As you may recall, my friend Sara and her husband B(randon) found out several months ago that their unborn baby, Elliot, is not expected to live past birth. Sara and her doctor decided to schedule a c-section on Monday morning giving Elliot hopefully every chance possible to survive. Please soak them in prayers between now and Monday and ask your friends and family to as well.
Here is the latest from Sara:
Continue reading Pray pray pray
Sara posted an update on her blog about the situation with their unborn son, Elliot last night. PLEASE keep B, Sara, big sister Sydney and Elliot in your prayers. Pray for a miracle and for God to receive glory in the midst of this situation…
A couple of people have been asking me how things have been progressing with the baby, so I thought I’d go ahead and give a little update…
First, we have decided to name our son Elliot. The name is a form of Elijah or Eli, which means “My God is the LORD” and “Uplifted”. I think both are fitting for our situation…
We went back to the doctor yesterday, and he basically said that nothing has changed. I am 6 1/2 months pregnant, and Elliot is growing right along pace, but he only has one kidney, and it is still not functioning, so therefore there is still no amniotic fluid surrounding him. According to everything the doctors can see through the numerous sonograms we’ve had, Elliot has a 0% chance of survival once he is born.
Brandon and I are doing OK -we’re trying to just take it all one day at a time, and attempting to be as normal as possible. Thank you for your prayers and concerns – I do believe that it is only by Gods mercies that we have any measure of peace and comfort right now. It really makes me wonder how anyone can go throughout life not knowing the love, compassion, and peace that Christ alone can offer. A verse I have really been clinging to is:
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23
Truely, so great is Gods Faithfulness!
Please be in constant prayer for my good friends B and Sara. They received disappointing news from their doctor a few weeks ago regarding their unborn baby. It’s not looking good but we’re believing in a miracle and praying for one as well as comfort and peace. Here’s the latest update from Sara:
Thank you so much for your prayers and concerns. We went to see a specialist today, and there was still no good news. We found out that in addition to his multicystic kidneys, he has some sort of cyst or other obstruction in his chest cavity. The Dr. said that they can’t fully determine what it is until after he is born though. The prognosis from every Dr. we’ve seen hasn’t been good, so it’s hard to hold onto hope at this point. Specifically, I’d ask that you pray for 1) that we don’t allow our hearts and minds to become detached from this baby, but instead to be able to enjoy this time that we do have with him – even if he never gets to live on this earth. 2) We are really praying that this situation is not something that our baby inherited from us genetically, but instead is just a fluke, one-in-a-million thing. We don’t want this to be something that we might have to worry about in future pregnancies. The Dr. today said that he thinks it is just a fluke thing, so that was reassuring, but he did say that we’ll know more once the baby is born. Other than that, we’re just praying for a miracle to happen, which we know is always possible. Again, thank you so much for your & Lauries prayers. It’s been a really difficult past few weeks, and we have a few more months of it lying ahead of us.
Sometimes we overlook the little things. Either saying they’re not worth wasting God’s time with or even if we do ask we forget to realize that He answers our prayers.
Today we’ve seen proof of three answered prayers.
Praise God. Always good to remember God cares about the little things as much as the big things.
I’m listening to This American Life, episode 77, Pray, from 2001.
Love this show. Listen to a 30-second promo.
From the show:
Can the secular world and the religious world understand each other? We ask that question while visiting Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Pastor Ted Haggard at the New Life Church has put in place a project to pray in front of the home of every person in the city, systematically, block by block and house by house. He’s also helped organize a 24-hour, 365-day-a-year “prayer shield” over the city; all-night prayer vigils; and more.
From Act 1:
Alix Spiegel talked with a former member of Haggard’s church at a porn store who left the church because of his homosexuality.
“There seems to be more spiritual love than this environment where there is only physical love… I am really torn between what i was brought up with and what I’m doing now.”
“To you personally, and to anyone else, I would not turn Jesus away just because of what Christians do. Jesus isn’t the bad guy.”
From e-mail:
Dear Friends,
Last Tuesday evening, there was an armed robbery on the compound across the street from where I live. Three single women missionaries were in the apartment and one of them was injured. I have been attending to her, medically, and as her friend.
This has been a traumatic event and we need your prayers.
For me, please pray
– that I will take all thoughts captive – holding only onto Truth
– that I will not be fearful of Nigerians
– that my parents will trust God to protect me
– to be able to fall asleep at night
– my lung is hurting again and my cough has returned – this was to be expected, as my disease will flare up when my immune system weakens (due to stress, this time).
Seven of our boys have been sick this week and it has been a blessing to focus on loving and caring for them. These children are why God brought me here and they are why I will stay.
As I flipped open the Bible a couple nights ago – God opened the pages to this familiar and comforting verse:
‘ For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.’ Isaiah 55:8 & 9
Holding onto Him,
Erin Rigsby
www.webmissions.net/erinrigsby
www.erinrigsby.blogspot.com