by contributing writer Heidi Eastman

This past Sunday, we had the opportunity to share our stories of deliverance.  (You can listen to some of those stories by watching the video from Sunday morning.) It’s always encouraging to hear how God answers prayers.  I wanted to share, but I have difficulty keeping things short, so I stayed in my seat.  I feel my sharing is best done with some thought and preparation.  Thankfully we have a blog that is a more comfortable setting for me to share.

I was in an ambulance heading to London, just 31 1/2 weeks pregnant – and in the early stages of labour.  (For those of you unfamiliar with pregnancy, 40 weeks is full term).  Our local hospitals (including Owen Sound), are unequipped to deal with infants born that early), so they had shipped me off to a facility with better resources for both me and my unborn child. 

The paramedic suggested I try to sleep (dear paramedics – there is no point in telling a pregnant woman in an ambulance to sleep, it’s not going to happen).  Instead I turned to prayer.  I kept begging God, over and over to “keep this baby in me”.

But somewhere on the road, that prayer changed.  I stopped treating God like my personal genie who would grant me my wish, and started treating Him more like the supreme creator of the universe He is.  I surrendered control, and prayed “Give me peace”.  And shortly after that, that prayer was answered. 

Nothing had changed – I was still in an ambulance, I was still having contractions, the situation was still serious. 

But that simple prayer to give me peace changed everything.  And God had the groundwork already laid – He was just waiting for me to ask.

The sense of peace I felt snapped me out of panic mode and helped me to have a clear mind, and be able to communicate my wants and needs more clearly, and have a better understanding what was happening.  And while I have no medical evidence to back me up, I believe that peace helped lower my blood pressure, which may have bought us more time – time enough for my husband to make the drive to London, and be by my side.  He also provided a mild January night, so both the ambulance and my husband could arrive safely.

God gave me peace by providing a wonderful obstetrician to care for me.  One whose current field of research was directly related to what was going on inside of me.  She was perfectly equipped to recognize my symptoms and acted quickly enough so that our daughter was born alive.

I was given peace by my paramedic being an old school mate, and providing a much needed distraction from my thoughts by catching up with each other.

Our daughter was born that night.  At 8 weeks early, she needed some medical interventions, and constant monitoring, but thankfully never required surgery, and was able to come home after a long seven weeks.

For those who knew of our situation the night of her birth, and the weeks following and prayed for us,  thank you.  God heard those prayers, and he answered them.  He delivered our family.  Our daughter, despite her scary start is a healthy, busy, typical two year old.

My prayer, and God’s answer was not an instant fix.  Some days I think about those first few weeks of her life, and I hurt about it still.  But it is impossible for me to reflect on those days without seeing the goodness of God.  He really is a God of miracles.

Sometimes the greatest miracle of all is God changing our attitude towards our circumstances.

Heidi Eastman lives in Neustadt with her husband, two daughters, and a beast of a dog. She has been an active part of the HMC congregation from the moment she was old enough to contribute. You can find her over at her own blog, My Sister Told Me To Start A Blog.  [Articles by Heidi]