Why I pray for Stellan

This is Harper. Her mommy writes the wonderful blog Kelly's Korner. She is why I came to know about Stellan and, hence, to have the joy of praying for him.

I have been a faithful follower of the LPM Blog almost since its inception. For those of you who may not know, that's Beth Moore's blog and she and both her daughters write delightful posts on a multitude of subjects. The LPM Blog was my first adventure into the blogosphere and reading it and learning how to post my comments was what encouraged me to begin a blog of my own. (Well . . . that and the Holy Spirit putting the desire to write in my heart, I guess. And also some VERY encouraging friends if I must be totally honest.)

Beth's daughter, Amanda Jones, as well as contributing to and moderating the LPM blog, writes a personal blog, Baby Bangs, about her family life. I stumbled across the link to it a couple of years ago. I have loved reading all about her son, Jackson, and watching him grow through the wonderful pictures Amanda shares. I loved following all the milestones of Amanda's pregnancy with Annabeth (born in Feb.). One day in the middle of January I clicked onto Amanda's blog, as I often did, and this is what I read:

Friday, January 16, 2009
Kelly and Harper Need Prayer

Please go here and pray, pray, pray for Kelly's newborn daughter! I just read on her dad's blog that Harper has pneumonia, which means her lungs are filled with fluid. She is in very critical condition and either has been or will be flown to another hospital in another city. Bless their hearts!

I clicked on the link Amanda provided and read the following:

Friday, January 16, 2009

Harper Brown Stamps was born at 7:03 PM. She weighed 9lb and 12oz. She is having some trouble breathing, so they have taken her to the NICU to check her heart. They have had to intubate her - they are doing tests to see what's going on. Also, Kelly lost a lot of blood in delivery and has really low blood pressure. We would really appreciate your prayers for both mother and daughter.

Then, this update written by Kelly herself:

Please Pray

UPDATE:We need you to lift us up in prayer like you never have before. Harper is in VERY critical condition and they are going to fly her to AR Children's hospital. It is very, very serious and the NICU doctor did not give us a favorable report. Scott and his parents will be driving there tonight. My parents and I will be driving there in the morning as soon as I can get out of the hospital. We know that God is soveriegn. WE KNOW that God is the same right now to us as He was to us this morning when we were so excited and praising Him as we drove to the hospital. We know that He loves us and no matter what happens - we will continue to praise Him. I honestly don't know how I'm going to survive if we lose her. I just want to be honest with you. I'm putting this on my blog right now because we have had over 30,000 hits today and I need 30,000 of God's people to be praying for us. Thank you in advance for getting on your knees for our precious daughter.

I was hooked! I am a grandmother to the core of my being and babies pull at my heart like nothing else in the world. But when Kelly - heartbroken and afraid wrote "...no matter what happens - we will continue to praise Him" my spirit soared with admiration for what glory this young woman was bringing to God in what had to have been her darkest hour.

For the next many days I prayed fervently for Harper. God would wake me in the night with this baby on my heart and I would pray for her, her parents, grandparents, doctors and nurses and any other details the Holy Spirit brought to my mind. I checked Kelly's blog and her dad's (he's pastor of FBC in Flippin, AR) first thing every morning, last thing every night, and often other times during the day to make sure I was current on Harper's latest progress. God worked a MIGHTY miracle on Harper's behalf and healed her completely. Her mother's journey of faith during Harper's hospitalization was more than a little inspiring! The support from her blog community (as well as family and friends) was awesome! What a testimony to the body of Christ being what it is supposed to be and functioning the way God intended!

By the time Harper was home from the hospital, Kelly was inundated with requests from others who needed a miracle as well and began posting them on the side bar of her blog. It was there I learned about Stellan and grew to love him and his incredible mommy.

There are FAR more needs and prayer requests available through the blog world than I could ever possibly pray for. What has been SO affirming to me personally is how the Holy Spirit prompts me as to which ones I am to "connect" with and then how faithfully He puts them on my heart and reminds me to pray for them.

I have to be honest and tell you that there was one baby - not Stellan - that I did not want to "adopt" as a prayer concern. When I first read his story I did not believe he would live. I didn't want to be involved as an intercessor and feel the pain of his loss. I'm ashamed to let you know I can be that selfish. But I can. I'm SO thankful that the Holy Spirit had other plans and would not let me go. This little guy is several months old now and I pray for him and read his mother's blog daily. Every single day of his young life has been a horrendous struggle for him and his parents. But, they will quickly tell you, every day has been great joy as well. Sometimes I shudder when I lift to the Lord some of the prayer requests his parents voice on his behalf. MANY times I cry.

I've been sad this week because Stellan's heart surgery did not help. But I trust God to take care of Stellan, and this other little boy, and an as yet unborn baby girl - all my prayer assignments from the Holy Spirit - the same way He took care of Harper. Will they all receive a miracle healing? I don't know. That's God's department - Not mine! My job is simply to pray for who He calls me to, when He calls me to.

Stellan's mom wrote a very insightful post this week about prayer and the multitudes of people that prayed for Him. She wrote:

...the more people who pray for someone, the more those people who are doing the
praying will see God's glory in the outcome, and be themselves impacted by
prayer, so more is certainly still better!

Yes, we, the pray-ers are impacted by prayer just like the one being prayed for. We rejoice when the answers to our prayers are miraculous. We are sad when they are not. We grieve when there is loss. But we keep believing. We keep trusting. We keep praying.

Ephesians 6:18 says we are to pray "at ALL times IN THE SPIRIT." Ask the Holy Spirit to show you WHO He wants you to be praying for. Allow Him to tell you WHAT to pray. It is an indescribable joy and privilege to partner with God in prayer!!