Jonah's Journey - The Beginning
Yesterday I invited you to join an army of people that are praying for Jonah. Today I encourage you to know that pray does make a real difference.
God still performs miracles today.
On November 27, 2006 Jonah will undergo an extensive surgery. We believe that God will carry him through all of this and the end result will be another miracle.
The following account of his amazing beginning is shared by his mom Jessika. After you read it with me, please share it with someone else. The amazing way that God has already worked in this little man’s life is an indication of the way that he will continue to perform more miracles.
Remember you can add comments to this Blog by clicking through at the end of the post.
~ Pastor Murray ~
From Jessika….
I just thought I would share a little story with you that you may not have heard, so you can see why we call him our "miracle":
On a Thursday in March 2005 (while he was still admitted to Sick kids, we had yet to take our son home from the hospital), Jonah had an MRI. They wanted to see exactly what was going on in his tiny body. We were told the results would be in on Monday morning. That Friday night, George and I headed out to the Selwyn Church for a big Prayer service. Billy Burke was there praying for the sick. All I had was a picture of my son, so I took it up for him to pray for Jonah. When he started to pray, I felt a calm come over me, one I hadn't felt since the day Jonah was born, and I knew in my heart of hearts, that he was going to be ok.
Monday morning came, and the neurologist walked in to Jonah's hospital room.
Now to help you understand, Jonah was in a room with 5 other babies, there was barely room to move when the other spots filled up and a total of 8 babies resided in room 4 NICU. George and I would sit on computer chairs beside our son for hours, playing with him, kissing him and we (mostly I) would change his diapers.
When the neurologist walked in, he came with his team that consisted of 1 neurologist, and 3 fellows(students). He told George and I to move our chairs to the end of Jonah's bed and prepare for some grim news.
He started off by telling us that Jonah was severely developmentally delayed, he said he would never smile, or reach for things like a normal child would. Just as he said that he looked down at Jonah and Jonah had the biggest smile on his face as he was trying to grab the stethoscope that was hanging down from the neurologists chest.
George and I suppressed our laughter, we knew what God was doing, but we also knew that we wanted to see what else He would show to those doctors up. The neurologist went a little red (from embarrassment), and cleared his throat and decided to go on with his "report".
The next thing he mentioned was that Jonah was completely and totally deaf, with no possible way he would ever hear again. As he was saying this, Jonah started to get gurgly with the mucous in his airway, so his nurse moved into suction him, just as she did, with limited space, she bumped one of Jonah's talking toys, his head was turned to the left, and as soon as it started playing on his right, he turned his head to it. The neurologist started scratching his head and looking really nervous. Again, George and I smiled.
This is the greatest one though...the neurologist said and I quote, " Well, this one I know for sure, there is no getting around this one," then he turned to us, "your son is completely blind, he has no optical nerve on either eye." He waited for us to react.
I glanced at my son and raised an eyebrow to the neurologist, who at that very moment was extracting a black pen from his pocket to write down something in his notes, as he did this Jonah's eyes locked on it, and the neurologist noticed this. He then started moving the pen back and forth, up and down, and Jonah followed it with his eyes, reaching for it with his hands and smiling.
The neurologist closed his book with an exasperated cry, "I don't know what to tell you, this child in this report, and your child are two different people!" He double checked the name on Jonah's bed and said, "I can't explain it".
"I can", I said.
"You see, we are Christians, and we prayed, and we had a whole church pray for him, there are people praying for him all over this country", I paused, " This is what you in the medical profession may call a problem with your testing equipment, this is what we call in the God loving business a Miracle. Jonah is and always will be a child of God, and God can do anything."
With that, I stood up and said thanks to God for my blessing, my son, my miracle. The neurologist still scratching his head, bowed out of the room quietly, wondering whether or not he had truly just witnessed a miracle. We know he did. We thank God everyday for that lesson he showed the doctors at Sick Kids. Like I said in my last e-mail Matthew 19:26 applies here to.
“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
Thank you for all of your support. Thank you for the wonderful e-mail replies you have been getting. We believe in the power of prayer, we know it helped him before, and continues to help him everyday.
Thank you thank you thank you thank you:
Jessika Van Spronsen
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To send this to others – the links are …
Jonah’s Journey - http://northviewchurch.blogspot.com/2006/11/jonahs-journey.html
Jonah’s Journey – The Beginning - http://northviewchurch.blogspot.com/2006/11/jonahs-journey-beginning.html
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I would like you to meet Jonah Van Spronsen - age 21 months. Jonah is the first son of George and Jessica. He has a younger brother, Samsun.
