THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE BABY

THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE BABY

MIRACLE BABY Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. — Believe. Stephen heard the word loud and clear, but he did not know what to make of it. Believe what? Believe how? How was this an answer to the prayer he had been crying and screaming to God all night? How could this one word move mountains or heal the sick? How could this answer bring his newborn daughter safely home? He had been a father fewer than forty-eight hours, and yet he was praying the prayer no parent ever wants to utter: “Father, save my daughter’s life!” The Big News Several months earlier, Stephen and Aimee Woods were bursting with joy, preparing to share their big news with their family in a dramatic way. The young couple had been married for a year and a half, and they were expecting their first child. Life seemed perfect. After a normal first several weeks of pregnancy, they were ready to learn whether their bundle of joy would be a boy or a girl. They planned a party to announce the baby’s gender, and the young couple wanted to be just as surprised as everyone else when the big news was revealed. While Aimee’s prayer was, in her words, “to have a happy, healthy family that loves each other and serves God together,” Stephen was secretly hoping to see pink come floating out of the box they had prepared for the celebration. He explains, “We did a big reveal. We had balloons and everything. And at that moment, when I saw those pink balloons come out of that box, I could not have been happier. A baby girl is everything I ever wanted!” For the next several months, the young couple worked, planned, and prepared just like any other expectant first-time parents. They talked and prayed together, asking God to bless their home. They prayed for their unborn daughter daily, and Aimee’s first and second trimesters proceeded smoothly. For a while, it seemed like a dream, with those pink balloons filling the couple’s thoughts nonstop. From Joy to Heartache Stephen and Aimee’s story took an unexpected turn, however, during the pregnancy’s seventh month. Aimee’s blood pressure spiked to unusually high levels, and she began experiencing other symptoms that raised red flags. She was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a complication that affects roughly 5 percent of all pregnancies. In addition to blood pressure concerns, preeclampsia puts both the mother and child at risk for several other dangerous health issues, including liver and renal failure, as well as seizures. For the first time, Stephen and Aimee began to fear for their daughter’s safety. Doctors put the mother-to-be on strict bed rest for a month to head off the complications of her preeclampsia. However, Aimee’s condition continued to worsen, until doctors were forced to induce labor at thirty-three weeks. On December 18, 2013, the new parents welcomed baby Ella into the world. Despite the roomful of doctors, nurses, monitors, machines, wires, and high stress levels, their little girl had arrived—an early Christmas present. Aimee recalls, “I guess it just takes a little bit for it to click that you’re a mommy, but it was great. It was great to see her little face.” The joy of seeing their baby’s beautiful face was tempered by the frantic activity taking place around them. Ella was too fragile for Aimee and Stephen to hold. It quickly became apparent she was straining to breathe, and her doctors determined she was losing oxygen. Diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, baby Ella had entered the world fighting for her life, and all Stephen and Aimee could do was watch—and pray. They could see fear on the faces of the nurses who were caring for their daughter. The nurse who cared for Ella the next day in the neonatal intensive care unit explains, “She was on a special ventilator and really high settings on everything that we had for her medically. By the end of my twelve-hour shift, she was getting worse.” Ella’s condition continued to deteriorate throughout that second day. Terrified and heartbroken, Aimee and Stephen called upon family and friends to come to the hospital to pray for their baby girl. The room was filled with men and women of God doing the only thing they could do at the time: pray. With heads down and tears streaming, the group called out for a miracle. Praying for a Miracle Stephen broke away from the crowd that had gathered in the hospital room. He was nearly at the end of his faith, trusting in God but fearing the worst. He recalls, “I got by myself in the parking lot of the hospital. I remember yelling out to God as loud as I could, ‘God, what am I supposed to do? I’m helpless!’” Then, Stephen says, with absolute clarity, he heard God’s response. “Believe.” It is easy to picture Stephen in that moment, scratching his head and facing an unexpected crisis of faith. He pushed a bit further, asking God, “Believe what?” Again, God’s response left no room for doubt, as Stephen heard the Lord say, “Believe that you will bring Ella home alive and well.” Many may see Stephen’s experience with God as merely wishful thinking, but the young dad felt a wave of peace fall over him as he left the parking lot and returned to the hospital room. As he entered, his family and friends were still there, praying. He walked straight up to his wife, took her face in his hands, looked in her eyes, and said with utmost confidence, “Aimee, we are going to bring Ella