Fight the Good Fight

2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.


Recently, this verse has meant more to me than days before. What does fighting the good fight really mean anyway? Sometimes, I believe, it means that we are going to battle someone or something directly. Other times it might be a battle within ourselves that we fight. We either come out victorious or we come out wiser. Either way, we come out swinging! Then there is that small, still voice that is ever persistent. It reminds us daily that to do what's right, to do what is good, to do what is noble and true, that in and of itself is a battle that we must learn to conquer!

Some people are born fighters. For some, the world has turned them in to a fighter. Not necessarily the negative type either.

 I like to think of myself as a natural, partially because I was born a fighter and partially because the world has turned me in to one.  I can't remember a time in my life where I have just laid down and quit. I don't believe it is in my DNA.

I am thankful!

Yesterday "The Parents of Sophie Stegg" received a letter in the mail. It was from the Michigan Department of Community Health. My heart started to race a little.

It was a thick envelope.

But small in length.

It was from the MAIN office.

Could it be?

I honestly felt as if I were a Senior in high school all over again delaying the opening of THE envelope telling me if I was accepted or that they were sorry. Because the envelope was thick I figured it had to be good news. Then again, the State of Michigan spares no expense in the amount of paperwork they send you for absolutely everything.

As I was opening the envelope my breathing sped  up and my fingers were fumbling. I wanted so desperately for this to finally say "Congratulations! Sophie has been approved for the Children's Medical Waiver" !

But it didn't!

We have one more step and form to fill out before we can have a final acceptance for Sophie. This final piece is asking for Sophie's income and assets, which is nothing. We have prepared for this moment by putting everything that we need for Sophie (like life insurance) as a separate rider and only $5000 so it can't count against her. We have savings accounts set up, in my name, specifically for Sophie. But, it can't count against her because we have learned to fight the good fight!

I am thankful!

I can't tell you how many times I almost gave up! The first phone call that I made asking to start this process was over a year and a half ago. While on the phone with the Department of Community Mental Health I was advised that this was going to be a long process followed by the questions asking me if I was up for the process and if I really wanted to go through with it because it was taxing and long and hard! 

It was exhausting!

It was a lot of paperwork!

It was taxing!

They weren't lying!

Then, when we didn't hear anything for a year because we were "on the waiting list to apply", yes, exactly..."waiting list to apply" makes no sense to me either" Then we received a bill in the mail for $540 for the pre-screening they did to start this process! Next it was having to start the entire process over again because it had been over a year and Sophie needed to be re-scored to see if she still had a high enough score.  I was just ready yo say screw it. We will continue to pay for extra insurance for her, for her medical equipment, her medicine, he specialist and therapy visits. We are making it work as it was so I almost just said stop the process!

But I didn't!

 I fought the good fight, I am finishing the race and I have kept my faith that everything was going to work out just perfectly and as it should be. I knew in my heart that Sophie would eventually  be approved for the CWP.

If I would have called it quits just when things got hard then I would have given Sophie the biggest disservice possible. She can't fight for her needs, for her rights, but she has a mama that can! She has a daddy that can too, but he leaves this stuff to me!  Soph can't fight this fight for herself and she DEPENDS on me to do it for her. 

For that, I am blessed!

I encourage you today to fight the good fight, finish the race and keep the faith! Don't sit back and let life pass you by. If there is something out there that you want bad enough, go fight for it. Make it happen. God will bless our efforts and He is always there. He never promised us it would be easy, but He did promise us He will never leave us nor forsake us. 

All things are possible, you just have to go make it happen!