Packing and Praying

Brittany and I would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for all of the thoughts and prayers that people have offered up for us and for Selah during the last several weeks.  We have been completely humbled by the amount of people who have sent cards, called or sent texts, and/or sent Facebook messages to show their support and to encourage us in this most difficult time.  Our family, our church family, and our friends have been incredibly supportive, not to mention the people that we don't even know that have been so kind to us.  Our Pastor and his wife, Glenn and Laura Lee, have been incredible and we could never repay the blessings and pillars of strength and encouragement that they have been to us during this time.  We are so grateful to you all and we pray blessings over you and your families.

Ok...let me quickly share a humorous story from this past weekend.  As many of you know, I am a huge sports fan.  I have been since I can remember and I'm incredibly blessed to have a wife that will not only go along with my obsession, but will, at times, contribute to it.  My birthday was this past Monday and someone offered us free tickets to the Duke and Carolina football game on the Saturday before.  Brittany was well aware that I would love to go to the game so she "talked me into" going even though she was almost 9 months pregnant and feeling every day of it.  To make a long story short...it was a great game and Duke won in the final seconds, which of course made us both extremely happy.  And minutes later, for the first time during the course of our pregnancy, Selah kicked and Brittany could feel her moving around!  She hadn't kicked at anytime before this moment so I have officially deemed her a true Blue Devil.

Well, Monday is the day...we have a scheduled C-section with our specialist, Dr. Goodnight, and the team of doctors and nurses that have been taking care of Brittany and Selah for the past 7 months.  Obviously we are pretty anxious about what is to come.  However, we know that the Lord is in control and He will provide us with the strength that we need for whatever lies ahead.  We have waited what seems like years to meet our little girl and we can't wait to hold her for the first time.

As I said in my previous post, we are continuing to pray for a miracle.  But we know that God's ways are higher than our own.  Whether He heals her completely or she passes not long after she's born, His ways are perfect and He will see us through.  I told our church a few weeks ago that I would love nothing more than to walk my daughter to class on the first day of Kindergarten or walk her down the aisle on her wedding day.  We have so many dreams of her growing up and being a part of our everyday lives, but none of those things are better than her being with Jesus and that is all that matters.

The Lord created Selah for a purpose and aligned her journey to His will from the beginning.  If she serves a higher purpose by living for 30 minutes than she does by living for 80 years then so be it.  We know that our God is able to save her and we pray that He's willing, but if not, she is His child and we find comfort in the fact that she will not have to suffer through this world.  If she goes to be with Jesus, she will be completely healed of all the challenges that she might have had to face in this world.

We have been singing a worship song at church the last few months that has the line, "We wait for You...to walk in the room."  The song goes on to talk about the manifested presence of God and its glory.  Every time we worship to this song, that line brings tears to my eyes.  I have been praying and praying that God would walk into the room and change everything about Selah's situation.  But the other day the Lord reminded me that He's been in the "room" with us this whole time.  We couldn't have walked through these last 7 months if not.

Part of me feels grateful that the Lord has found us worthy enough to reflect His glory in this nightmare of a situation.  Sometimes it can be easy for us Christians to reflect God's glory when everything is going great and we're not walking through hardships.  But what is most important is how we reflect Him when we are walking through something that might be life altering.  I pray that the Lord finds us to be faithful to Him on this path that He has put us on.  We've gotten to praise Him and lift Him up during the good times, but now we get to praise Him and lift Him up in the hard times and I am so thankful for that.  1 Peter 4:13 "But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed."

Finally, we wanted to share some details with everyone so that you could be specific in your prayers as you pray with us.  The C-section is scheduled for 12-noon on Monday so first and foremost please pray that the procedure goes well and as planned.  Pray for Brittany's health and guidance of the doctors as she endures this procedure.  Pray that God will heal Selah completely, but if not that He will shower us with His grace and comfort.  Pray for our family as they endure this with us.  And finally, pray against the spirit of fear as we go into this time, pray that we are strong and faithful to what God has entrusted to us.

Thank you again for your support, your thoughts, and your prayers.  They do not go unnoticed and we will forever be grateful for them.  Also, we are not sure who it will be, but someone will update this blog sometime next week, hopefully near the beginning of the week, even if it is a brief update.  We want to keep people informed so they can be as specific as possible in their prayers.  Thanks again and until next time...be blessed!