 |
|
We often underestimate the value of our heart's prayers when we speak them. Nor do we realize the importance of putting or full trust in God. We fail to realize that God is able to answer abundantly above all we can ask or think. His answer can be surprising and moving, as this story illustrates. If we could receive the Kingdom of God as a child, like a child, we'd cry for it. This story comes from Daphney Reiff of Denver Colorado. And it raises an important question. For even at one year, baby Lauryn had her full intellect. Where did that come from? Certainly not from learning. The answer to that and the appearance of Lisa might stagger the abortionists. KINGDOM TEARS Our pastor laid hands upon our baby Lauryn and we prayed for her life and for guidance for her surgeon. With tears and a certain amount of fear we let them wheel her away to what turned out to be an 8 ½ hour surgery. Lauryn was only a year old then and like many babies, she was born with a hole in her heart that was expected to closes within the first year. But Lauryn had been different. . The hole in her heart didn't close, and unlike most babies, she spent her first two months in the Intensive Care Unit at Children's Hospital . She had been born three months premature, weighing 2 lb. 10 oz. With a broken arm and underdeveloped lungs. The operation seemed to go as planned, a few surprises here and there but nothing out of the ordinary. We thanked God, thinking our prayers had been answered with the successful outcome, that is until 2 years later during a bedtime prayer, she told us something about her surgery we couldn't have known. Our tradition for Lauryn was to begin bedtime with the prayer, " Now I lay me down to sleep..and if I die before I wake." When we got to that point, Lauryn said to us, "do you remember when I died?" My husband and I looked at each other as chills ran down our spines, we both said, "No, we don't remember a time when you died!" She said with a smile, "yes I did, during my heart surgery." Then continued to tell this amazing story. I saw you and daddy playing that game you always play." (Lauryn's dad and I played backgammon to pass the time, and still play it today.) We asked her where she was when she saw this. She said she was above us looking down and watching. Then she went immediately to Heaven. Lauryn said, "I was in heaven and I saw Jesus standing there! I ran into his arms and he said 'Oh Lauryn, I have waited for you for so long!'" She told how Jesus sat her down and gave her a hand full of jewels and a beautiful gown that sparkled. They walked and talked for a while and Jesus let her sit on a cloud. And then he introduced her to her sister Lisa. Lauryn had never been told that she had a sister in heaven! Nor did she know about receiving jewels for a crown. "I saw angles! They were so beautiful," Lauryn said with a huge grin. We asked if they had wings and if they looked like us? She said "yes, some of them did have wings and some did not, and no, they look nothing like us but they are so beautiful." (She had never been told that many angles don't have wings.) Lauryn also mentioned that the colors in heaven are more beautiful and there are colors that are not in the rainbow! We asked Lauryn if there were any toys in heaven, thinking that if she were making up a story, like most kids at this age, she would include the best toys in the world. She thought for a moment and said, there weren't any toys, but there was beautiful music and that she and Jesus danced. Then she got very sad and tears came into her eyes. She said that Jesus told her it was time to go, that she must return to her parents, who needed her! She really started to cry, I told her it was okay. I knew what she was going to say and understood she didn't want to hurt our feelings. She looked up into my eyes, tears shining on her cheeks and said, "I didn't want to leave Jesus and heaven!" I hugged her and told her I wouldn't want to leave either. Then she wiped her eyes and with her forehead wrinkled up she said, "Then He wanted to take my pretty jewels. I didn't want to give them back!" Jesus assured her that He would take care of them and that there would even be more when she came back. So she let Jesus take the jewels for safekeeping. In the weeks that followed anytime Lauryn would see a picture of Jesus she would walk up and say "that's not what He looks like." People would be curious and once we asked her to draw a picture of Jesus, and as only a child could, Lauryn proceeded to draw the most beautiful, amazing stick figure of our Lord Jesus Christ! As for Lauryn's sister in Heaven, I had an abortion when I was eighteen. I was encouraged to go through with it, being told that it was not alive. But afterward for several years, until Lauryn told me about her sister, I had always felt sick about it, like I had destroyed my own child. But hearing from Lauryn, that she had seen Lisa in heaven, that heaviness was lifted. And I praise God for His matchless wisdom, answering a prayer I had never voiced! I never cease to be amazed by His Grace. God said to His disciples, "You must come to me as a child, for such is the kingdom of God!" We could clearly see His Kingdom in the tears of our little princess You are never to young or old to have God touch your life and start a story that will last into eternity. |
