A Collective "Amen!"

So I'm a dork. (Before any of you smile and say "Uh, yeah, Kelli, we knew that...", I will just say "Shut your face!") as I have a point to make. :-)

This past summer, I started a blog. I love to write, so it seemed the thing to do. (Actually, my husband seemed really surprised and pleased when he found out that our friend Ashly was blogging, so my decision was made because I wanted to impress him...) Anywho, I found out that my friend Jennifer had a blog, and one day, she added a link to MckMama's blog. Jennifer briefly summarized the story, so I linked over to MckMama's blog to see what all the fuss was about. And from then on, I was hooked. This is a Godly woman who has (as of now!!) four kids ages 3 and under! Holy cow!! I'm sure you mothers out there can appreciate this challenge.

Several months into her fourth pregnancy, MckMama's doctors told her that her unborn child, Stellan, had a terminal condition relating to his heart. He would most certainly be either stillborn or die shortly after being born. While the doctors were certain that this baby would not live, they devised a treatment plan. The medication that MckMama began to take (Flecinade, I believe) caused her heart to race, and soon she was in a battle for her own life. Doctors suggested that she consider terminating the pregnancy as she was now putting herself at risk, and after all, they knew that Stellan would not survive.

And it was here that she made a choice. **Disclaimer- I am pro-life. I am a Christian, and believing in God, my choice is life.** To be perfectly truthful with you, I don't know that I would have been able to easily make the choice she did. MckMama had uncomprehensible faith when she chose to leave Stellan growing in her womb. She would continue to take the medication regardless of how it made her feel. (Doctors stabalized the dosage of medication, but it still had really nasty side effects.) MckMama's heart still raced on a daily basis, making her out of breath and tired almost all the time. Oh yeah, she was still raising THREE kids ages 3, 2 and 1.

I've followed her blog without fail for the last 4 or so months as Stellan continued to grow in her womb. You know how sometimes when you pull back from something, or maybe you're really not that close to a situation, you can see the "big" picture? There is a big- no, HUGE- picture here. God has hand-picked this woman and her family to be front and center for a miracle. I'm not kidding. When you visit her blog, look in the right column at the counter of visitors: 1,437,700 as of this blog post. Look at the world map showing where all the visitors are from. And look at this:



This is from Stellan's name gallery. These women are from the Ivory Coast in West Africa and have been praying for Stellan. Are you kidding me??

Here's where the collective "Amen!" comes in. Stellan was born Wednesday. Healthy. Alive. Well. I get shivers thinking about it. The NICU attended the birth, "knowing" that Stellan would need their care and services. The doctors cannot find a THING wrong with this child.

Here's what I have to say. God is real. God is here. NOTHING is too big for God. God has worked a miracle for this family, and while that's amazing, that's not even really the point. God used this family to bring ALL 1,437,700 people to a place where they could read about how He was working in their lives. Where there was undeniable proof that He exists. And while there's not a "counter" for this statistic, how many people do you think have been brought to know the Lord through this faithful woman and her healthy child Stellan?

Amen!