home alive and well.” “Truly a Miracle” Against all odds, Ella survived a second night. However, early the next morning, her doctors were out of options—and out of hope. They explained to Stephen and Aimee that Ella would not make it through the day, and they allowed the parents to hold their daughter for the first time as they said good-bye. The family and their friends prayed fervently for the next twelve hours, holding out hope for a miracle as Stephen and Aimee thanked God for every breath their daughter took in their arms. And yet, despite the prayers of the faithful, Ella’s vital signs continued to plummet. Late in the afternoon, Ella’s color turned blue and her little body appeared lifeless. “There was no detectible oxygen in her blood,” the nurse recalls. “That was not compatible with life.” The doctor told Stephen and Aimee that Ella would be gone within five minutes. The new family was out of time. In what were to be Ella’s final minutes, Aimee’s father suggested a change to the prayers that had been lifted for the past few days. Rather than focusing their prayers on Ella, he suggested focusing their prayers on praising God for who He is, despite what was happening in the room at the time. Aimee prayed, “Praise You. You’re an awesome God. You’re a miraculous God. You love us unconditionally.” She recalls, “As I did that, I felt my faith starting to rise again. And I thanked God, and I thanked Him. ‘Thank You, God, that she’s coming home alive and well.’ I kept to that promise that He had given us.” In the spirit of that promise, Aimee began talking to Ella directly, saying, “Ella, Ella. We’re going to go home. We’re going home.” At that moment, in His perfect time, God moved in a mighty way. Ella opened her eyes. Through tears, Aimee paints the scene in loving detail: “She started to look around, and I started to talk to her. I said, ‘Hey, Ella, how are you?’ My husband heard me and he came over to find out why I was talking to her when her body was lifeless. As he came over, her eyes looked over to him. Then her eyes went back to me and back to him. She just kept focusing on our faces. My heart just started to leap with joy that we were seeing a change.” Stephen adds, “Her stats started to come up, and we just erupted with praise. ‘Thank You, God! We’re going to bring her home alive and well! You’re doing it! This is happening!’ It was amazing.” A nurse on the scene recalls, “I truly witnessed a miracle, to see a baby who was lifeless but now awake.” Less than a month later, following the most unforgettable Christmas celebration imaginable, the family left the hospital together and, true to God’s promise, went home with their baby, alive and well. The Christmas Miracle Looking at Ella today, you’d never know that she almost didn’t survive to see her first Christmas. She’s a perfectly healthy, happy little girl—and a testimony to God’s amazing grace and miraculous power. Even her medical team has to credit God with her recovery. One of Ella’s nurses admits, “A baby who went through what Ella went through would normally—if they survived—have numerous deficits. They would maybe need a wheelchair, not be able to talk, or have a lot of disabilities. Ella has none. I credit it to the power of prayer.” Ella’s family and team of doctors and nurses call her the Christmas miracle Baby, and she is a daily reminder of God’s endless love. “Every time we start hearing Christmas music, every time we see Christmas trees . . . It just reminds us of the miracle we got,” says Stephen. Aimee adds, “There is a God that loves us unconditionally. The same God sent His Son to earth to show the world that He loves them. Jesus performed miracles . . . raised people from the dead and healed their sicknesses. He still does it today.” Time to Rise Up Rising up often requires us to search our hearts for any seed of doubt that could cause us to lose faith in God’s power to act in our darkest moments. In fact, Stephen’s experience with God in the hospital parking lot is similar to a story in . There, the father of a demon-possessed boy threw himself at Jesus’ feet and cried, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” Jesus’ reply to the man echoes Stephen’s own experience: “‘If you can’? . . . Everything is possible for one who believes.” We can almost hear Stephen exclaim along with the panicked father in the biblical account: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (vv. 21–24). Stephen and Aimee boldly believed God’s promise and trusted Him to do what He said He’d do. That’s a faith that can move mountains, and it’s a faith available to you today. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION What is the most panicked prayer you’ve ever lifted up to God? What were the circumstances, and what was the outcome? Stephen was certain that he’d heard God speak to him in the hospital parking lot. What would you have thought if you had been in the room—during what was assumed to be Ella’s final moments—when Stephen came in saying that she was going to be okay? Would you have believed him? What has God told you to “believe,” even in the face of overwhelming doubt and obstacles? Was this a clear word from the Lord, or just a peaceful reassurance? How difficult would it be for you to turn your prayers to praise as you watched your child fight for his or her life? Is praising God in that kind of situation a natural response for you, or would you instead focus on making requests of God? What is your biggest personal takeaway from this story?

