What A Difference a Day Makes............

Yesterday I sat, sobbing, in a church................despairing for a baby, thoughts turning back a year, to a year when another baby lay still............after so much was hoped for, prayed for..........

Every time I lifted my voice in prayer it was with the strength and power of one who recognizes who God is and what God is capable of..............it was with the pain and heartache that comes with a life hanging in the balance, a little one that struggles to live on.........it was with fervent hope that I prayed life would continue................it was with love that I called upon the God that I love to save the one that I know He loves.............but never was it with JOY.

But today is different.

Today I sat with people that know and love God and I heard from them and I heard from Him and

THE WORD OF THIS DAY IS JOY.

Tonight I come before the Lord, not sobbing, not despairing but with a COMPLETE and TOTAL JOY that defies the reality of tubes and machinery and MRIs and the need for a Ronald McDonald house and I say to you, Lord, thank you for this life.  Thank you for this baby.  Thank you for bestowing us with the gift that is Owen, Lord.

I allow laughter and joy and giggles and praise to come from my lips. 

I am celebrating this child and the God that gave him to two such wonderful parents, loving parents, parents who have known the joy that this child brings.  

And tonight I pray that JOY is spread throughout the rooms, the corridors, the hearts of the people in the Cleveland Clinic.  I pray that they experience an audible whooshing sound as it powerfully flows throughout the entire hospital.  I pray that the results are tangible and unexplainable and real.  That the JOY of the Lord is brought to this place through Owen and those that this precious babe have brought to this place.

Let laughter ring out.

Let praise ring out, not lofty and obligated praise but praise unfiltered.

Let JOY ERUPT.


Because in the face of those MRIs, those tubes and every horrific, awful thing you hear in such a place.................we can have joy.  It's possible.  Because we know, huh?  We know.  This isn't it.  Far from it.  We can look all these things straight in the eye and know..........no matter what happens.  Bring it on, the force of JOY is at work..............push back the enemy.


JOY WINS.

LOVE WINS.

THE BATTLE IS WON.


Adalyn Joy Kossler................thank you for always reminding me...........it took me a little while.......I was focusing on just the first part of your story............and forgetting the JOY.