Be Your Own Hero

Each child has their own personality and their own unique way of responding to things. Natalie is our alarmist. In that role, Natalie often finds ways to allow her fear of what may happen to get in the way of acting to solve her own challenges. It is not unusual for her mom and I to remind her to be her own hero.

I don't remember exactly which day it was, these days tend to bleed together. I think it was shortly after her first time being extubated. She still had the 'non-invasive' ventilator pushing large volumes of air into her lungs, so she couldn't speak. We were telling Natalie how proud we were of how she handled getting the tube inserted without mom and dad in the hospital to cheer her on. In response to this, Natalie asked for the letter board because she had something to say.

I was blown away to see my daughter point out the letters to spell out 'Be your own hero'. Truly, in the moment of need, Natalie stepped up and proved that she could be her own hero.

Trust in God

What she spelled out next melted her mom and dad. After confirming we had the first phrase right, she kept on pointing to more letters. Very quickly we realized the next phrase she was typing out was 'Trust in God'. In that moment, we were reminded that our daughter has a deep faith in God. She realized the most heroic thing she could do in that moment of deep need was to trust in God.

Not being there, I was unable to experience the full order of events, but the pieces I have been able to cobble together not only make me proud of my daughter, but more important they remind me just how important her personal faith is to her. She could have stopped at 'Be your own hero', but instead she went on to spell out 'Trust in God'. Before the tube went in, she communicated to the medical staff that she wanted to listen to a song. One of her favorite songs is 'Still Waters (Psalm 23)' by Leanna Crawford. She had them play the song for her while they were medicating her and eventually putting the tube in that first time.

I Will

When doing our 'Discover Bible Study', our study always finishes with an opportunity to write down an 'I Will' commitment to help personalize what we just learned. Based on Natalie's example of faith, I WILL remind myself that the best way to be my own hero is to trust in God.