up and cooking some banana muffins. Before I made it back home, I get a call from Stella that her tooth was loose and it was bleeding. Come to find out, the kids had stopped cleaning and started playing with a bouncy ball, for they made up a game and somehow Stone turned a certain way and Stella came down on the back of his head. SNAP!! Her front permanent tooth was fractured and that was that. I made a call right away to a retired doctor and he said push it back up and go see your dentist. So, Friday morning came and we went for an X-ray. It showed a horizontal fracture with a 2mm gap. His recommendation was an extraction. This was not what Stella and I wanted to hear. Her tears start to fall. Mommy had to stay strong. Now mind you, it’s Friday and a holiday weekend, for Labor Day was Monday. Come to find out, all dentists go out of town for this holiday, for I could not find anyone to help us over the weekend. 😰
This felt like a sucker punch. I was in shock Friday afternoon. To find answers, I humbled myself and went to my neighbors for help. They were having a little gathering and I shared my concerns. One mom knew of another young girl who this had happened to, and so she reached out and sent me the information of who helped her. She also gave some other options.
In the meantime, I reached out to a few other moms. One of them was my old neighbor, and she went into action and sent me her contact information for a holistic dentist. Who knew? Come to find out they were also out of town for two weeks. My friend had her personal number and sent Stella’s X-ray. She answered. It needs to be pulled was her recommendation. I called around and left some messages at different pediatric dentists. So many places were going to be closed until the middle of the following week. But, the contact my neighbor gave me had an emergency line, and the doctor called me back in 15 minutes. Hallelujah. 🙌🏼 He said he has seen teeth heal and he would try to save her tooth and to come in Tuesday. So, we waited, and prayed, and waited some more. We got in to see the doctor at 2:30 pm, and by 4 we were walking out with hope.
Stella is the bravest little lady I know. The endodontist numbed her and stabilized the tooth, then put a brace on her front four teeth. We will see him again in three weeks. He has been walking with another young lady for three years, and her tooth healed itself. So, we are believing that with this brace it will do the same. He evened them out at the bottom as well so she is as good as new. Now we pray and wait for His Holy Spirit healing glue to make her brand new. 🦷😮💨
I have never heard of an endodontist before this. Thankfully, with God’s grace, Stella was not in much pain. She just relaxed all weekend. When this happened, they numbed her. She has never had a cavity, so all this was new for her and we didn’t really know what was coming. When we left, she was in pain and so we headed to Walgreens to get some Motrin. Thankfully, it kicked in pretty quickly.
In the days of waiting, I reached out to many moms to be praying. Three of them had dentists they could text and see what they recommended by showing them the X-ray. Two said save the tooth and one said pull it. As a mom, we fight for our kids, and I had just finished writing this series about resurrection life when I got slammed with an opportunity that tested it. Humanity bites sometimes, no pun intended.😉
As I reached back out to the moms who helped me along the way with the results and the praise report, I got this beautiful message back from one of them.
“It’s funny how the Lord works—I can’t sing or play anything, but He moves me to love and pray for certain folks (like you & yours)—in my heart, I like to think that my prayers are a beautiful melody for you—prayers of praise & intercession that sound so lovely to Him that He hears my voice like no one else—like a beautiful harmony or melody to all that He is doing in the lives of those I care about/those He died for and holds in His righteousness right hand.”
I have never gotten such a heartfelt beautiful picture of what our prayers do when we engage with the spirit for each other’s needs.
As a widow, we can feel so isolated at times, and especially in times of hardship. This was a hard time for me and that made it hard to process clearly. I have no past history with dental type care. I didn’t have braces. None of my siblings had braces either and my kids thankfully have straight teeth. So, this was another new door for me and Stella to explore. BUT GOD!
As I was journaling some of my feelings, this is what came out:
You are capable:
Keep showing how able someone can be when they keep checking in with me.
Wisdom propels even if it feels like you’re going through hell. ❤️🔥
(Side note: Now this line about hell, as we know, is a figure of speech. I do not want to marginalize that we have any earthly idea of hell and I never want to understand it at all, but this is what came out on the page, so I’m keeping it for accuracy.)
You see, asking for help allows others to give away what they know. I wasn’t too proud to ask, and I was given direction (wisdom), and that propelled me to keep knocking on doors to find answers for Stella. Thankfully the only doctor that answered was the only one willing to save her tooth, and wait and allow God, and her body, to heal it.
Isolation can feel like a kind of hell here on earth, for our mind starts to lie to us about who we are and what we are not capable of. However, calling on your community and the Father allows your mind and heart to feel more united, for it propels you to keep going because you know you have support to withstand the hardships of life. It’s been a humbling experience, but one I’m thankful to have experienced. ☺️
God gives us a team (community, family, co-workers, friends, church members), but yet we like to go it alone to hide our weaknesses. What I’m finding is that our truest strength is in calling on that TEAM for help. For, God so graciously provided them to keep us surrounded. So, let’s utilize the strengths we have been given.
Faith rises when we love on each other enough to pray and intercede for our brothers and sisters who are in need. Healing happens. Direction and guidance happens. Doors open. Doors shut. Hearts feel less heavy. Minds stop racing. It’s amazing what prayer can do, y’all.
So, to all those who were a part of that prayer chain with eternal gains, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
I am going to share Stella’s before picture so we can all cheer together at her after story for His glory. Stella even mentioned she might write some short stories to help other kids walk through hard things, for some of them feel scarier than they actually are. She said, I think other kids could benefit from knowing this too. I like the sound of that, for Stella the brave lives to tell her story for another day.
I hope this personal story allows you to see calling on others gives us victory, for prayer changes things in our today and our tomorrow. I want to remind you one more time of this truth nugget that I gobbled right up. 😋
You are capable:
Keep showing how able someone can be when they keep checking in with me.
Now that’s the kind of doctor’s orders I like to follow.
Once again, a song has found me, and so I will leave it here for you to enjoy as well.
Back to Life – Bethel
This is the line that really gets me: “The enemy thought he had me, but JESUS said YOU ARE MINE!” ❤️🔥
You are loved.
You are not alone.
You are mine.
Oh, how divine.
Until next time,
Keep gliding 🪁
Abiding 🙇🏼♀️
& Smiling 😁