And, he spake this parable unto them, saying, "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
Luke 15:3-7
My son, Jimmy has always been feisty, lively and he his heart is exceptionally big! At the tender age of 7 he welcomed the Lord Jesus into his life as his Lord and Savior after seeing a church production of "The Passion Play" more commonly known as The Easter Story.
To say he was passionate as a young Christian would be understated and toned-down. An African missionary visited our church, showing slides of the territory and the people he ministered to. One such slide revealed the swollen abdomens of children with severe malnutrition.
Jimmy came to me the very next day and gave me $0.62 cents to send to those children so they would not go hungry. He said that he couldn't forget or ignore the pictures he had seen of little kids who were so very hungry.
That said, Jimmy strayed as he grew up and he eventually joined the USAF. He married and had three beautiful children with his wife, Shana. Jimmy excelled in the air force and was even named one of twelve airmen around the world in 2008.
Long story short, allow me to fast forward his life to a place no mother wants to go to. Jimmy had an injury to his neck and to his back while he was in the air force. The injury was so that he needed surgery instead and in their great wisdom the doctors put Jimmy on some hard and powerful narcotics.
He was on them so long that he eventually began to have seizures. I received a call one day from an emergency room doctor telling me if we wanted to see him alive, we needed to get to San Antonio, Texas as this particular seizure was affecting his heart.
I was on a plane the very next day, my husband and our oldest son flew out within the next two days. The seizures caused the air force to deem Jimmy ineligible for deployment, so they gave him an "honorable medical discharge!"
Air force doctors also pulled his pain pills without first weaning him off of them. I'm sure you can see where this is going, yes Jimmy went to the street to get the narcotics his system was so habituated to. His wife got him into a rehab and while he did well, his mind wasn't really into it... so he relapsed.
While "hitting bottom" had come to my mind several times, Jimmy's bottom was much lower... so to speak. His wife wanted him out of the home and rightly so, because of their children.
Jimmy and I invariably had a firm and faithful relationship, we were strangely, very much alike in personalities. I tried my best to keep in touch with him, usually by texting him at night, letting him know I loved him and I was praying for him. He would always return a text stating, "I love you too, Ma!"
However, one night came and he didn't get back to me. Then it was a week... two weeks... three weeks... and the enemy would tell me he was lying dead in some ditch with an overdose. This mom would get on her knees as I always did for my boys and their families, but now I was particularly determined to 'pray through' praying Jimmy's soul into God's Kingdom once again!
I prayed long and I prayed hard! I refused to give up on my son I would not let street drugs take his life if I had anything to say about it!! If it took one hour or my lifetime, I was determined to pray for his health and his soul, I prayed through many nights promising myself I would NEVER GIVE UP ON MY JIMMY!!
(To Be Continued: Where Is My Jimmy..?? and My Promise to the Lord - Part 2 - Tomorrow)
Luke 15:3-7
My son, Jimmy has always been feisty, lively and he his heart is exceptionally big! At the tender age of 7 he welcomed the Lord Jesus into his life as his Lord and Savior after seeing a church production of "The Passion Play" more commonly known as The Easter Story.
To say he was passionate as a young Christian would be understated and toned-down. An African missionary visited our church, showing slides of the territory and the people he ministered to. One such slide revealed the swollen abdomens of children with severe malnutrition.
Jimmy came to me the very next day and gave me $0.62 cents to send to those children so they would not go hungry. He said that he couldn't forget or ignore the pictures he had seen of little kids who were so very hungry.
That said, Jimmy strayed as he grew up and he eventually joined the USAF. He married and had three beautiful children with his wife, Shana. Jimmy excelled in the air force and was even named one of twelve airmen around the world in 2008.
Long story short, allow me to fast forward his life to a place no mother wants to go to. Jimmy had an injury to his neck and to his back while he was in the air force. The injury was so that he needed surgery instead and in their great wisdom the doctors put Jimmy on some hard and powerful narcotics.
He was on them so long that he eventually began to have seizures. I received a call one day from an emergency room doctor telling me if we wanted to see him alive, we needed to get to San Antonio, Texas as this particular seizure was affecting his heart.
I was on a plane the very next day, my husband and our oldest son flew out within the next two days. The seizures caused the air force to deem Jimmy ineligible for deployment, so they gave him an "honorable medical discharge!"
Air force doctors also pulled his pain pills without first weaning him off of them. I'm sure you can see where this is going, yes Jimmy went to the street to get the narcotics his system was so habituated to. His wife got him into a rehab and while he did well, his mind wasn't really into it... so he relapsed.
While "hitting bottom" had come to my mind several times, Jimmy's bottom was much lower... so to speak. His wife wanted him out of the home and rightly so, because of their children.
Jimmy and I invariably had a firm and faithful relationship, we were strangely, very much alike in personalities. I tried my best to keep in touch with him, usually by texting him at night, letting him know I loved him and I was praying for him. He would always return a text stating, "I love you too, Ma!"
However, one night came and he didn't get back to me. Then it was a week... two weeks... three weeks... and the enemy would tell me he was lying dead in some ditch with an overdose. This mom would get on her knees as I always did for my boys and their families, but now I was particularly determined to 'pray through' praying Jimmy's soul into God's Kingdom once again!
I prayed long and I prayed hard! I refused to give up on my son I would not let street drugs take his life if I had anything to say about it!! If it took one hour or my lifetime, I was determined to pray for his health and his soul, I prayed through many nights promising myself I would NEVER GIVE UP ON MY JIMMY!!
(To Be Continued: Where Is My Jimmy..?? and My Promise to the Lord - Part 2 - Tomorrow)
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