Dear Pastor John,

I want to thank you for the wonderful preaching and biblical support regarding the sanctity of human life.  I imagine you and Debbie have to counsel this subject fairly often so I wanted to share my story in the hope that you might be able to share it with someone in need.  (I have when The Lord offers me the opportunity...but as you said, you probably have a broader audience.)

I got pregnant at the age of 41, after telling my husband (who had been contemplating adoption) that, "If God wanted us to have another child, He would see to it that we did."  Lesson learned: never challenge the Big Man, for within 6 months of that statement we were pregnant with our third child.  Our other boys were 14 and 11 at the time, so there was quite an age gap there.

We went in for a routine ultrasound when we discovered that the baby had had a stroke in utero and there was damage to his left cerebellum.  This was quite uncommon and the doctors didn't really know what to tell us because there wasn't enough research out there.  Due to the region of the brain affected, we heard, "He may not breathe on his own, he may never walk - this area controls the body's gross motor and involuntary motor functions."  We were given the option to terminate the pregnancy in February 2010...the baby was due in April.  I went home numb and afraid and I read books about the neuroplasticity of the brain and how it can "override" it's own connections.   But something hit me in a book I was reading that I think made me realize that there was no way I was going to undo what God had planned.  And it was so very simple, but so very powerful: "What if Mary had said 'no' when God asked her to do what He wanted?

My life would've been drastically different had I not had my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Termination of a pregnancy simply isn't an option.  So, I prayed to every saint possible.  In fact, I quit my job teaching and when I wasn't in the hospital being monitored, I spent hours weeping and praying to God for a miracle.  I named my miracle "Samuel Noah";  Samuel because I promised God I would return that child to Him for His service one day just as Hannah did, and Noah because I wanted this child to grow to be a man of God, and one who would listen to His commands despite what everyone else around him was saying.

My miracle is almost 2...the neurosurgeons have released him from their care.  He runs and babbles and laughs and is the sweetest little guy- an absolute blessing, even for a tired 43 year old mom with two teenage boys.  It's a schizophrenic type challenge helping with geometry homework while changing a diaper!

Incidentally, miracle #2 came in our family when my husband survived the diagnosis of stage 4 head and neck cancer last year.  He went to the brink of death with radiation and chemotherapy - staying alive through a feeding tube, but is now stronger than he was before the cancer.   My prayer for God to soften his heart was answered.  He now reads the Bible every night (one of Centerpoint's reading plans) and he has joined me in attending worship service every Sunday and looks forward to your every word.  The Air Force has chosen him to command their survival school, so we will head to Spokane, Washington this summer!  We will be watching your sermons over the internet by the way...any chance you'd like to start a site up there too? :-)

I pray that this story will be a blessing to someone who comes into your office for help.  Let them know that God is still in the Miracle Business...I am living proof.  And send them my way if they need a first hand testimony.

May God continue to Bless this Church as He works through you to teach all of us,


In His Name,

Meredith Thomas