God's Special Gift

Recently a friend gave birth to a pre-mature daughter. She weighed in at 2 lbs and 1 oz. She is so tiny but we are reminded how God made all the delicate, inner parts of her little body. She is fearfully and wonderfully made by her creator. (Psalm 139:13,14)

Thinking about little Olivia Faith brings back memories of my firstborn. Don and I had been married almost 5 years when we got the news we had been longing for. We were going to have a baby and the due date was June 1st, her daddy's birthday.

Don and I loved children. We had met at a children's church camp. We had worked at the Assemblies of God National Children's Home where we were dorm parents to 15 boys and girls, ages 6-9. At the time of our good news, we were foster parents to two little brothers from Germany that we loved like our own sons. Alfred and Peter, ages 5 and 3 were excited for the coming baby.

On Easter Sunday, April 9th, I had a hard day. I had so much back pain that I could hardly sit in church. I cooked dinner for several of Don's family members and at one point I went outside, leaned against the house and cried out to God to help me with the intense pain. The pain kept me up most of the night and so Don drove me to the doctor on Monday morning. To our surprise, I was completely dilated and our baby was coming 7 weeks early.

Sandra June (named after my two sisters) weighed in at 4 lbs. They rushed her away after she was born and I didn't get to see her for two days. (They did things much different in l967.) Don would look at Sandra through the nursery window and try to describe her to me. "She has dark hair....she has eyebrows....she even has fingernails on her tiny fingers," he relayed to me with excitement. He was so fascinated with how perfectly she was made.

After a few days, the doctor told us Sandra had a 50/50 chance to make it. She wouldn't suck and they were having trouble with all the tubes she was hooked up to . We lived 25 miles from the hospital but every day we would go to look at her through the nursery window. She looked so small and pitiful.

On the third week after Sandra's birth, I received a call from our doctor. He informed me that Sandra was not doing well and her chances of survival had gone down. Don was at his swing shift job and I had no one to talk to but the Lord. I looked at the crib set up in our room, and fell across the bed crying with groans from my deepest being. At first I begged God to heal my baby but before the night was over I had to give her back to God and ask His will to be done. The next morning I could tell by Don's eyes that he too had done battle in his heart for a big part of the night.

After breakfast we headed to the hospital. I was leaning against the nursery window with tears streaming down my cheeks when our Pastor walked up. He asked us to join hands. He took Don's hand and laid his other hand on the nursery window and began to pray in Jesus' name for our little angel. The presence of the Lord was so strong and I knew God had touched our daughter.

Later that day I had an urgent feeling that I had to get back to the hospital. Don said, "Honey, there isn't anything you can do but stand there. We'll go again in the morning." I couldn't get it out of my heart that I had to get back to the hospital. Don made arrangements for a neighbor to pick up Alfred from school and we headed back to the hospital in Moses Lake.

As soon as we walked up to the nursery window, a nurse came out and told us a wonderful thing had happened. Right after we left that morning, Sandra's feeding tube had clogged. When the nurse took it out, Sandra started a sucking motion. They tried giving her a bottle and she drank some formula. She looked so peaceful sleeping in her bassinet without her tube.

From that day forth, Sandra started to gain weight and when she was 26 days old, the doctor let us take her home weighing 4 lbs 15 oz. For the first time since her birth, Don and I held our little girl in our arms. No words were said, but we both knew in our hearts that this little one was God's gift, given to us to raise.

The Bible says, "Children are a gift from the Lord: they are a reward from Him." Psalm 127:3 (NLT) Sandra has definitely been a special reward to me and I am eternally grateful for God's healing power that made it possible for me to have her these 43 years.

My heart goes out to little Olivia Faith and her sweet family. Every day I call her name in prayer because I know "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Hebrews 13:8