Hearing His Voice

“The people living in darkness have seen a great light; 

on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

Isaiah 9:2

John undoubtedly is a joyful child.  No, he isn’t always smiling as you mostly see portrayed on this blog. 

He truly is a ham and simply loves the camera.  He sees that first flash and then anticipates each snap of the camera after that first shot, smiling each and every time. 

This is the first picture.

Then all the pictures that follow look like this.  :)

We’ve even been known to pull out the camera in order to get John to stop fussing.  Comical, right?  I imagine this stage will not last forever, and he will become like most children who do not want to pose for a picture and definitely prefer not to be donned in “cute outfits”.  I expect many of you can relate with Easter right around the corner, and I wish you luck!

Typically, John only fusses when he is hungry, thirsty, or bored.  We can quickly remedy the hunger or thirst problem, but as for the boredom – well, this is another reason (in addition to John’s development) we are praying for God’s direction on when and how to best jump back into John’s home therapy program.  He loves it!

Yes, John is joyful.  But not always at night.  When we found out we were having another child, and especially when we found out the child was a boy, we dreamed of John and Daniel sharing a room.  Meade is an only child, and I did not have any sisters.  Therefore, neither of us ever shared a room as children.  We do hope our boys will share a room at some point.  But this is NOT happening now!  Daniel, our 9 month old, is our good sleeper.  John, at 3 years old, is still working on this!  Our chances of getting sleep drastically improve by keeping our boys in separate sleeping quarters for now.

On the average night, Meade and I take turns with who will listen out for the boys (and by boys, I mean John, haha).  John has never been a great sleeper (possibly because his brain injury affects his sleep centers), and since Daniel’s birth, John has been known to wake up at least once every night.  When he wakes up, he screams.  And screams.  And screams.  Sometimes, he needs a diaper change, but mostly, I think he simply wants his Daddy. 

It can be my night, and for whatever reason, I cannot comfort John and help him fall back asleep. I was back in bed Saturday night after holding John, singing to him, changing his diaper, tickling him, trying everything I could, and yet I still heard incessant crying coming from his room.  So I woke up Meade, as I often do when John will not quiet down, and Meade faithfully got out of bed and entered John’s room to help out this groggy Mama. 

The very second John heard his Daddy’s voice, he calmed down.  I listened as Meade talked to John, explained (for the 1,000^th time) the importance of sleep, sang to him, and simply loved him. 

But all it really took was for John to hear his voice. 

That is childlike faith.  If only we were so quick to calm at the sound of our Father’s voice.  Our heavenly Father… the One who does not leave us.  The One who is not subjected to the sin and failures of this world.  The One who soothes us with His Voice of Truth and Love, spoken over us in our darkness. 

Oh, to have faith like this!  Just to deeply know and trust that it is all “okay” when we hear that voice. Simply because we know our Daddy is near.

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”

1 John 4:16

“God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”

1 John 1:5b