For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
Psalm 27:5-9
Glorified with Him
A few weeks back Angie mentioned to Ryne that this Romans passage is one that she would like to commit to memory.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:15-17
Though we currently walk through trials, we can rest knowing that our position is secured in Christ. We have been adopted into God’s family and are heirs with Christ of coming glory.
Pray for Angie
- For ease of breathing
- For healing of her brain
- For increased awareness and responsiveness
- For Angie to wake up and be restored
I have trusted in Your steadfast love
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 13
Hope
This has been the most unexplainable, traumatic experience of our lives. I have seen God’s grace and love abound in those who have come to our side night after night, how He has united Alex, Ryne, and myself in this process, with the people who have prayed with us and for us, and even more spectacularly, in the stories from people who came to know our Angie so well.
Angie has shared her love and light so much further than we could have ever imagined. I praise God for every day I have with her; to just kiss and hold her hand again. She truly is the strongest, most faithful, and remarkable woman I have ever known and I am so grateful God has given me the gift of being her twin sister and best friend and having been so deeply known and loved for every single day of my existence by this incredible person.
I have hope in my God and in my sweet sissy that she can and will overcome this and I am prepared to stand by her every step of the way every day for the rest my life. I’m sorry if I or Alex have not had the time to respond to all of you but please know that your love and prayers mean EVERYTHING to us.
Please keep praying and please keep sharing so others might pray along with us.
– Amanda
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Psalm 23
This psalm has been really impactful for us, and Ryne has been reading it at Angie’s bedside.
Thank you all so much!
In the last four days, we’ve seen such an outpouring of love from friends, family, and the Church body. We’re so humbled by the generosity you’ve shown and continue to show through the GoFundMe page.
Thank you for continuing to lift up Angie and Ryne in prayer. The group that came out to Sparrow on Thursday was a great reminder of the strength and support of the Church body around us.
Life Hits Hard & We Stand Strong
On Tuesday, August 21, 2018 the unimaginable hit.
To avoid retelling the painful narrative that’s now the truth in which we walk, we’ll give a brief summary of the situation. Angie was biking home in the early evening and was struck by a vehicle, sustaining a serious head trauma. Angie was immediately transported to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing and thus began the horrible dream through which we’re wading.
It’s in these moments that words cease to form and emotions overwhelm our whole being. All we can cling to is the truth of who God is. We know He is good. We know He is sovereign. We desperately cry out in pain and longing for our wife, sister, daughter, and friend, yet through our tears, trust that God’s will is being fulfilled.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 2:22-23
We look to Scripture and see how full it is of God’s people calling out to Him in anguish and suffering; and there’s great comfort in that.
We don’t need to have all the answers.
We don’t need to pretend that it’s easy to trust God.
We don’t need to cover our emotions in self-resilience.
We simply rest in the truth of who God is and trust that in every situation we can bring Him glory.
After 72 hours there haven’t been a ton of changes in Angie’s situation, but we’d like to update you on what has happened and what we can be thankful for and what we still need to pray for.
- Angie sustained a serious head trauma in the accident with multiple skull fractures
- The swelling in the brain has since come down to heightened but manageable levels
- Angie was successfully transferred to and from the MRI which is a huge success and incredibly helpful for the doctors to gauge the scope of the situation
- Continued tests and prompts have revealed that Angie’s brain is harmed, but healthy
- At this time there’s not a need for surgery and she’s out of the immediate critical risk of stroke
- Her heart is strong and veins and arteries are open and flowing
- Family has been around to comfort and provide meals
Thank you all for the continued prayers and offers to serve and love Ryne, Angie, Amanda, and Alex in this incredibly tough time. So many of you have been present and expressed a willingness to step into the providing of material needs – that speaks volumes to everyone!
To respect the continued vulnerability and emotional rawness that everyone is going through, we’ll be using this blog as a central landing point for all updates and prayer-requests. Please pass this around to family and friends that have asked about the situation. One of the best ways we can love Angie, Ryne, Amanda, and the family is to give them the space to process through this unknown and unknowable territory.
This week life hit us all hard, yet we can stand strong knowing God is our God and that is enough.
Prayer
- For endurance
- For God to overwhelmingly comfort the red-hot pain
- For God to cast out our fears
- For miraculous healing
- To trust in the Lord’s sovereignty
- For Angie to wake up and be restored
Prayer at 8pm
There is power in prayer. We may not have the words to pray, but God calls us to cast our sorrows on Him.
The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Romans 8:26
Each day at 8:00pm we’re encouraging people to raise up Angie in prayer. Whether you stop in the Sparrow Hospital first floor lobby or set an alarm on your phone to remind you while you’re studying at home, God moves through prayer.
If you’re with friends, ask to stop in prayer for a few minutes. If you’re in the car, pause the music and pray for a minute. Let us not stop raising up our sister to God through prayer.
We’ll be posting prayer requests and scriptures of prayer regularly, so click here if you don’t know what to pray.