Whitnee's journey with Christ

Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.

1 I will extol the Lord at all times;
    his praise will always be on my lips.
2 I will glory in the Lord;
    let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the Lord with me;
    let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
    their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
    he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
    and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
    for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Whoever of you loves life
    and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from telling lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to blot out their name from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
    but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,
    not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked;
    the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord will rescue his servants;
    no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Psalm 34 

Micah I know your memory of yesterday is still foggy so this letter to you might or might not make sense. I had sent you a text in the family group chat around 3pm yesterday asking to be excused from your game. I explained to you that I had to complete my FBI training and had to complete SLED certifications and it was mentally draining. Working in a field for over 15 years doesn’t make it easier when it comes to taking written exams as so I was grateful you were so gracious and understanding. You replied, “it’s okay ma u can stay home rest up.” I thought that was so kind of you because I know how much you love for us to come support you and cheer you on at the games. Even though you had given me the “green light” to rest there was something uneasy on my heart.

Your dad and I sat at home, he had a very long day at work too so he had decided to rest up and had agreed to pick you up for me so I could take a nap. He and I sat and talked and prayed over you, we kept praying for you. Your dad had not said anything but I guess he had a father’s intuition that something wasn’t right. Little did we know we would get a call from Emmanuel moments later that shook our hearts to the core.

When I saw Emmanuel’s name on the phone, my heart sank. I knew he wasn’t calling to see where we were because he knew I was trying to rest, so it could only be one thing- you were injured. All I can recall were the words, mom you need to get here Micah is hurt really bad and he fell on his neck. Micah out of all the phone calls I have gotten, out of all the times I have seen first hand people intentionally hurt you to slow you down on the court, out of all the times I have sat in the ER with you because of this injury or that one…something felt different.

I will admit panic set in quickly. I knew you were hurting and wasn’t there to stop it. I wasn’t there to pick you up and cradle you in my arms- I was mortified. Your dad and I rushed out of the door. Before we could get out of the house, Wacovia called and asked where I was. She had explained to me what happened and I could tell the sense of urgency in her voice- we were on the way and I didn’t care if Richland County had to follow us in the gym, we were doing 100 on the interstate to get to you to make sure you were okay. Not even 2 minutes after hanging up from Wacovia, the Athletic Trainer called. She gave her spill and told me you were able to get up and she just finished assessing you. (I never got calls like this before so I knew it was serious).

Time stood still and your dad and I did the only thing we knew how to do- pray. Your dad drove because I couldn’t stop shaking and I wanted to immediately send out prayer requests knowing that if I solicited prayers and we joined in agreement that God would hear us.

Emmanuel sent this picture:

We arrived at the school and rushed in to the gym- surprisingly the back door was open so we ran in and saw you sitting on the bench with your team. You were holding an ice pack to your head and rambling a thousand miles a minute. I caressed your arms and examined your neck and just sat there behind you being very intentional to make sure you were okay. Your dad and I noticed something was off because you kept repeating yourself, you kept saying you dreamt this happened and then the next second you kept saying, “wait what happened, why am I not in the game right now.”

Liam’s mom witnessed the whole thing and had this very concerned look on her face. Many people came up to us and you could see the panic in their eyes. I wanted to carry you out of the gym in my arms and take you straight to the ER but you wanted to stay and be a team player. You put the needs of your team above your own.

William and Emmanuel asked you a series of questions and when you couldn’t remember my middle name or what month it was we knew you had to be seen. I’ve never seen your pupils are dilated as they were; they looked like quarters or something.

We pulled up to the ER and we were greeted by your Uncle Regis. He thought you were coming in by ambulance as I had given him the heads up but I knew we would get you there much quicker!

No one could have prepared us for this long, antagonizing wait in the ER. It was like we were in the twilight zone, on an episode of Punk’D, or on Candid Camera! Do you remember the man who kept asking you and your dad to take him to the bathroom? Do you remember the dude that kept throwing up and refused to go to the bathroom so no one wouldn’t have to witness that. I know you remember the nurse that came out that was scratching her butt and had her hands in her pants. We all looked at each other and hoped she wasn’t the one taking care of you lol!

You were so anxious to know what happened to you that you asked one of your teammates whose mom you knew was recording to send you the clip. Micah you watched that video over and over and over and over and over and over. You watched it so much your battery went dead. When I watched it my heart sank again. The words I received from Emmanuel, Wacovia, and the Athletic trainer did not compare to what the video showed. MICAH YOU ARE HARD BODY!!!!! You are the toughest dude I have ever met like hands down.

Like you, I watched the video over and over but when I watched it in slow motion, I was in agonizing pain. I felt anger, pain, I was scared, I was shocked, numb, grateful and angry all at the same time. Not to criminalize myself, all I’m going to say is thank God the word says, “vengeance is mine says the Lord.” But if I could turn back the hands of time and be 16 again, I would be in jail instead of working at one. Anyway, I’ll move on!

I counted 4-5 seconds you laid on the ground motionless. I immediately glanced over at you sitting in the ER waiting room complaining about your head and I became furious.

They didn’t call you back until 1119 and didn’t take you to get X-rays until 1149. 145am rolled around and it was time for us to leave. I’ve never cried so much in my life. All kinds of things were going through my head.

They had given you a shot for pain and when I looked up I noticed your eyes were red. I don’t know if you were just that tired, you had burst a blood vessel in your eye, or what. We got home and your dad and I got you situated. We couldn’t sleep and I could tell your brothers were so worried about you.

You had a village of people who love you praying for you and showing so much care and concern.

The Bible says in Psalm 34:7, The Angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Like your dad said, we praise God from whom all blessings flow because you are amongst the living. Looking at that video, you could have had a broken neck, experienced internal bleeding, been paralyzed, or worse BUT GOD!!!!!!

I am praising God every second as I am crying tears of relief that you are still here. I’m not trying to scare you son but I want you to know you are a walking, talking, LIVING testimony! I could have been picking out your casket right now but by the grace of God I’m holding you and crying on your shoulder. You’ve never been the clingy type but don’t push me away because I’m so glad you are going to be okay!

NOTHING BUT GOD!

Psalm 34:1 says, I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Micah if you don’t do anything else consistently, I want you to wake up, eat, sleep, and poop praising God! I want you to thank Him for sending His angels for protecting you. I want you to know how BLESSED you are.

How many times has God protected you? How many times has He saved you from harm and danger? Thank God for His angels of protection. Thank God for wrapping His arms around you. Thank God for allowing you to “walk through the fire but come out not smelling like smoke.”

Micah as I sit here asking God to continue comforting my aching heart while giving praise to Him for being so good, it is my prayer that you are resting knowing God has you in His hands. From this moment forward you better not ever hesitate or miss the opportunity to tell folks just how good your God is.

I know you don’t like reading long messages so I’ll prepare to end it but I want you to know that I love you SO MUCH! You are my first born. You are the baby I carried for 42 weeks. You were my wild child that thought you were Superman and would jump off of dressers, tables, beds, and everything else without any fear. You are the one that has iron of steel. You Micah your name means, “who is like God?” There is nobody greater than God.

I love you son. Heal up, rest up, and stay up! Heal and get yourself back together before you get back on the court. You not going to get it back in blood like some would but I know this is going to add fuel to the fire to bring that DAWG out and have him off the leash. I’ll end it in the emphasis words of your dad, “EAT MUNCH 💪🏽!”