family

family

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Taking a step in authority




"You have authority over your child, even in the womb."

I was talking with a dear friend just the other day. She is pregnant and has the normal momma worries... I have explained a few times that I have been praying over her sweet little man. I always pray that he will be a peaceful, calm, good sleeping, good eating, obedient, strong little boy with a huge servants heart, made in God's image. 

Can I just tell you Joelle's story? That beautiful little girl in the picture is my sweet Joelle. We call her JoJo. She is the most energetic, loving, serving, helpful, persistent, faithful, obedient little girl. Things looked pretty rough for her, before she even entered this world. 

It was a normal doctors appointment. (although it wasn't a normal situation... most people don't have a doctor that is an elder at your church. Awkward. But amazing all in one.) I always looked forward to sonogram day! Seeing that sweet alien looking blob on the screen always gives a momma a sense of peace and excitement. A little back track, just for fun- Months before this, we were at a church service with a dear friend. Dave Duell was a mighty man of God with a big gift of prophecy. We had planned on Joelle's gender and name being a surprise. We had a boy and girl name picked out...but had not told a soul. Dave came to us in the church service and held my hand, saying "You want to know the gender of this precious baby, don't you?" YES!! I was so beyond ready to know. After all, nesting is for real! Jeremiah was set on not finding out....so Dave whispered, "Joelle Elizabeth will be full of music." My mouth dropped open. And in the microphone, I exclaimed "HOLY CRAP!!" (hey, it could have been worse. Lol!) 
Anyways, back to sonogram day. The sweet lady preforming the sonogram was explaining what the blurry blobs were... the profile, arms, little hand, tiny fingers, legs, itty bitty toes. And then silence. She clicked. She measured. She clicked more. Our oooing and awwing over my sweet little baby stopped. I asked a few times "What's wrong?" but she couldn't answer. The room quickly filled with doctors. Its like they were speaking a foreign language. None of them were explaining... and then those words that no parent wants to hear- "Jessica, it looks like there is a problem with your baby's feet."
Joelle's right foot was clubbed. It was a normal case of clubbed foot, correctable by surgery and a series of casts. The left foot was a different story. The sonogram showed that her left foot was completely upside down. Her heel was connected where her ankle was supposed to be. This would require surgery to completely rebuild her ankle and heel. When we connected with the Scottish Rite hospital, it was explained that the process would take about 3-6 years. YEARS. Joelle would not be able to walk or even start to learn to crawl/walk until she was 3 years old. She would have a series of casts from hip to toe, with the first surgery at 3 weeks old.  My sweet baby. She wasn't even here, and she already had a mountain to face. My heart.
Fast forward a few weeks. We were still trying to process this. We had not even explained to all of our family, we just needed some time. Jeremiah's dad (a pastor) had a yearly revival. We went, but my mind was preoccupied. There was another pastor that kept saying, "We need to pray for someones feet. They need to be set straight." I refused to raise my hand, and was really not ready to say it out loud  yet... Finally on the last night of the revival, I agreed with Jeremiah that we would put pride and fear aside and go up for prayer. That pastor said it again, so we went up. Now, here's the not-so-awkward part of having an elder from your church as your doctor. He was at the revival. When we went forward for prayer, our Doctor came with us. He took the microphone and put his hand on Jeremiah's shoulder. He said "Jeremiah, God has given you authority over your daughter, even in the womb. Speak to your little girl, tell her feet to line up with the word of God." As they began to pray, my stomach started to burn...But, the next sonogram didn't show any change. In fact, all of the rest of the sonograms from that point on looked exactly the same. We continued with the steps to set up specialists and surgery. And we continued to pray... 
On to delivery day. I was induced, and we were prepared for what the sonograms showed. Our doctor prayed with us again, and explained that he would take her immediately to do a thorough evaluation. He caught her, and zipped off to check her out. He's a pretty solum guy. Even-keeled. But can I just tell you, the man can JUMP. He came back to us JUMPING up and down, yelling "SHE'S PERFECT!!!" 
Tears. Uncontrollable tears. Even almost 10 years later as I type this.
She was perfect. The feet that the devil tried to harm, will take her to the nations to share the gospel. 

"The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet. His grace will be with you." Romans 16:20

Whatever it is that you are facing, take authority over it. The one who created the universe has given you the authority and power. 





8 comments:

Kisha said...

Praise God, what a beautiful and powerful testimony to awake to!

Unknown said...

What an awesomely wonderful report of God's miraculous power and authority, given to us, His Body! Thank you for sharing!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
A.L. Francis said...

I always knew JoJo was special, even when she was sneaking pineapples..lol...

jessica mohr said...

Mr. Francis, Joelle said- and grapes, and popcorn! :)

McTaylor said...

What a testament to God's healing power and to the people He plants along side us to walk through the hard thing that we're scared to walk through alone. Thanks for sharing Joelle's miracle story.

Terry McGuire said...

I’ve heard you guys tell the story in person. There’s just something about the intricate detail that the typed word contains. Thank you for sharing Joelle’s testimony of God’s goodness & power so beautifully! ❤️����

Teresa B said...

Praise be to our Father-he is in the ongoing business of miracles. We need to believe and receive and He never fails us. Beautiful example of His ❤️❤️