Dopey me. I see I’ve slipped from choosing a theme for the day. So, the theme for today is: Benefits.

Psalm 103. A psalm with no requests. A psalm full of praise. A psalm about the greatest ‘benefits package’ you could ever want. A psalm where David blesses the Lord.

Psalm 103:1-5. Benefits. David sings about God’s benefits. He sings about three benefits: salvation, safety, and satisfaction.

Salvation. Benefit number one: God “forgives all your iniquity and heals all your diseases.” Sin is a sickness. A deadly sickness. Sin is a disease. An infectious disease. Sin is a sickness and a disease that has only one remedy, namely, Jesus. He took away our sin, our infirmities, and our deadly sickness. Healing! Salvation! God brought, and still brings, health to our souls! What a benefit!

Safety. Benefit number two: God “redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.” The pit. It’s not a pretty place to be. The pit is death. The pit is the grave. The pit is destruction. We were and are saved from the pit. We are safe. Safe and sound. God keeps us. God protects us from ending up in the pit again. He protects us from all the destruction around us. Better yet, we go from a pauper in the pit to a king in God’s presence! He crowns us. He crowns us with His love. He crowns us with His mercy. What a benefit!

Satisfaction. Benefit number three. God “satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Sir Mick has been singing “I can’t get no satisfaction” for years. Poor guy. Poor world. We CAN and we do get satisfaction. Good satisfaction. Eternal satisfaction. Better than any benefit the world can offer. We get filled with good things. We get filled with the right things. We get filled so well we feel young again. We feel strong again. Young and strong like an eagle. We will soar! What a benefit!

Three benefits. A benefits package like no other. Benefits for us. Benefits for Zach. Benefits that will help him run. Benefits worth thanking God for. Benefits worth praising God for. A reminder for all of us to “forget not all His benefits.”  

Today’s Updates:

Zach has made some good progress over the past couple days. Today, Zach followed a command to close his eyes! This happened at least four separate times throughout the day. Praise God for this progress in Zach’s brain recovery! Zach is still tracking well with his eyes. He cannot reliably respond to any commands beyond closing his eyes yet. Please pray that God will continue to heal Zach’s brain to allow him to communicate with us again.

On Monday and Tuesday, Zach would get very agitated whenever Megan, Ed, or Alice would leave his hospital room. While we are happy that it seems that Zach recognizes us and is more relaxed when we are with him, it was upsetting to see Zach so distressed when we needed to leave his room. The doctor gave him a medication to help regulate his mood, and Zach has remained much more calm over the past couple days.

Zach’s blood pressure became low yesterday morning, so they put him on a blood pressure support medication for a couple hours. They changed the timing of some of his calming medications to avoid lowering his blood pressure too much throughout the day, and Zach has been responding well to this change in the spacing of his meds. They are only checking Zach’s blood pressure every few hours now since it has stabilized well.

Zach still has a tiny pneumothorax, or collection of air, around his left lung. Please pray for healing in Zach’s lungs, also as he continues to battle his severe pneumonia. Neither of his chest tubes have active air leaks right now, which we are happy to see. The respiratory therapists deflated Zach’s trach cuff again yesterday and today, which allows him to partially breathe through his mouth and nose, instead of just through his tracheostomy. Zach has tolerated the “cuff down” trial well during the day. Please praise God that Zach is getting closer to breathing normally again.

The occupational therapist and physiotherapist have both checked on Zach. He got a splint for his left wrist to prevent him from over-extending it and to protect his tendons. Zach only wears the splint for a couple hours at a time for now. The physiotherapist also tried to sit him up today. Zach did pretty well for about a minute with assistance, but did not hold up his own head. Please pray that God will grant healing and strength so that Zach can sit up again and get a break from lying in bed.

Since Zach has made some progress over the last few days, the doctors will start arranging things so that they can transfer him to a Calgary hospital. Please pray that these preparations will go well and that the transfer will be beneficial for Zach. Please join us in thanking God for the progress that Zach has made in his breathing, calmness, and responsiveness over the last few days. We are so grateful for God’s healing hand in Zach, even when it may seem that he works slowly in our eyes. Please pray that Zach’s brain and body will continue to heal. Please pray for strength for Zach and the families in this healing journey.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 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 103:1-5)

“Have you not known? Have you not heard?The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

(Isaiah 40: 28-31)