Later during the weekend, late at night in their hotel room, all 4 of those girls decided that what they were really searching for was unconditional love and acceptance. They found that when they prayed with their christian friends and asked Jesus to forgive them of their sins. When the youth pastor shared that story with me the next morning, I realized that is how you do evangelism. You love people just as they are, right where they are, expecting nothing from them, showing them the mercy and grace of God. He will take care of the saving.
That's the guts of it, for the story of how the girls came to this decision read the whole article here. It's worth it.
That's what the young people in Japan are called and the title fits for people around the world. Translated it means "The Thumb Generation". Albert Mohler reports that we are using our opposable thumbs like no previous generation.
Click here for an interesting read on the cellular phone generation.
...and the power of a community of believers prayer.
On Monday, December 31st, Ansley Michelle came into this world. She is the daughter of my pastor Adam Mayfield and his wife Lora. She was 1 lb. 15 oz.
That's correct, 1 lb. 15 oz. You see, she wasn't due to be born until February but God had other plans for her. Lora entered the hospital this past Saturday after some routine tests revealed that she had preeclampsia which is a narrowing of the blood vessels restricting the flow of blood to her major organs. Normally this isn't quite the emergency situation but with her symptoms accelerating the doctor's determined that her case had progressed to H.E.L.L.P. Syndrome which is a life-threatening obstetric complication considered by many to be a variant of pre-eclampsia.
With this news it became obvious that we would be meeting Ansley even sooner than we expected. The only question being how long could she stay in the womb. Ansley was never in immediate danger but it was becoming serious for Lora. A protocol of steroid shots was begun to help develop Ansley's lungs and steps were taken to control Lora's vitals.
Monday morning it was determined that an emergency C-Section would have to be performed and a new batch of emails was sent around the world, spurring thousands of prayers to heaven. The first answered prayer came when Lora's doctor decided that a local anethesia would be sufficient and Adam would be able to be by her side for the birth of their first child. Words can't describe what this meant to the young couple.
The next sign of God's presence was apparent in the skilled hands of the doctor. The C-Section was an incredible success and Ansley came out crying. The next few minutes and hours revealed more than prayers answered, more along the lines of an absolute miracle. Though Ansley was just under 2 lbs and at what was determined a gestational size of 28 weeks she was nothing short of perfect. Her first apgar score was an EIGHT! And a few minutes later a NINE! These would be awesome for a full term baby let alone a little girl that decided it was time almost TWELVE WEEKS EARLY!
Perhaps the greatest sign of God's hand in Ansley's birth is the fact that she hasn't been on life support for one second and has been breathing on her own since birth. The only thing that might signal the fact that she is a preemie is the feeding tube and this is only to help her rest as much as possible. They feel there is no need to attempt feeding her now in that it would just wear her out. She is truly a miracle and a result of a strong group of family and friends sending up prayer and having the faith that our God is bigger than anything that can happen in this world.
Please continue with your prayers as Ansley will be in the NICU for quite a while still and mommy is healing from her surgery let alone getting back to normal from the preeclampsia.
Thank you everyone, God bless. He is Awesome!
