Yesterday, at 5:36pm, my mobile phone began to vibrate on my desk at work. Just coming back from vacation with Corbin, I still had a lot of catching up to do and had planned to close out a few more issues before making my way towards home.
It was my father in law calling from out of town.
Where are you? You’re still at work? We have a situation.
It felt a little like August 16, 2005 when I sat in another cubicle, in another state, hearing about a situation.
My mind spun quickly about potential victims of this situation. Danny? His grandparents? Corbin?
Danny fell yesterday. At home. Alone.
I listened as my father in law explained the details that he knew and listed the people he’d called to go help Danny. I listened and I waited.
Hanging up the phone was the gun shot at the starting line. I threw my stuff in my bag, grabbing only what I needed. In my interview heels, I practically ran out the door and down three flights of stairs to my car. Pulling out of my parking space without even fastening my seatbelt, I called on my friends to pray.
P.S. I love Voxer.
Hi. Um, I’m zooming out of the office.
Danny fell in the bathroom. I have no idea what’s going on. I got a call form Hector who is in (out of town). Joel called him.
Dan.
I have no idea.
I.
Can.
I’m trying to get out of the office. I just need y’all to pray. I don’t’ know what’s happening. I don’t know where Corbin is. I don’t know what’s happening at home.
Danny’s parents are gone. The caregiver is gone.
And, I don’t know.
And, my girls, they rallied and prayed. I am so grateful.
By the time I reached home, Danny’s brother was there and Danny was finishing his shower.
He’d fallen off the shower bench while reaching out to back up his power wheelchair. It seems he slid off the bench between the wheelchair, bench and the shower walls. Perfectly pinned between them all, Danny attempted for half an hour to get off the floor by himself. Scratching his back badly and digging his right heel into the tile surround, he labored to stand. Thankfully, he’d forgotten to remove his phone from the wheelchair and he was able to call his brother for help.
Danny is, of course, pissed off at himself and I believe, embarrassed that three men had to help his naked-self get off the shower floor. He feels less than a man, like a loser, like he can’t do a “effing thing” for himself. His words, not mine.
We all know those are lies. Trash talking in the form of self-depreciation.
It’s Pray Day for Danny.
He has asked us to pray for more functionality in his right leg.
I’m asking that you pray for his mind.
Lies, especially the ones that we tell to ourselves, can often be the most detrimental. We beat ourselves up and fall into the cycle of defeat, not recognizing our own worth. We become a victim to ourselves and our own worst enemy.
Yet, we have to change our perspective and see ourselves as empowered and victorious no matter the circumstances we stumble upon, even on the bathroom floor.
So, I ask that you not only pray for Danny’s mind, but you take a couple of minutes to write a note of encouragement to him. Perhaps a quote, a Scripture verse, or even a reminder of progress you’ve seen in him?
Are you In On 10?
