A young lady in our church had her second baby yesterday afternoon. Now you may be thinking, “that’s no big deal… ladies are having babies all around the place.” Well this is particular lady I’ve known since she was a little girl. It’s cool when your peers are having precious little ones but when the next generation below you starts to grow up… it’s another thing all together.

Jenna’s been going to our church for the past 13 years, pretty much since it started. She was 9 or 10 I think. She’d come out with her other 2 younger sisters and 2 baby brothers, they lived above the community centre that the church met in. Her parents would send them out and they’d stay in to sleep in… child-free. Which is completely fine by us! (Her parents ended up giving their hearts to the Lord and attending the church a few years later, Jenna was 12 or 13.) There’s lots that has happened to this family (Jenna’s dad, Joe, died suddenly this past New Year’s Day of a heart attack, he was 45 years old) but I’ll skip across the decade and get to this past week and Jenna’s newest baby (they have a 2 1/2 year old little boy).

On Sunday morning I woke up praying for Jenna and for the baby, I know what it is like to get to the end of the pregnancy and want it out! When we were at church, in the middle of the worship, one of the guys came forward feeling a great urgency to pray for her and for the baby. He was in tears. Geof has known Jenna even longer than us.

My hubby grabs the mic and says, “I’m not sure where Jenna is right now or what is going on but we are going to pray for her.” Right at that exact moment Jenna and her husband Greg walked in the church doors. We called her forward, laid hands on her and I prayed for her. Not only did I pray for protection over the baby’s delivery but for peace in the room. Tears were streaming down her face. You could feel the anointing. Actually it was quite the day for a lot of us, the oil was freely flowing! K, move ahead to yesterday…

I woke up Tuesday morning praying for Jenna’s mom, Donna. I didn’t know why but I just prayed that God be with her. Jenna went into the hospital with the contractions being about 4 minutes apart at 8am; she was 5 cm along. I didn’t hear much until close to 10:30am when Greg called to say she was progressing well. At 2:31pm a little baby girl named Joey joined their family. It was 100% natural with only maybe 2 stitches.

There was a bit of trouble when she came out. She had the cord wrapped around her neck and she wasn’t breathing. The doctor’s tapped her feet and rubbed her chest. Nothing. Greg went white. Donna, Jenna’s mom, remembered the prayers that went before God on Sunday and the urgency that Geof had on his face. She reminded Jenna and Greg and at that moment Joey took her first breath, 4 minutes after her birth.

Joey spent an hour in NICU getting checked over, she had some excess fluid in her lungs but all was ok. She was cleared to be moved in with Mom and Dad, everything is normal and healthy! I haven’t had a chance to see them yet; visitor’s hours are pretty strict around here. They should be going home today sometime anyways.

I encourge you to listen to the soft whispers of the Holy Spirit. There is always a reason why God puts people on your heart ~ take time out of your day to intercede for them.

Welcome to the world Joey Dakota!