Today I had an argument with my son, my teenager. It wasn't a big argument really, but I found myself irritated. He was making smoothies in the mini blender. As he was scooping in peanut butter, honey and milk, I became frustrated that he didn't know how to use the blender and was warning him that he could burn out the motor if he didn't add enough liquid to those ingredients. After he got it to a sticky paste-like texture he added frozen mangos! Because I was thinking there was no way the blender could handle the job, I poured in more milk. He got upset because I'd made it too liquidy, ruining his smoothie to no longer be thick like the ones at the smoothie place.

Suddenly realizing what in the world was happening, I just walked away laughing and shaking my head. Why is this even relevant here, you may be wondering? Well, when this same son was three years old, he had complained of a "hot" tongue one day when I gave him a bite of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I began noticing other health issues that alarmed me also. For example, whenever we went to a friend's house (who had a large hairy dog), his eyes got blood-shot red, and little raised dots formed on his face, like tiny hives. In addition to this, after a bowl of cereal, his face would flush and little pink dots formed around his mouth. 

For these reasons, I'd taken him to an allergist where he tested positive for several food allergies (including milk and peanuts) as well as testing positive for a dog allergy and multiple trees and plants, etc. I'll never forget that day. The doctor and I had a conversation, then the nurse returned to go over the results with me. As she talked, she explained the medications she was putting in a brown paper bag, including an Epi-pen for the peanut allergy. That's an Epinephrine injection (shot to the thigh) for an emergency anaphylactic reaction (airway swelling that restricts breathing or closes the airway altogether)! 

"But will he ever be able to have peanut butter? Can he grow out of this allergy?" I had asked, almost pleading for her answer to be a positive one. 

"With peanuts, you never want to take a risk. One day, it may be a mild allergy, and the next, the mere smell could lead a person into anaphylactic shock." Her words sunk into my soul, instantly instilling fear and alarm.

I was shell-shocked as she escorted my three-year-old son and me to the counter with the billing receptionist. As I got into my car with the "sack lunch" bag of "goodies" which my son would now be taking, I cried silently, so as not to alert my son who was buckled in his car seat behind me. 

Over the next ten years, he would battle those allergies along with his asthma, which included more "fixes" like inhalers, steroids, nebulizers, nasal sprays, daily pills, you name it. 

So how could he eat a peanut butter smoothie with milk, you may be wondering? Only by the wonder-working-power of the Lord! In the last year and a half I've watched my son, a young teenager, walk out these allergies and symptoms with the boldest of bold faith. As a mom, those moments were not easy. Where my limited faith wanted to plunge the inhaler in his hand when he could hardly breathe, chest heaving, he'd tell me, "No mom. I don't need it." 

When I asked him recently how he walked through the healing process with the Lord, he said he resisted the devil, and he fled. In James 4:7, it says, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Like me, my son also repented in his heart and leaned into the goodness of the Lord, trusting Him with his very breath and his life. He resisted the devil with every action that echoed, "I am healed!" And the devil fled! May your faith arise as a mother! And may the faith of your children soar!

"And God said, 'Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.'" Genesis 1:29 ESV

What foolishness to argue over the consistency of a peanut butter smoothie and whether or not it will burn up the motor in the blender. If necessary, I'll buy another blender! But, in Jesus name, my son, keep enjoying the goodness of the Lord. And you too, may you drink it up to overflowing! May you spread your faith-paste like peanut butter, onto every lying symptom, until they vanish in Jesus' name!

"Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phillippians 2:9-11 

The name of Jesus is above every name, and that includes Sensory Processing Disorder, Autism, Asthma, Cerebral Palsy, food allergies, and the like! Not one single name can be exalted above THE name. Amen.