In The Arms of Jesus

I have recently been touched by a story of a "friend" of mine. By friend, I mean I have read her Christian blog, but I have never actually met her. Her name is Casey, and she found out last Christmas that she was going to have a baby. As things progressed, she went through the normal routine of going to the doctor and having the ultrasounds and so forth. Everything went perfectly until around 28 weeks when a technician saw something alarming on the ultrasound. The sweet baby boy's organs had all formed in a sac on the outside of his body. I can't imagine hearing someone tell you that news about the little one growing inside you. Casey and her husband, full of faith, did a lot more research and attended many more appointments. They ran some tests on baby Asher and he was perfectly normal except for the organ defect. Fortunately, they found a team of neonatologists that could do the surgery right after Asher was born to place his organs back inside. They planned a surgery and began to decorate the nursery and prepare for Asher's birth. God had a plan that was different than what they'd envisioned. Casey went into labor early, and Asher Daniel was born via emergency C-Section. He weighed 5 pounds, 5 ounces and was 17 inches long. He was born at 9:08pm. Between his premie status and his organs not being inside to support him, he only took a few short breaths on his own before he was welcomed into the arms of our Savior. Casey never got to hold her sweet boy while he was alive.

I was drawn to this story right away as I had been following it for some time, but I was especially drawn to the astounding testimony of this couple. They are praising the Lord and worshipping Him through this extremely difficult time. Their story has already reached out to many and I know Christ is proud to call them His own.

Here is what they wrote in their blog, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His Steadfast love endures forever. We desperately need this truth to sink in today. The last week has been filled with hope and with new plans to ready the arrival of our Son, Asher. Yesterday was a suprise to us, but not to God. God brought our precious boy into this world at 9:08pm and took him to be in the arms of Jesus shortly after. We do not understand fully through our pain, but our only real comfort is also our only hope: That God understands the death of His Son and that death has also brought us life and is giving Asher the chance to dance right now. We prayed for all of you this morning and asked that God grant you to worship in Spirit and in Truth today (draw near to Jesus, for he is our steadfast hope). Praise Him, please praise him for He is good! We love you all so much and love the body of Christ so much more through you. God grant each of us to fight for Christs kingdom perspective and to know that He loves us radically and longs for us to long for Him. We do today, now more than ever! Dan and Casey."

Please pray for Dan and Casey, even though you don't know them. I cannot imagine going through such a hard time. Praise the Lord for their faith and testimony and pray for healing for their hearts. Thanks so much.