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. —

Believe. Stephen heard the word loud and clear, but he did not know what to make of it. Believe what? Believe how? How was this an answer to the prayer he had been crying and screaming to God all night? How could this one word move mountains or heal the sick? How could this answer bring his newborn daughter safely home? He had been a father fewer than forty-eight hours, and yet he was praying the prayer no parent ever wants to utter: “Father, save my daughter’s life!” The Big News Several months earlier, Stephen and Aimee Woods were bursting with joy, preparing to share their big news with their family in a dramatic way. The young couple had been married for a year and a half, and they were expecting their first child. Life seemed perfect. After a normal first several weeks of pregnancy, they were ready to learn whether their bundle of joy would be a boy or a girl. They planned a party to announce the baby’s gender, and the young couple wanted to be just as surprised as everyone else when the big news was revealed. While Aimee’s prayer was, in her words, “to have a happy, healthy family that loves each other and serves God together,” Stephen was secretly hoping to see pink come floating out of the box they had prepared for the celebration. He explains, “We did a big reveal. We had balloons and everything. And at that moment, when I saw those pink balloons come out of that box, I could not have been happier. A baby girl is everything I ever wanted!” For the next several months, the young couple worked, planned, and prepared just like any other expectant first-time parents. They talked and prayed together, asking God to bless their home. They prayed for their unborn daughter daily, and Aimee’s first and second trimesters proceeded smoothly. For a while, it seemed like a dream, with those pink balloons filling the couple’s thoughts nonstop. From Joy to Heartache Stephen and Aimee’s story took an unexpected turn, however, during the pregnancy’s seventh month. Aimee’s blood pressure spiked to unusually high levels, and she began experiencing other symptoms that raised red flags. She was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a complication that affects roughly 5 percent of all pregnancies. In addition to blood pressure concerns, preeclampsia puts both the mother and child at risk for several other dangerous health issues, including liver and renal failure, as well as seizures. For the first time, Stephen and Aimee began to fear for their daughter’s safety. Doctors put the mother-to-be on strict bed rest for a month to head off the complications of her preeclampsia. However, Aimee’s condition continued to worsen, until doctors were forced to induce labor at thirty-three weeks. On December 18, 2013, the new parents welcomed baby Ella into the world. Despite the roomful of doctors, nurses, monitors, machines, wires, and high stress levels, their little girl had arrived—an early Christmas present. Aimee recalls, “I guess it just takes a little bit for it to click that you’re a mommy, but it was great. It was great to see her little face.” The joy of seeing their baby’s beautiful face was tempered by the frantic activity taking place around them. Ella was too fragile for Aimee and Stephen to hold. It quickly became apparent she was straining to breathe, and her doctors determined she was losing oxygen. Diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, baby Ella had entered the world fighting for her life, and all Stephen and Aimee could do was watch—and pray. They could see fear on the faces of the nurses who were caring for their daughter. The nurse who cared for Ella the next day in the neonatal intensive care unit explains, “She was on a special ventilator and really high settings on everything that we had for her medically. By the end of my twelve-hour shift, she was getting worse.” Ella’s condition continued to deteriorate throughout that second day. Terrified and heartbroken, Aimee and Stephen called upon family and friends to come to the hospital to pray for their baby girl. The room was filled with men and women of God doing the only thing they could do at the time: pray. With heads down and tears streaming, the group called out for a miracle. Praying for a Miracle Stephen broke away from the crowd that had gathered in the hospital room. He was nearly at the end of his faith, trusting in God but fearing the worst. He recalls, “I got by myself in the parking lot of the hospital. I remember yelling out to God as loud as I could, ‘God, what am I supposed to do? I’m helpless!’” Then, Stephen says, with absolute clarity, he heard God’s response. “Believe.” It is easy to picture Stephen in that moment, scratching his head and facing an unexpected crisis of faith. He pushed a bit further, asking God, “Believe what?” Again, God’s response left no room for doubt, as Stephen heard the Lord say, “Believe that you will bring Ella home alive and well.” Many may see Stephen’s experience with God as merely wishful thinking, but the young dad felt a wave of peace fall over him as he left the parking lot and returned to the hospital room. As he entered, his family and friends were still there, praying. He walked straight up to his wife, took her face in his hands, looked in her eyes, and said with utmost confidence, “Aimee, we are going to bring Ella home alive and well.” “Truly a Miracle” Against all odds, Ella survived a second night. However, early the next morning, her