Reminder from Jonah

Three little miracles!

Pics of my little angel

A picture when I was truely in distress over Ava

As a child growing up in the Baptist church, one of the all time favorite stories to be told to me in Sunday School was Jonah and the Whale. I remember thinking how fun it would be to get to be inside of a whale but how gross it would be to be thrown up by the whale up on the beach. Fast forward many years and I come to this week in my Amazing collection Bible study. We studied the book and the life of Jonah this week. The first thing I realized while studying Jonah was that in Sunday School as I kid I was told about Chapter 1, 3 and 4 of Jonah but not really about Chapter 2. Chapter 2 is Jonah's prayer "in the belly of the great fish"! On my favorite verses in Chapter 2 is verse 2 that states "I called out in my distress to the Lord, and He answered me. I cried to help from the depth of sheol and you heard my voice." I love, love that verse, because it reminded me of just how compassionate God has been to me in my distress.

This past weekend Adam and I dedicated Ava to the Lord at church (see pics in previous post). Yet, I had dedicated Ava to the Lord the moment I knew I was pregnant with her, the moment I saw on the sonogram that I was having a little girl and I dedicated her to the Lord every second she was in the NICU. There were good days and there were bad days in the NICU. The worst of the days were when she was having such stomach problems and she really started going down hill. I can remember crying and praying over her, feeling as if I was literally fighting off the hand of death on her little life. I cried out to the LORD in MY distress over Ava's little life and God truely heard my prayer. This weekend was such an amazing, emotional weekend for me. Even though I was busy preparing to have 20 people at my house for lunch after Ava's dedication, I was praising and thanking God for his grace and mercy. If you have time, listen to the play list that I have on the blog now. All of the songs on there have helped me get through this last year of worry, prayers and tears as I have been amazed by God's grace, mercy, love and strength He has given me, my family and especially my precious angel Ava!