Lots of Prayers Needed!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. This last month my parents have been renovating the kitchen of the house we rent from them. It should be finished in the next couple of weeks and what a blessing it will be! My daughter is finished with preschool for the summer, and so any extra energy I have has been going toward caring for my family and enjoying the warmer weather before it becomes too hot to be outside!

Tomorrow is a BIG day, though, and I sure could use some extra prayers. After 20 months of wading through the disability process and being denied twice, I will have my hearing in the morning. My attorney thinks I have a good chance of being granted disability since my pain affects my standing, walking, and most importantly sitting ability.  But I know that anything can happen and it's really in the hands of the judge who will be hearing my case. If I am not given disability benefits then there would not be any reason for me to reapply unless my condition worsens. Please pray that I will explain my pain/limitations well , that the judge will be empathetic, and that he will see how my pain prohibits me from working. Pray that we will trust God no matter what the decision is. (We will not get a response for 30-60 days).

I have continued to see myofascial release therapist for the last 3 months, but I am not seeing any real improvement. The biggest issue is that this therapist is not trained to work on the pelvic floor and without that my sitting ability is not likely to improve. I am not sure what to do honestly. I have tried almost every therapist in this area that I can find who has any experience at all in the pelvic floor. I continue to try to research and call other therapists in this area, but it seems I am out of options. It's hard to understand why God would put us in an area without knowledgeable health care providers to help me, but for some reason He has not allowed us to leave this area yet. It is extremely frustrating and discouraging and were it not for Christ I would despair (and rightfully so!). Please pray against the temptation to worry and despair. Pray that God in His timing would provide a way for me to manage my pain better or preferably that He would take it away!

I am 9 days shy of being 5 months post-op from hip surgery for FAI/labral tear. The last few weeks I have been dealing with a lot of operative side knee pain again. I have had problems with this knee on/off for several years, but especially after surgery. My PT (that I travel 2.5 hours to see every 4-6 weeks) thinks the knee pain is due to my quad and glute weakness which is causing my femur to rotate internally when walking. Also my IT band is extremely tight and overworked due to extreme weakness in my adductors/vastus medialis. Unfortunately I struggle to do very much strengthening because it increases my pelvic floor burning. Lately my knee pain has made walking and even standing painful. I've been using KT tape (which helps some), anti-inflammatories, foam rolling, warm Epsom salt baths/heat, self-massage/trigger point release, but I am still struggling. I am trying to get my insurance to cover a SERF strap, which my PT thinks may help with the hip internally rotating, but please pray that when I travel to see my therapist this week she will have some other tips to help me get this knee pain under control. Also pray that she will help me find some exercises in general that I can tolerate better in order to regain some strength.

Thank you for praying for our out of town trip back in April. It was not easy, but God gave great grace and allowed us a good visit with my husband's family. Also thank you for praying for my husband's job interview. Sadly, we are still waiting to hear whether my husband will get this promotion or not (he should finally hear this week, Lord willing), but we did learn that even if he gets this promotion the pay will only increase minimally. So he will actually work more hours for less money overall, due to changing from an hourly to a salaried position. This is of course disappointing, but we know God is in control of this as well and He knows what we need. Pray we would trust God to provide and that He would provide either through disability or a different job for my husband.

It seems the Lord has been and is continuing to teach us patience. I know I am far too often weary of having to wait, and I complain and worry about the trials we face. But I pray God will help us hold firm to Him till the end and that we would fix our eyes on Him as we wait.