Hello! My name is Grant Henderson. I am a senior at Reedy High School, and I currently serve in Kids and Students. 

I grew up in a Christian home with strong beliefs that ran through my family for generations so I was able to pick the minds of some of the strongest Christ-followers I know.  Ultimately, that led to me being baptized at a young age - when I was seven years old. I had had medical issues since the day I was born, with asthma, migraines as well as a congenital heart defect riddling my childhood with various visits to the hospital each month.  These things led me to begin to doubt the Lord and His Spirit in me. 

By the time I was twelve years old, I still walked with Christ in ways, but for the most part, I was separated from him. I believed but didn't live out his commandments. When the day came to have open-heart surgery, I was weak in my faith and slow to go to Christ, but everything changed that week. 

I underwent a successful 10-hour surgery on March 7th, 2019, and the following days in the hospital were nothing less than what is sometimes referred to as "hell on earth." Over 50 tubes and wires ran through and around my body, as they all performed bodily functions for me that I was not strong enough to perform myself. One of these tubes was excreting blood and other fluids from my stomach in order to reduce the risk of infection as this was a "high-risk" situation for me. The tube was inside me for two days, but finally the day came to remove it. Around four nurses came in and began working, and soon the tube was removed from my body, but not without struggle. 

With this having been in my mouth, another tube was doing all lung functions for me. This included the essential function of breathing. Once they took the tube out of my stomach, they also had to remove the oxygen tube, and this is where problems arose. I found myself struggling to breathe, gasping aimlessly with no cadence to my breaths, coming up short of sufficient air. I remember the gasping sound vividly, the room lights seeming to beat down on me with nurses and concerned family members surrounding me. In my eyes, it was a real-life nightmare, the most traumatizing moment of my short life. 

But as this was happening, my father somehow gathered the idea to play a song for me. Music has always held a large spot in my heart, with my dad being a singer and my mother being an instrumentalist (as well as myself). So it was well justified for him to play the song. As I was crying in pain, laying out in pure terror, "Fight for Me" by Gawvi rang through my dad's little blue Bose speaker, and he whispered to me the verse that will always hold true in all of our lives, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”(Joshua 1:9 NIV). 

This song, along with my favorite verse, gave me the supernatural strength to fight through the chaos around me and eventually overcome the fear and begin breathing normally - a relief to my family and nurses. My faith was transformed in Christ's name, and this experience, along with many other ones just like this in my time at the hospital, gave me the courage to fight the good fight and trust in the Lord with all my heart. These are something I carry with me daily now. I am now strong in my faith, walk with Christ,  and try my best to show that daily. 

If nothing else, take this away from my story: No matter the storm you are in, no matter what is happening in your life, there will always be a God Who is just and merciful, and that is something that will never change. Stand firm in your faith, and have a blessed Christmas.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What "chaos" is happening in your life that you could give to God, and what would it look like to give it to Him?

2. How has your walk with the Lord changed over the past year–through thick and thin?

3. What changes do you need to make in your life to more often turn your eyes to Christ?