Prayer Matters!

My wife and I were at a Fort Myers Miracle baseball game with her brother and his family the evening of July 5^th, 2002. We had begun the process of an international adoption a few months earlier and were looking forward to finally being connected with our child. At some point during the game, my brother-in-law looked at me and asked if I wondered where our future child was right now. Yes! At this point in the process we did not know the nationality or race of our child. We believed God had a child for us and He would bring us together in His time.

After months of believing we were going to adopt a baby from another country, our plans were changed. Five days after the baseball game, I had a visit from the lady we were working with on the adoption. She had come to ask if we were interested in adopting a local micro-preemie. I told her I would need to talk with my wife, but I was pretty confident we were interested. I called and talked with my wife about it and we decided this was the child for us. We began praying for him immediately. We also asked some friends and family members to pray for him and the adoption process.

God gave us a son! He is our miracle. He was born while we were at a Fort Myers Miracle baseball game the same night my brother-in-law asked me about our future child.

We did not tell everyone the good news right away, because the birth mother and bio-dad had not yet signed the Termination of Parental Rights form. Once this was signed, we told everyone in our families and our friends. Shortly after making it known, I was asked by a co-worker about the adoption.

I began to tell how and when we heard about our son. I talked about the fact that we began praying for him the same day we heard about him, which was a five days after his birth. I noticed another co-worker within earshot had started to cry. I’m not a fan of women crying, so I was ready to leave. She stopped me and told me about a woman in her small group at church who had shared a story about a baby in the NICU where she worked. This woman told the class about a baby boy who had been born 4 months premature and she told herself everyday not to get attached because there was no way he would make it. Then she saw him when he was five days old and said to herself, someone is praying for you. My co-worker was crying as she heard me tell our story because she realized her friend was talking about our son.

There are times in my life I have wondered if my prayers matter. We do not always get to see how our prayers impact life, but this was a time I got to witness the power of prayer first hand.