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Strength to Care

Lessons from Matthew & Isaac – Our CHARGE Syndrome Journey

Can't sleep?

If you are like me…an interrupted night of sleep can have consequences that last a few days. Recently, after an overseas flight which included crossing many time zones, I spent several days catching up and to get my internal clock in line with the one on the wall. For some unknown reason, CHARGE kids and others with certain diagnosis, develop and show some strange habits in the area sleep.

Most of the time Matthew sleeps just fine…he will go to bed around 10:00 p.m. with no or just a little prompting from us. occasionally we get a whine out of him as we have and still do from our other children. His awake time, with little exception is alway around 7:30 a.m. where he will rock back-and-forth or start to play in his room on his own. But, ever so often he will start a pattern of not going to sleep, or will wake up at an odd hour as if it were morning. The worst is when he only manages a few hours of sleep in a night. The oddest thing about these episodes is that he still manages to wake up at his normal time. We have experienced with other children that the lack of sleep or a missed nap causes them to be cranky. In Matthew’s case he becomes obnoxiously happy and giddy. Often running up and down the hallway flapping his arms like a bird and slapping his legs as he goes. It can be quite humorous…for the first hour. We have no choice but to have one of us remain awake to do damage control.

It is usually quite different for me if I cannot sleep…sometimes it is an ill-timed coffee or a certain food that can keep me up. More often though it is worry or anxiousness that can keep me awake. I can usually correspond the worry with lack of quiet time and prayer. An old saying I can relate to is; “seven days without prayer makes one weak.”

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?…But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  Matthew 6 25-27, 33-34

These words ring in the new year for me. My motto and prayer for this year is to continually echo the words of the Gospel of Matthew…”Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” I will try to think like Matthew as he is much like the birds of the air, he does not sow or reap but we would never think about not providing for him and his needs. I can only imagine how my Heavenly Father wants to provide for me if I would only stop trying to do it all by myself and allow him to take control.

Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due.  William Ralph Inge

Can’t sleep…How much interest have you paid in the last week?

1 Comment

  1. Ann

    Thank you so much! In feel as if I have spent much of the past 6 months worrying and this really helped. Thank you!

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