Hope is Flowing

Guest Blogger: Jessica Molina

I have a love/hate relationship with the highly anticipated fetal ultrasounds. When I was pregnant with Gabriela, Jorge and I were just listening for those words that would tell us whether to register for pink or blue blankets at Babies ‘R Us. “It’s a girl!” Pink. It wasn’t until our ultrasound with Samuel that we realized there is so much more to the in-utero peek than determining gender. Anencephaly. I had never heard that word before. But in the course of a few minutes I came to understand that the condition would rob me of my chance to raise my son. We registered for one blanket. Blue. So as Jorge and I held each other’s sweaty hands, waiting for our ultrasound for Baby #3, there was a loss of innocence. Gender was no longer an issue. I found myself praying Gabriela’s nightly prayer, “God, please give us a healthy baby. One we can keep.” My anxious eyes were glued to the screen. I studied the beautiful, round head, the heart beating strongly, fingers, toes, everything! I had to remind myself to breathe. I began to relax. Then came the dreaded, but familiar, comment. ‘’I’m just going to show these pictures to the doctor and he’ll speak with you in a few minutes.” My mind and emotions were racing. Lord, I know that my faith will not be shaken, but what about Gabriela! What about her prayer? The doctor was concerned about a “tumor” he was seeing in the left atrium of the baby’s heart. He gave us the names of a couple pediatric cardiologists and told us to schedule an appointment to return to his office in two weeks. Procedure is to repeat the ultrasound so that parents have time to decide whether or not to “terminate” their pregnancy before the 24th week… when it’s still legal.

The next couple weeks were filled with frustrations with the insurance company, tears shed in front of my computer screen filled with scary scenarios, and dread. I poured my heart out to two dear friends. Not only was I in a holding pattern to find out what was wrong with my baby, I was coming up on the 2nd anniversary of Samuel’s life and Mother’s Day. One of those friends is a pediatrician. She began making phone calls and found an amazing doctor who was willing to see me in her office. This doctor would rearrange her busy schedule to provide the fetal echocardiograph and consultation the next day… without insurance… free of charge! What a blessing!

The technician spent one hour capturing pictures and sounds in every nook and cranny of my baby’s heart. The doctor spent an additional hour studying the images and measurements. She called Jorge and me in to her office. She began by recognizing the skill and accuracy of the doctor who had looked at the results of the initial ultrasound. She told us that she had spent the last hour looking and looking, trying to find the mass. Whatever had been there was now “GONE.” Words cannot describe how we felt, realizing that God had worked a miracle in our lives and in the life of our baby! God had answered Gabriela’s prayer.

Then came the icing on the cake. The other friend I had shared my pain with let me in on another piece of the miracle. She told me she had told her mom about the mass. Her mom attends a church filled with prayer warriors in Kentucky. The pastor of that church had been prompting his congregation to pray specifically for situations. So during the service, the pastor had my friends mother share about our baby, and the congregation prayed collectively, on the spot, for the mass to “go away.” God responded to their prayers!

Over the past couple years, God has shown us that he can strengthen our faith through trials. Jorge and I have experienced God saying “no” to our requests for healing. We have now experienced His “yes.” Both have allowed us to give God the glory for His perfect plan. Rejoice with us! By the way… PINK!

SEEING THE WALK

I was encouraged today by a conversation I had with a volunteer from Homestead. His name is Fred and he is very meticulous in every decision he makes, but when he makes the decision he is all in.

Fred told me that he began attending Christ Fellowship in Palmetto Bay right before we launched our Homestead Campus. When we were asking people to sign up to join the launch team. He did, and his plan was to commit to Homestead for six months.

He began to worship and volunteer in Homestead. He never let us know was that he suffers from chronic physical pain. Pain that sometimes does not let him get through the day. He never complained, just always worked hard and made sure to help wherever there was any need.

About a month ago, two years since the Homestead Campus launch, Fred came to me and told me that God was dealing with him. He said that he could not express how awesome it was to be a part of a team and most important that he had a family. He also told me that he was ready to make the commitment to membership and also to be baptized.

So today he was telling me that he was talking to some of his friends and that they had noticed a changed in him. They began to ask what had happened? I thought, “Wow! I know what comes next… he told about the decisions he had made.” But no, he said nothing to them about what had happened. He did say that when he sees them next month, if they cannot SEE the difference then they are blind. He wants them to SEE His new way of life, the change that God has made in him.

Happy Birthday Sam

May 4 2008

Today is my son’s birthday and as I look back on the last two years it has gone very quick. I miss him a lot, but I can only tell you that I know that my wife and I believe that God’s hand has never been taken away. His love has been very evident and His promises have stayed true to us: ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD.
Well we both love our Savior, our Father, our Helper, and through the things we have gone through we have seen HIS hand and we have tasted that HIS PURPOSES are good. We have tasted His kindness and that is why we continue to do what we do.
His will is perfect but the problem was that I was not willing to accept it. The other day my wife and I were talking, we both were saying we would not change anything in our lives. This was huge because of the emotions that we sometimes allow to control us. Of course there are things that we wished would have worked differently but… then there would also be people who would never have been impacted, people who would have never come to church or people who never would have taken that step of faith of receiving Christ. So to them God’s plan is perfect and so it should be for Jess and I. So we celebrate in the same way that God chose king David, Jacob, Joseph, Esther…ordinary people to reflect HIS will…we thank God that He chose us to be Samuel Patton Molina’s parents.

If you haven't seen Samuel's slide show heres the address!
http://www.frank.nu/samuel.html