doctors were out of options—and out of hope. They explained to Stephen and Aimee that Ella would not make it through the day, and they allowed the parents to hold their daughter for the first time as they said good-bye. The family and their friends prayed fervently for the next twelve hours, holding out hope for a miracle as Stephen and Aimee thanked God for every breath their daughter took in their arms. And yet, despite the prayers of the faithful, Ella’s vital signs continued to plummet. Late in the afternoon, Ella’s color turned blue and her little body appeared lifeless. “There was no detectible oxygen in her blood,” the nurse recalls. “That was not compatible with life.” The doctor told Stephen and Aimee that Ella would be gone within five minutes. The new family was out of time. In what were to be Ella’s final minutes, Aimee’s father suggested a change to the prayers that had been lifted for the past few days. Rather than focusing their prayers on Ella, he suggested focusing their prayers on praising God for who He is, despite what was happening in the room at the time. Aimee prayed, “Praise You. You’re an awesome God. You’re a miraculous God. You love us unconditionally.” She recalls, “As I did that, I felt my faith starting to rise again. And I thanked God, and I thanked Him. ‘Thank You, God, that she’s coming home alive and well.’ I kept to that promise that He had given us.” In the spirit of that promise, Aimee began talking to Ella directly, saying, “Ella, Ella. We’re going to go home. We’re going home.” At that moment, in His perfect time, God moved in a mighty way. Ella opened her eyes. Through tears, Aimee paints the scene in loving detail: “She started to look around, and I started to talk to her. I said, ‘Hey, Ella, how are you?’ My husband heard me and he came over to find out why I was talking to her when her body was lifeless. As he came over, her eyes looked over to him. Then her eyes went back to me and back to him. She just kept focusing on our faces. My heart just started to leap with joy that we were seeing a change.” Stephen adds, “Her stats started to come up, and we just erupted with praise. ‘Thank You, God! We’re going to bring her home alive and well! You’re doing it! This is happening!’ It was amazing.” A nurse on the scene recalls, “I truly witnessed a miracle, to see a baby who was lifeless but now awake.” Less than a month later, following the most unforgettable Christmas celebration imaginable, the family left the hospital together and, true to God’s promise, went home with their baby, alive and well. The Christmas Miracle Looking at Ella today, you’d never know that she almost didn’t survive to see her first Christmas. She’s a perfectly healthy, happy little girl—and a testimony to God’s amazing grace and miraculous power. Even her medical team has to credit God with her recovery. One of Ella’s nurses admits, “A baby who went through what Ella went through would normally—if they survived—have numerous deficits. They would maybe need a wheelchair, not be able to talk, or have a lot of disabilities. Ella has none. I credit it to the power of prayer.” Ella’s family and team of doctors and nurses call her the Christmas miracle Baby, and she is a daily reminder of God’s endless love. “Every time we start hearing Christmas music, every time we see Christmas trees . . . It just reminds us of the miracle we got,” says Stephen. Aimee adds, “There is a God that loves us unconditionally. The same God sent His Son to earth to show the world that He loves them. Jesus performed miracles . . . raised people from the dead and healed their sicknesses. He still does it today.” Time to Rise Up Rising up often requires us to search our hearts for any seed of doubt that could cause us to lose faith in God’s power to act in our darkest moments. In fact, Stephen’s experience with God in the hospital parking lot is similar to a story in . There, the father of a demon-possessed boy threw himself at Jesus’ feet and cried, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” Jesus’ reply to the man echoes Stephen’s own experience: “‘If you can’? . . . Everything is possible for one who believes.” We can almost hear Stephen exclaim along with the panicked father in the biblical account: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (vv. 21–24). Stephen and Aimee boldly believed God’s promise and trusted Him to do what He said He’d do. That’s a faith that can move mountains, and it’s a faith available to you today. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION What is the most panicked prayer you’ve ever lifted up to God? What were the circumstances, and what was the outcome? Stephen was certain that he’d heard God speak to him in the hospital parking lot. What would you have thought if you had been in the room—during what was assumed to be Ella’s final moments—when Stephen came in saying that she was going to be okay? Would you have believed him? What has God told you to “believe,” even in the face of overwhelming doubt and obstacles? Was this a clear word from the Lord, or just a peaceful reassurance? How difficult would it be for you to turn your prayers to praise as you watched your child fight for his or her life? Is praising God in that kind of situation a natural response for you, or would you instead focus on making requests of God? What is your biggest personal takeaway from this story?

Rise Up: Stories of Remarkable Faith and Relentless Courage (Kindle Locations 206-288). CBN Publishing. Kindle Edition.