{"id":27979,"date":"2022-03-24T12:29:58","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T16:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liveoriginal.com\/?p=27979"},"modified":"2022-04-12T13:33:00","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T17:33:00","slug":"community-saved-my-daughters-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liveoriginal.com\/community-saved-my-daughters-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Saved My Daughters Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

I remember every detail of the drive on that April morning. In a way,\u202fit felt as if Zach and\u202fI\u202fwere actors in a movie. Since the day I was born\u202fEaster Sunday\u202fbegan the same way\u202f\u2013 ironing dresses, curling my hair, polishing my church shoes back when that was a thing. Truly,\u202fthis was the day to look\u202fmy\u202f\u201cSunday best.\u201d Yet,\u202fhere\u202fI\u202fwas\u202fspeeding down the interstate with no make-up, my hair\u202fwas\u202fnot brushed, and I would later discover that in my rush to get out the door,\u202fI\u202fthrew\u202fon my 10-year-old son\u2019s t-shirt\u202f(I was 40.)\u202fIt was windy that day,\u202fand I can remember our minivan swaying against the force of the wind as we\u202fdrove in silence. The silence was deafening, but amidst the chaos,\u202fthere was a peace that can only be explained by the presence of the Holy Spirit.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One hour before this road trip began,\u202four family of six was bundled up on\u202fthe\u202fporch watching the sun come up as we read the story of the resurrection.\u202fWe\u202fstarted\u202fthe tradition of an Easter Sunrise time of devotion\u202feight years\u202fbefore,\u202fand not once during the\u202fearly\u202fhours of\u202fthe\u202fmorning\u202fwas\u202fI interrupted by my phone. Most of the world was still asleep,\u202fand so,\u202fwhen my phone began buzzing at 6:45am on Easter Sunday,\u202fI was moved to check it but quickly recanted.\u202fSomething about checking my phone while reading about the resurrected\u202fSavior didn\u2019t feel right.\u202fMinutes later,\u202fas\u202four devotional came\u202fto a close,\u202fI read the words \u201cCALL ME ASAP\u201d from the birth mother of the child we committed to adopt.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not meant to be a blog about our adoption story, so I will save the specifics of this story and that particular call for another setting. However, to help paint the picture\u202fof the seriousness of our situation,\u202fyou should know that the birth mother was only 27\u202fweeks pregnant and began\u202fhemorrhaging. She was rushed via ambulance to the closest hospital\u202fto her\u202fand would undergo an emergency C-section. We were two and half hours from this hospital,\u202fand as we were flying down the interstate,\u202fI was fighting the urge to begin googling \u201call the possible scenarios.\u201d I could muster\u202fonly\u202fstillness. I was frozen in the passenger seat, praying silently for the safety of this child that I\u202fknew was meant to\u202flive.<\/span><\/p>\n

The silence was broken\u202fas the ringing of my phone blared through the car speakers. The number ringing was very close to this situation,\u202fand for a split second,\u202fI hesitated to answer. Bracing myself,\u202fI hit the green button and\u202fanswered,\u202f\u201c<\/span>Hello<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Am I on speaker phone<\/span><\/i>?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u202f<\/span>Me: \u201c<\/span>Yes<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Would you mind taking me off and handing the phone to Zach<\/span><\/i>?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Me: \u201c<\/span>Sure<\/span><\/i>.\u201d\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n

I watched Zach\u2019s facial expressions,\u202fknowing within my heart that the words he would\u202frelay to me were not\u202fgood.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Zach: \u201cS<\/span>he\u202fwas unresponsive at birth,\u202fand he doesn\u2019t think she made it<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Me: Silence.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I picked up my phone,\u202fand the only thing I could think to do was to call on my community. I began texting everyone:\u202f\u201cShe was born not breathing;\u202fthey are trying to revive her now;\u202fpray.\u201d I copied\u202fand pasted those 13 words to everyone I knew at 10:38am Easter morning,\u202fwhich just so happens to be when most of my community was in church. At 10:58am,\u202fI\u202ftexted: \u201cShe\u2019s stable.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I could bring this blog to a close in a few short sentences. I could recall how so many of my friends told stories of their churches stopping to pray in this moment. I could highlight the beauty of a community that would stop\u202fto\u202fpray for my daughter. I would definitely love to quote a verse that\u202fI simply read over the years in my quiet time but now understand it to be\u202ftruly true.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit\u201d James 5:16-18. Prayer matters.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe with all my heart that God heard the prayers of His people on that Sunday morning,\u202fand Ruth Harvest Dasher was resurrected on Easter Sunday 2021.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t