We should never let circumstances – even difficult ones – determine our standard of right and wrong. God’s standard is perfect and eternal.
Fellow members of the congregation where we attend were told that their unborn grandchild had no brain. The parents were urged to abort. They were assured there was no brain, and this child would die once born anyway.
They decided that since their doctors’ best advice ended with the same heartbreaking scenario no matter what they chose- they were going to be the parents of a dead child- they would prefer to at least have the chance to hold her gently before she left them rather than dismember her, and they continued the pregnancy.
Can you guess how it ends? Vist The Common Room.
Do you know other stories like this? Please leave me a link!
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You know, I think that perhaps God allows these type of grim diagnoses to give parents a chance to demonstrate their faith in Him. Sorta like the 3 young men in the firey furnace. Even if the ‘experts’ are right with their diagnoses, our faith is in our God who can restore life, or who can take it away. Either way, we will not fall and worship at the golden image of modern ‘health care’.
amazing, so glad they chose life and honored that…. God’s will never returns void!!
This is great! If only more people avoided abortions.
Thanks,
Nate
I know a great story.
http://babyfaithhope.blogspot.com
Myah is a single, Christian mother who decided to carry her baby to term after a diagnosis of anacephaly.
Here little girl is now 36 days old and is doing great! Little Faith just had a CT which confirmed that she is anacephalic, so the doctors have no clue why she is doing so well.
Faith smiles, startles to loud sounds, crys, babbles, and sits up.
There are lots of videos on the site showing her interacting with her mother and grandparents.
Fantastic, and how wonderful for the family!
A woman on my pregnancy board says that her mom was told her sister would be born with no brain. (I’m not sure of the specifics; this is just what I got.) The mom refused to abort or to have an amneo. That “brainless” child is now in the top 5% of her university!
I have had SEVERAL friends with similar stories, all of which involve the following:
New wife gets a positive pregnancy test. Hooray! Off to the doctor. Doctor says: “You are pregnant but there is no baby developing, no heartbeat, no fetus, just a lonely placenta, it’s an aberration but it happens. Let’s do a D&C!” Mama-to-be and Daddy-to-be: “This is dreadful news. We will wait and see/get a second opinion.” Doctor: “No you should do it now.”
Doctor #2: “Look, here’s your baby. Here’s its heart beating.”
One dear couple went forward with the D&C the first time, then when the same thing happened with their next pregnancy they got the second opinion and are now living with grief over what happened the first time, since they won’t know the truth of what happened in their lifetimes. But that second pregnancy (and my dear sister-in-law’s pregnancy, and another friend’s pregnancy)? Their little “no baby here” girls and boy are toddling around now.
Some doctors will act offended by the idea that a second opinion is needed, but I now consider that a warning sign that one is definitely needed. God is great.
A friend in my bible study group is now pregnant. They were told early in the pregnancy there was a 3 in 4 chance that the baby had a chromosomal abnormality, and 2 of those 4 options were fatal, and the third would result in disabilities. If it wasn’t one of those options, there were a whole host of disabilities and other genetic problems that could show up. She went through a battery of tests and now, at 20 weeks or so, New Baby is showing up in the ultrasounds completely normal! Praise God!
Thank you so much for the reminder that with God there is a right and a wrong. I am doing a prayer slot in church this sunday about abortion. You have reminded me to have courage and speak out God’s truth.
In the words of Horton hears a who by Dr Suess “A person’s a person no matter how small”.
I KNEW what you were going to say!
there are some other good stories in the comments at my post.=)
There are also sad stories- friends of ours lost their first child this past year- they were given pretty much the same diagnosis, they chose not to terminate, and the baby died in the womb about three months before her due date, IIRC. God is good no matter what.
Not a baby story, but when I was 9 my parents were told that I wouldn’t make it past about 14 or 15. I’m 50. So very very glad these dear parents decided not to abort their little one. May God continue to bless them.
This story is different but just as amazing. On December 25, 2001, two of my cousins were involved in a head-on collision. 17-year-old Frederick died at the scene of the accident. 13-year-old Angela was airlifted to a hospital 2 hours away (Calgary, Alberta) with massive head injuries. The doctors had been struggling to save Angela for a few weeks already when they had to give up. The pressure is her brain was sky high, her liver and kidneys had stopped working, and she was going to die any time. The doctors asked my uncle for permission to “pull the plug” and, of course, they wanted her organs. Mu uncle refused. So they sat there and waited for Angela to die, and waited, and waited. About 3 days later, her kidneys started working again, and then her liver, and physically she made a complete recovery. The doctors were astounded; apparently it never happens that kidneys and liver start working again after they have stopped.
Not long later, a CAT scan showed that there was zero activity in Angela’s brain; she was therefore brain-dead. Again doctors asked my uncle for permission to pull the plug, but he refused, over and over again. My uncle argued that we sometimes read about people who have been in a coma for years and years, and then suddenly wake up. The doctors, however, told him that those people still had some brain activity, while Angela had none, so there was no chance of her ever waking up.
In the meantime, doctors were slowly weaning Angela off the ventilator so she was breathing more and more on her own. She was also moved to a hospital closer to home,(Lethbridge, Alberta) and that is where she was when the time came that the ventilator could be removed. And she started talking!! What a shock that was. Within a very short time, she was all the way “with it” and talking all the time. She was bilingual before the accident, and woke up bilingual. She even remembers a little about the accident (she remembered seeing the police there)
When the nurses who had taken care of her in Calgary heard what had happened, they could not believe it, and so they came to visit her and found it all to be true. Angela’s recovery apparently made a huge splash in medical circles. Today, Angela has made a complete recovery, except that she remains blind. She graduated last year in June, and works at a seniors’ nursing home.
Oh I was going to tell you about Faith Hope too!
I love that site. Her mother is a single college student who had every reason to “take care of the problem” but refused to give up on her little girl.
http://babyfaithhope.blogspot.com/
Here’s another story. A couple at my church were told that one of their unborn twins would be unable to live outside the womb, did they just want to ‘get it over with’ and give the other twin a stronger start in life. They said no, they wanted to hold both their baby girls. Their girls were born, and Emily Grace only lived 17 hours. But what a blessing she was in her short time here on earth. Our pastor at the time made a good point. We are all here on earth for a purpose. Emily Grace’s purpose was accomplished in 17 short hours. She brought our congregation together in prayer and community in a way that nothing else ever has. She also served as a witness to God’s grace and sustaining power to nonbelievers who heard about this couples’ choice not to abort.
Following God’s will bring a blessing, whether in the form of a healthy baby or simply his comforting presence in our lives.
XOXO
Joce
my cousin was told at 4 months pregnant that her baby was anacephalic and should be aborted. she refused. baby zara (meaning shining flower) was born and lived a wonderful peaceful 9 hours in her parents and grandparents arms, surrounded by love. her organs were donated and she saved the lives of 4 other babies and gave sight to another. although baby zara isn’t here on earth, she lives on as a shining flower in the lives of 5 other families.