please pray.

One of the wonderful things that I love about blogging is the great sense of community and friendship. People can write about good news, happiness and accomplishments and they receive outpourings of rejoicing and camaraderie. Or, for those times when we are struggling, worried, confused or given some hardship to deal with, our blogs and those who read it can be a great source of comfort, advice, empathy, and prayers. I've seen this time and again, as well as experienced it myself, and I think it is just such a blessing. Especially when I think about the fact that many of these people have never even met in real life-- yet there is still such a connection.

Today, I am asking for prayers-- not for me, but for a dear friend. And I know that I can count on all of you to give of yourselves in this way, because I've seen how wonderful you are.

My very good friend Kourtni, who has two lovely children (her youngest is almost exactly Emma's age), has been hoping for a third child for some time. And thankfully, her and her husband have had no problems with getting pregnant. However, since November of '06, she has suffered three miscarriages. After the third one happened, she and her husband went and had done almost every test you could think of for this sort of thing. We were all pretty certain that something had changed since she was pregnant with their youngest, since both her first pregnancies were perfectly normal and complication-free. However, every single test came back negative! As far as doctors can tell, there is nothing actually amiss with her. This is a good thing, but at the same time very frustrating, since it does nothing to explain why three times a miscarriage took place, and also does not present a solution to fix whatever went wrong.

Kourtni just found out she is pregnant again, and here is where the prayers come in. Scripture tells us that "the prayers of a righteous man availeth much", so I want to completely bathe this baby and her pregnancy in prayers. She is telling absolutely everyone and asking for prayers, and I told her "I'm going to put it on my blog!" She gave me the ok. So, please pray for her, for her baby, for this pregnancy. We know those first three babies were meant to be taken home to the Lord instead of being here on earth, and God gave her and her family amazing grace to deal with it in a very godly way. But now that we know that technically there is nothing to prevent a healthy pregnancy, we are praying with all our hearts that THIS baby will be joining their family in 9 months time. It's completely and totally in the Lord's hands, and all we can do is trust, hope, and pray. Even though I know God would give her grace yet again if it doesn't work out, I also know how HARD it was for her the other times, and that it would be just heartbreaking for something to go wrong again. She is doing great, and thinking positive right now, but I know it is a very stressful and uncertain time for her as she wonders what will happen this time. She needs our prayers as well. The more prayers, the better!! With God, all things are possible-- praise Him for that hope!

Thanks so much, everyone, for listening to her story. I know it would mean so much to her to know that others care and will be supporting her in prayer, even though they are strangers. I'll keep all you lovely people posted.