You are the defender of the weak

First, I have a praise report!!!! God had really been laying it on my heart for the last few weeks to reach out to supporters and friends for help with Christmas for all the tots in the BH and Toddler house. I was going to wait until my next newsletter the first of November, but just really felt strongly that I should send it out last Thursday night. I asked that everyone consider sponsoring one of our 43 kids for Christmas. We spend about $15 a child for things like new clothes, shoes, towels, a toy, stocking stuffer kind of items, ect. I was a little worried and felt bad for even asking as there is such an economic instability in the States at the moment, the big election coming up, and the holidays around the corner. I know people are a little stressed. I am excited to report that within 5 short days, I have received pledges that cover not only all 43 kids for Christmas but several hundred more which will allow us to purchase quite a few things we’ve been holding back on as well as many developmental items for the new nursery set to open the first of the year. I am overwhelmed and feel completely blessed. This was such an answered prayer for quite a few of us. God has once again proven His faithfulness, His goodness, and how awesome His provisions are. I am thankful to each of you that followed the tug in your heart when God asked you to give. If you still feel a pull to answer the email….by all means please do as. We trust Him to provide for all our needs, unspoken, unknown, and unforeseen. Email or leave a comment here and I’ll give you more details. Praise God!

Now on to why I’m posting for the moment: this is completely off topic for my ministry here, but it is being laid on my heart and is dear to me as I used to volunteer in a pregnancy crisis center for a little over 2 years as well as working as a nurse in a neonatal intensive care for 5 years.

Today is October 15^th which just another day for most….but for many, many, many, women it is national day of remembrance for pregnancy and infant loss (whether they know the day exists or not).

• Tonight I am praying for all the women who have suffered a miscarriage-who have known what it is like to experience the joy and excitement of a pregnancy, of a womb full of the life God has created and placed there, only to have that stripped away and the unborn taken straight into the arms of our Heavenly Father. I am praying for these women that were never able to hold their child in their arms and say goodbye, who ache daily for their children that will never be and await the day that will meet again in Heaven.

• I pray for all the women who have given birth to a stillborn infant. Who have carried to term or near term, preparing for the day of the arrival of their new addition, who arrived at the hospital to give birth, only to return back home emptied handed to an empty nursery and a heart full of grief and sorrow.

• I pray for the families who have carried babies to term knowing full well their child was diagnosed with a syndrome incompatible with life….cherishing each day before the child is born as a gift they have been given to spend with their child….longing for many more minutes to spend with their infant once he/she is born before God takes him/her back home to be with Him. I pray they will know God’s goodness and healing touch. I thank God who gave them the strength to give the child a chance to spend even a few breaths on this earth rather than choosing to terminate as the easier route.

• I pray for the families who have seen a bouncing healthy baby come into this world, loved it and watched it grow, but seen his/her life caught short unexpectedly by Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. I pray they will see God’s meaning and plan for the purpose of that child in their life if even for a short moment.

• I pray for all women who were unable to carry their infants to term, who gave birth to a premature infant and infants born with congenital anomalies, cardiac defects, ect, the families who have stood vigil in the hospital day after day in intensive care nurseries praying over their child’s side, the ups and downs, the hope and despair, the precious moments they were able to spend, longing to touch and hold their infant, but often times, unable to-leaving them only to watching them fight for their life behind a plastic wall for minutes, hours, days, even months, only to see him/her finally go home….home to the arms of our Father.

• I pray for the women who have lost a child to abortion…the women who were forced by pressures from society, husbands, friends, parents, boyfriends, and church members to extinguish the life God ordained and allowed in the midst of bad timing, bad circumstances, bad relationships, inconvenience, or poor planning. I pray for the women that saw it as their only option, who couldn’t see past the present and now many years later, a few years wiser, may regret the decision they made. I pray for these children that were never born, that were never given the opportunity to serve our Father on earth, who are, even now, dancing with the angels in heaven. I pray for these mothers, who live with that choice daily, that they will experience true forgiveness, peace, and comfort from Him.

• Finally, I pray for the fathers. I pray for the fathers that never had the chance to show what strong Christian men are able to do….love and nurture a child into a healthy man or women, to share God’s love with them, to prepare and raise a new generation to be God’s warriors. I pray for the father’s who aren’t given the chance to grieve and mourn by society, who can’t even put words to their emotions as most do not recognize their pain in miscarriages the same as a women’s. I pray for the fathers that had the chance to be an earthly father for a short while. I pray for the fathers who never had the chance to know their child the way the mother did while the infant was growing in their womb, still alive and vibrant. I pray for the men that stood by women when there was a tough choice to make regarding the born or unborn, that supported the women who bore pain daily waiting to deliver a child they knew would never grow out of childhood. I am thankful they can be a stronghold and supporter for their wives and family through the trying times after the loss.

"Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. Noone can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak, and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint."

-Isaiah 40: 28-31

Tonight I am reminded that God is the defender of the weak….and I can think of no one more weak than an unborn child, than the child that never had the chance to grow up strong, the premature tiny 1 lb infant given the chance to only spend half the time it should have growing in the womb…..for all those who could not speak for themselves……who were too little or weak to stick up for themselves, to defend themselves…..He is our great protector and all the children are sitting in His lap and around His feet tonight as He tells them their bedtime story and the angels are singing their lullabies. They are whole again, complete, there is no more suffering or pain. I pray that all the mothers and fathers tonight will experience peace, comfort, and rest in Him and His goodness….He is our comforter. You will all be reunited one day, until then….they are in better hands now and waiting on you!