Christian Parenting.

Friends, welcome back to Pardon the Mess. I'm your host, Courtney Defeo, and we are on week 24

praying together all school year long. But if it's okay, we're going to do something a little different today. I have to tell you a story or two that happened a couple of weeks ago. So if you don't know, I have had migraines for most of my life. And I did get a diagnosis in 2020 of Chiari malformation, which means, did you know you have cerebral tonsils? Me neither. They are

hanging too low, and if they cork up that area in the back, I would need a brain surgery. And I'm just like firing through this because I don't want to get into the details. But I don't talk about it a lot, because I feel like there's so much else and so many worse things going on in the world, but it really is hard. So if you want to pray for my complete healing, I will take it. But I do an MRI every year or two to kind of check on it and make sure it's not moving and stable. And so I had just done that a couple weeks ago. And for whatever reason, I was feeling super anxious going in. Typically, I can like breathe through it. But this time I was like, oh, I don't want to do this for 45 minutes where they literally, you lay down and they put this

thing over your face and they lock your head into place. And if I open my eyes, I get claustrophobic.

And so they could have given me medicine, but I like to kind of power through it. And so I had asked

some of my friends to pray and I was feeling pretty good. And when I got in there, it's again, 45 minutes, I decided, you know, I normally just start praying through everything and everyone. And then I play a little alphabet game as well that Grammy taught me. But as I got halfway through, the lady, the nurse, let me out and let me kind of set up and reset. And I said, gosh, I've been there praying for everyone I know. And she said, well, people need prayer. And so then I got back in and thought, gosh, I should have asked her what I should pray for. So I get through it. I feel calm. And I get on the other side. And as I sit back up, I said, hey, I forgot to ask you, how could I pray for you? And she kind of just said, oh, you know, we all need prayer. And then I got, you know, back my jewelry on, start getting dressed and all that stuff. And she said, well, actually, you know, I've had a rough life. And she begins to tell me, guys, like, I won't even remember it all. But when she was five, she lost her brother. So then after that, she raised herself because her

parents were grieving. Then fast forward several years, and she just lost her grandbaby. Her

grandbaby died tragically. And so then her daughter, the mother of that baby, because of that,

tried to commit suicide. Then her husband left her. Then her best friend fell or something. It was in a coma. Like, y'all, it just did not end. And we sat there for about 20 minutes in that MRI room and talked about God and talked about how she's not really wanting to talk to God. And so it was just such a crazy moment that, you know, I went in going like, oh, Lord, help me, I'm so anxious about this MRI. And then to hear her story and what she's going through. But two things I wanted to tell you about. One, will you pray for her? Her name is Jennifer. You can tell she is so strong and carrying everybody else. But she needs an encounter with God. And she needs to know that he's still there through all the tragedy of their life. So we pray for another mom here in Texas named Jennifer. And then second, I had this moment when I was in there and, you know, everything's a teachable moment. But I was laying down and you're locked in there and my eyes are closed, but they give you an emergency like button you can hold in your hand. And I was thought thinking about like how that is so mental.

Like I can be hearing the sound of the MRI. I can be not wanting to open my eyes and there's

chaos around my head. But knowing that I'm holding on to that lifeline does something for me,

knowing that if I did panic, I can squeeze that and she would come in and get me out. And I was like,

gosh, won't that preach?

Y'all, the world is crazy right now. Like, I need to get offline because, you know, from ICE to

the immigrant situation to like, my heart is just broken. People are being murdered.

Just every day, there's people, you know, unexpected tragedies with teens dying from the ice storm

to another young man at UGA. And just like, you can be consumed with the chaos of the world and just

heartbreak. But I feel like around us, we can still be peaceful. We can still hold on to Jesus and say,

I don't know what's going on all around me, but I'm going to stay calm and stay rooted in you, and you are our lifeline through this world. And then also, I need to get off my phone because that is not helping. Just more time on my phone makes me more anxious. And the more I get out in the world and talk to people like Jennifer, I'm calm. And I see Jesus moving and that he is still aware and he still sits on the throne

in this crazy life. And so hope that encourages you today and just, you know, it was convicting

for me to get off my phone and engage with people like Jennifer. So fast left turn.

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