Where All Your Dreams Really Do Come True

We just returned from a magical trip to the land of dreams.  Disney. . .it really is all it's cracked up to be.  If you use your imagination, it is truly magical.  Maybe it's the music, the fairytale-like surroundings, but when I glide down Main Street USA, I feel like skipping or dancing and I think I did, in fact, each time we entered or exited the park.  The drums in the Animal Kingdom had the boys and me dancing too.  It has to be the visual and aural combination that takes me out of the world for a little while. (one thousand gifts 93:  a trip to Disneyworld (I know this is not what Voscamp has in mind.  It's not small, discrete recognition of God's blessings by any means, but it was comprised of so many of those gratitude-filled moments that I had to just sum it up in one.)

Music can transport me anytime, though, as the boys and I danced our hearts out on the way to school this morning to "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz.  Well, as much dancing as one can do while they are strapped in car seats and I am driving a van.  The power of music reminds me of a quotation by Plato I read the other day:  

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything."

Back to the land where dreams come true. . .we had started praying very intentionally for healing for D after all the recent talk about a week before our trip.  We prayed his hands wouldn't hurt, his legs would work better, and it would be easier for him to talk.  He asked for prayer when we forgot and we persisted.  A few days later, I noticed he was opening his hands more and grasping things in a way I had not seen him do since his therapy in Poland at Euromed when he was five and six years old.  He had gotten his new hand splints but had only worn them 2-3 times.  At Disney, my parents also noticed his improved hand function. 

Two days ago, I took D to the geneticist where we received the most encouraging report ever.  Though muscle mass had been lost in hands and hips, the vitamin cocktail he takes can be adjusted to address that and the degenerative aspect of the disease can be GREATLY slowed as in possibly a typical life-span with self-help skills mostly intact.  With the vitamins to support growth and prayer to unleash God's power who knows what may develop!?! (one thousand gifts 94: encouraging signs of physical healing for D)

It was fun to have my little ones meet the characters, ride the rides, and enjoy their prizes; it was fun to have my eldest enjoy the shows, the music, and the company of most of his favorite people (Mawmaw and Daddyghee and Aunt Nana); it was fun to have some time to hold my husband's hand and walk around in a completely different place without having to think of work left undone at home.  But best of all, the cynicism that kept me from believing that D could be healed in this lifetime is gone. In the words of Mickey Mouse, "If only you believe, dreams really do come true!" 

But thank God I don't have to rely on MY belief.  The poetry of the Psalms speaks to me again; at various times in my life, the Psalms have brought encouragement, hope, and joy when I couldn't find it any other way.  Psalm 147:3 "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds[,]"  is just before the verse that declares God determines the number of and names the stars. Both awe-inspiring tasks of an awesome God. Verses from Psalm 103 also provide comfort-- eternal hope even, secured through my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ-- a passage which reminds me that He will give me the belief I need because of his everlasting mercy and unending love:

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
        and forget not all his benefits,
    who forgives all your iniquity,
        who heals all your diseases,
    who redeems your life from the pit,
        who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
    who satisfies you with good
        so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
(Psalm 103:2-5 ESV)