One of our children has had significant struggles with anxiety the past three years. It started with an illness, and has flared up in many different ways. They are under the care of a brilliant psychiatrist who has prescribed various meds, which have certainly helped.
After a recent unpleasant experience at the dentist, they’ve had panic attacks far worse than any before. They occur around bedtime and keep them (and their mama) up for an extra hour or two. Hyperventilating. Freaking out at trivial things. They have bad dreams about the dentist. If you have anxiety or are close to someone who does, you probably know we could go on recounting the stories for a very, very long time.
Then a couple nights ago, it lifted.
The panic attacks are basically gone, like they evaporated. This child usually meets me at the door happy now, instead of with the latest crisis.
Jealousy is being replaced with, “I’m so happy for them!”
This person has not enjoyed running around outside for several years. Now they ask if we can go for a walk as a family and they enjoy frisbee with their sibs.
And they are finally able to cry. Always they held the tears in, trying to be strong. Last night, for the first time, they cried when their sister was sad about our guinea pigs that died a couple years back.
That’s all brand new.
The Spirit about them is light whereas it used to be weighed down a lot, and they recognize this, too.
Two weeks ago they were terribly concerned about body image, afraid they would never get married and therefore never have children. Today they accept their body the way it is, and feel “content” with it.
We did not pray any specific prayers that night. They just woke up different.
Was this a real miracle? Sometimes people just change, you know. They’re tired of the hum drum and decide to step out in a new direction. People also morph into something beautiful when a kind word strikes home in just the right way. In other instances, an experience permanently changes our perspective. But I can’t find any of these in this story. I interviewed them, looking for such events.
Addendum: It’s been about a month now. We are still having some anxiety issues when life isn’t going like we want. But overall the panic attacks are resolved.
They don’t always meet me happy at the door, but it’s still noticeably different.
They still enjoy being outside and asked to ride their bike today.
They still cry, which again was totally new.
The body image thing went away and never came back.
Pretty sure it was a plain old miracle.
Free Spirit Seed Company 