It is during my moments of deepest despair that I find myself clinging to my faith, desperate for the peace and comfort that I can only seem to get from God. Then as things settle down and become status quo I find that my spirituality regresses back to it’s former state of reduced priority. Unless I make the conscious effort to nurture my relationship with God, it will fall by the wayside, as it goes with any relationship. It is clear to me why God would allow us to go through trying and tragic circumstances. He wants to be in a relationship with us. He wants to be able to comfort us as only He can. Because He gave us free will we can make the decision to go through a crisis with Him or without Him. I’ve been through enough without Him to realize the benefit of prayerfully relying on Him. Trying to get through the hard times on my own seem to be what I imagine it would be like to drive a car without a steering wheel. The car will roll along just fine while the road is smooth and straight, but throw in a few curves, pot holes, squirrels, steep hills and detours and I’ve got myself into quite a predicament. I can either slam on the brakes and go no where, missing out on the journey altogether, or I can go careening off the road into a blazing inferno. I think I’d just rather have the steering wheel!!! And perhaps God ought to be the one driving. Really, He’s the one who knows the way – not me. There are the days where I’d much rather He’d stop with all the hilly back roads and just get onto the highway. But if He did, I’d have missed so much. I trust He knows where He’s taking me, so I’m going to roll my window down and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way. Scenery that looks back at me with such sweetness and smiles.
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord ;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
(Isaiah 40:3-4 NIV)
iwillcarryyou 
Aw, such sweet squeezable cheeks free of tape and tubes. Nora says “Wee that feels sooo good!”. Your cutie pie is so alert to what is going on in her world! Love to all.
Beautiful analogy! Beautiful photos of sweet Nora! Praying for you everyday.
Your writings are amazing! What a wonderful comparison that makes so much sense! Happy first day of school to the kids!
Beautiful and true! Thank you for being an amazing gift, and answer to my prayers.
What a beautiful post and such a great thing to remember. We should all be able to let God drive and just roll the windows down and enjoy the scenery. I love that!
And those cheeks?! Oh. My. Goodness. The sweetness knows no bounds with Miss Nora. Her little face is so gorgeous in every picture, but without the patches and tubes- simply perfection.
Oh Aleisa ……. again, I am tearful because your words touch me so. Tearful, because they are so incredibly profound. Tearful, because I have experienced this same road trip in a car with no guidance at my doing, and tearful because I AM SO SORRY little Nora Rose and your family are enduring such a journey. I wish I could hold her and buy you a cup of coffee! In retrospect of my family members going to Heaven, I now see that the “suffering” WAS part of the incredible journey and I see that YOU already “get it!” When you are feeling beaten up by your difficult circumstances, I hope you remember that God is SMILING down on you everyday for remaining faithful, for providing this blog for all of us to travel with you and for praising His name in spite of it all. Zephaniah 3:17 – “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Look up…. I see God smiling down on YOU right now, and what’s that…. singing!!!!!! Thank you for POURING your heart out to your thousands of friends all over the world, we are changed in Christ because of YOU!!!!! (and sweet baby Nora Rose)!!! All of our love and support!
Amen Barbara!
Beautiful words! What a gift God has given you! Keeping you in prayer.
Yay! Pictures with no O2sies! She’s sooo tute! Oh how your words touch so many people!!!
Thank you for sharing all of this. My situation is NOTHING like yours, but reading and seeing everything going on is so very encouraging to me. I know you have many readers, but add me to your list of people praying for and with you! Nora is a very special little lady and her story helped a dear friend of mine going through a similarly tough situation. Her little man was born with encephalocele. W’s was on the back of his skull and life threatening. God brought him through birth, 6 wks of life with the cele, and surgery to remove it. I just wanted to let you know, not only is she telling others about Christ through her momma and family, Nora is encouraging other families that have children who “aren’t compatible with life” stay strong. So thank you. Thank you for sharing the good and tough times with all of us.
When I looked at the first few pictures, I sensed something is different. Then as I scrolled down I realized it was her tubes and tape being added. I love your blog and comparisons. I thougt of the song of Carrie Underwood – “Jesus Take The Wheel”. So that is so true that we need Jesus as our driver just as Nora for now needs her oxygen for her breathing. Jesus is our breath of life. My prayers continue for you.
You are so loved and thought of! XO
Lisa
Perfection! Your post today is awesome!
Not only has God entrusted you with this beautiful angel but HE has given you such a gift with writing. I look forward to your daily posts not only to see pics of little miss but for your perfectly timed messages that I am sure touch so many lives. Thank you for sharing!
Absolutely beautiful…your post and little Miss Nora Rose!!
you are a true shephard of Christ, with words I am sure inspired by the Holy Spirit.
There are no words to describe the profound effect this blog has had on me and how many others (I work with women who have n\breast cancer) I have directed to your page. My faith is being renewed that god is alive in our world.
What a gorgeous baby girl! I love her beautiful pictures! What a wonderful momma! I love her words!!
ALEISA, YOUR WRITING IS A GIFT FROM GOD. THERE ARE NOT MANY PEOPLE THAT I KNOW CAN EXPRESS WHAT THEY WANT TO SAY LIKE YOU CAN. YOUR BLOG TOUCHES SO MANY PEOPLE EACH AND EVERY DAY. NORA ROSE IS A PROPHET OF GOD’S, AND SHE WORKS THROUGH YOU. THE TWO OF YOU INSPIRES PEOPLE TO BE BETTER CHRISTIANS. THE PICTURES OF NORA WITHOUT ALL THOSE TUBES ARE BEAUTIFUL. HER LITTLE CHEEKS, BEAUTIFUL BLUE EYES AND THE PRETTIEST LITTLE LIPS MAKE HER ONE GORGEOUS LITTLE GIRL. SHE IS DOING SO GOOD, JUST HAVING HER OXYGEN OFF FOR A LITTLE WHILE. GUESS I WILL CONTINUE TO THE LAST BLOG I HAVE TO GET CAUGHT UP. LOVE YOU GUYS.
A link to this post came up on my facebook timeline, as I had shared it. I shared it again with the caption “This baby changed my life!” Think of you often and am grateful you shared your story.