Shelter of My Heart - Follow Up

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

I wanted to post the video from our service Sunday where I presented my devotional from Friday called the Shelter of My Heart. I asked my oldest son Niah if he would record it - which he was happy to do. The video is a little shaky in spots. In the future we will remember the tri-pod. I don't think you will get motion sickness watching it.

I am trying to stretch and grow not only as a writer but as a speaker. At the beginning of the year my pastor asked what I wanted to focus on in the next 30 - 90 days. I said I'd like to work on being a better speaker. So we have started with these 3-5 minute pieces that I have been doing during our service as Reflections. The first week I did one on Wilson Bentley - The Snowflake man. I did not get that one recorded but you can read it by clicking the link on the title. The plan is do these short pieces for a while and then to do a shared sermon and finally be able to do the message on my own. So it is an adventure for me to move from sharing my thoughts in written form to speaking them. Not sure where it will take me but I am enjoying the opportunity to grow in this area.  I felt good about how it went.
Anyway I thought you might enjoy seeing some of this unfold. So I am sharing the video.

It seems no sooner did these words about change leave my mouth than I had a new and un-expected one to deal with.

Cai in the Emergency Waiting Room

Cai's Collar bone x-ray

I was sitting on the couch yesterday afternoon trying to up load the video, when I got a call from my son's friend. Cai my youngest and his friend Ronald had decided to go bike riding on the snowy streets. So the call was to tell me that Cai had crashed and Ronald was having trouble getting him to sit up. I had him tell me where there were in the neighborhood and I headed that way. When I got there Cai was sitting in a ball holding his right arm. We thought that perhaps he had dislocated it. So we set off to find an Urgent Care. Seems one should not get hurt or sick early Sunday afternoon or evening because they were all closed or would be by the time we could reach them. So we went instead to the emergency room. There we found out that it was not a dislocated shoulder but his collar bone. After getting the x-rays back they determined that it was pretty messed up. It was broken in three place and part of the bone was at right angles. Not good and according to the doctors one of the worse looking breaks they had seen. So they proceeded to numb the area and attempted to get the bones back into the right places.

Cai was a trouper through the whole painful experience. Particularly because his brother and friend, were nervous and trying to help by trying hard not to say things that would make Cai laugh. Sadly that proved to be a difficult task. We left them in the waiting room while the doctors determined what needed done.  We were finally sent home with Cai's arm in a sling, a prescription for pain medication and instructions to call Shriners today and have them decide how to proceed. We have not had many trips to emergency as a family and have never had to go to Shriners. So this will be a whole new adventure for us.  I guess some changes are un-expected and catch you by surprise. Not sure what the next days and weeks will unfold on this journey. The emergency room doctors thought that Shriners might decide to do surgery to put in some sort of plate to hold the bones in place. What ever the case Cai has a healing journey ahead of him. With it being his right hand it is sure to present some challenges for him for school and things like playing piano and marimba may be on hold for a bit.

I realize for myself that I hold it together pretty well in stressful situations but afterwards I start to process and think of all the things that could have happened or that we might have to deal with. I finally just decided to go to bed and trust that the Lord would help us on this new journey.  So by the time we got home I was done. I probably should have called some family members to let them know what was going on but I elected to do that today. It was pretty late before we knew much of anything anyway.

The Shelter of My Heart is Jesus, he grounds and stabilizes me when I find myself thrust into un-expected changes.  I am also thankful for the people around me who help me sort things out. Who pray with me, who encourage, who care. Those who share the journey with us and even those who follow along from a distance.  Please be praying for Cai, my 12 year old son as he deals with the pain and the healing process and coping with changes resulting from not being able to use his right arm for a bit.

Prayer: Lord I lift up these readers. I thank you for each of them and pray that you would help them with the changes they are facing or will be facing. Help us each to find our resting place in you. Steady us with your live and guide us by your hand as we walk with you day by day and step by step.