Chapter 11

Praying in any form is powerful…

Every mother asks for her child’s safety, good health and happiness in her prayers. Whenever I spoke to God, I asked him to cure my daughter inspite of knowing that Autism cannot be cured. Now I had one more request, “Lord kindly gift me a healthy child”. My mother made her own demands from Lord and my gynaecologist prayed for me too. My friends wanted to help me in whatever ways they could, teachers in school promised to take responsibility of my daughter in the best way they could. I felt totally blessed.

I was advised complete bed rest with a strict diet due to the possibility of some complications. My daughter displayed anxiety in a couple of situations which could be due to less active involvement from my side. My family contributed to the best of its capacity to fill the gap. I tried looking at this as an opportunity for her to learn to function without me for times to come.

It was Sports Day and I was super excited to see my daughter’s progress over these years. My doctor granted me permission to attend it, with a long list of precautions. It was a fantastic performance by her; she ran on time, on her track and did the activity planned, with just verbal prompts. I did cheer and scream, wanted to run and hug her….I thanked Lord! I wondered if parents of children who could do all of these without help and extra effort, knew how lucky and blessed they are!!!

And then came an emergency, my neighbour friend accompanied me to the nursing home, my doctors rushed to see me, did the needful and shifted me to the ICU of a big hospital. I remember holding my doctor’s hands and begging, “I want the baby…I want to be alive for my daughter too…” She said shakily “It will be a miracle if the baby survives!”
I left everything in the hands of the Almighty!
My cousin came with me in the ambulance. She kept praying and assuring me until we reached the ICU. Husband was out of town, nervous and desperate to get a flight back home! Later in the evening I received a call from the teachers of school in which they said that they will take complete care of my daughter and that I did not need to worry at all. This assurance was magical and gradually we could overcome the crisis!

The next one month was crucial and full of restrictions. My daughter got used to my limitations and learnt to accept them. She probably wanted to know more about why I was ill, how long would I be ill and whether I would become active again like before.

Finally our little boy made his grand entry! My gynaecologist said, “I was ready to handle 100 problems, and you gave me none!” The team of doctors were much relieved and everyone rejoiced! The reception of our nursing home could not accommodate the large number of visitors, who had come for our support.

Gratitude for the present moment and the fullness of life now is the true prosperity.” – Eckhart Tolle