The Blessing

This God story is about a friend of mine, who has gone through some very real struggles in the past few years — an illness that could have been terminal, a miscarriage, and then being told she should have a total hysterectomy at such a young age. There have been many women at our church praying for Mary and her husband for over a year, hoping they would defy the doctors and get pregnant again. Here is her email to all of us recently:

"Are you sitting down? I wanted to send a little note out and let you all know that we are expecting a baby! Yep. Hard to believe but we are. In April, our priest went to Lourdes, France, to the Apparitions of the Blessed Mother. He brought back the healing water and blessed both Andrew and me with it. I prayed that God would heal us from whatever infertility problem we were having and please bless us with a child if it were in His will. I got pregnant that cycle. Only it gets better. My due date by my LMP is 1.17.09, but by ultrasound it is 1.06.09 putting conception at the time I got blessed with the healing water. I know all babies are a blessing from God, but this one just feels a little different. :)"

When I asked her if I could share her story at Faith - Make It Real, here was her response:

"I say tell the world! I want everyone to know how great our God is and how blessed we feel. I told my husband, it is so humbling that this happened to us. For so long, I kept looking back on what happened and how I could have handled things better and in a more loving way of God. This is the stuff I read about and say, why can't that happen to us. But then, when it does, it is like WOW, overwhelming with emotion.

"I'm so grateful to everyone and their prayers. So many people we have told have cried when we told them. I had no idea people were carrying around our pain so much with us. It's been very moving."

Prayer really does work! Consider keeping a prayer diary and add to it requests and needs for those you love, as well as those you hardly know who are in pain or suffering in some way. You'd be surprised how your prayers and faith can help others.

Thank you, Mary, for letting me share your story. You have been truly touched by our loving Father.

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