Oh, I forgot to tell you this one. Jonah can't speak yet. He has a tracheotomy. Long before getting married Jessika had learned to be quite proficient in Sign Language. Today Jonah speaks to mommy, daddy, grandma and whoever will listen with over 50 Signs. Watching him sing along with his grandma, “Get on the bus…” was an absolute joy. The big smile on his face as he watched her and heard her singing, makes the above account even more amazing!
~ Pastor Murray ~
God still performs miracles today.
On November 27, 2006 Jonah will undergo an extensive surgery. We believe that God will carry him through all of this and the end result will be another miracle.
The following account of his amazing beginning is shared by his mom Jessika. After you read it with me, please share it with someone else. The amazing way that God has already worked in this little man’s life is an indication of the way that he will continue to perform more miracles.
Remember you can add comments to this Blog by clicking through at the end of the post.
~ Pastor Murray ~
From Jessika….
I just thought I would share a little story with you that you may not have heard, so you can see why we call him our "miracle":
On a Thursday in March 2005 (while he was still admitted to Sick kids, we had yet to take our son home from the hospital), Jonah had an MRI. They wanted to see exactly what was going on in his tiny body. We were told the results would be in on Monday morning. That Friday night, George and I headed out to the Selwyn Church for a big Prayer service. Billy Burke was there praying for the sick. All I had was a picture of my son, so I took it up for him to pray for Jonah. When he started to pray, I felt a calm come over me, one I hadn't felt since the day Jonah was born, and I knew in my heart of hearts, that he was going to be ok.
Monday morning came, and the neurologist walked in to Jonah's hospital room.
Now to help you understand, Jonah was in a room with 5 other babies, there was barely room to move when the other spots filled up and a total of 8 babies resided in room 4 NICU. George and I would sit on computer chairs beside our son for hours, playing with him, kissing him and we (mostly I) would change his diapers.
When the neurologist walked in, he came with his team that consisted of 1 neurologist, and 3 fellows(students). He told George and I to move our chairs to the end of Jonah's bed and prepare for some grim news.
He started off by telling us that Jonah was severely developmentally delayed, he said he would never smile, or reach for things like a normal child would. Just as he said that he looked down at Jonah and Jonah had the biggest smile on his face as he was trying to grab the stethoscope that was hanging down from the neurologists chest.
George and I suppressed our laughter, we knew what God was doing, but we also knew that we wanted to see what else He would show to those doctors up. The neurologist went a little red (from embarrassment), and cleared his throat and decided to go on with his "report".
The next thing he mentioned was that Jonah was completely and totally deaf, with no possible way he would ever hear again. As he was saying this, Jonah started to get gurgly with the mucous in his airway, so his nurse moved into suction him, just as she did, with limited space, she bumped one of Jonah's talking toys, his head was turned to the left, and as soon as it started playing on his right, he turned his head to it. The neurologist started scratching his head and looking really nervous. Again, George and I smiled.
This is the greatest one though...the neurologist said and I quote, " Well, this one I know for sure, there is no getting around this one," then he turned to us, "your son is completely blind, he has no optical nerve on either eye." He waited for us to react.
I glanced at my son and raised an eyebrow to the neurologist, who at that very moment was extracting a black pen from his pocket to write down something in his notes, as he did this Jonah's eyes locked on it, and the neurologist noticed this. He then started moving the pen back and forth, up and down, and Jonah followed it with his eyes, reaching for it with his hands and smiling.
The neurologist closed his book with an exasperated cry, "I don't know what to tell you, this child in this report, and your child are two different people!" He double checked the name on Jonah's bed and said, "I can't explain it".
"I can", I said.
"You see, we are Christians, and we prayed, and we had a whole church pray for him, there are people praying for him all over this country", I paused, " This is what you in the medical profession may call a problem with your testing equipment, this is what we call in the God loving business a Miracle. Jonah is and always will be a child of God, and God can do anything."
With that, I stood up and said thanks to God for my blessing, my son, my miracle. The neurologist still scratching his head, bowed out of the room quietly, wondering whether or not he had truly just witnessed a miracle. We know he did. We thank God everyday for that lesson he showed the doctors at Sick Kids. Like I said in my last e-mail Matthew 19:26 applies here to.
“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
Thank you for all of your support. Thank you for the wonderful e-mail replies you have been getting. We believe in the power of prayer, we know it helped him before, and continues to help him everyday.
Thank you thank you thank you thank you:
Jessika Van Spronsen
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To send this to others – the links are …
Jonah’s Journey - http://northviewchurch.blogspot.com/2006/11/jonahs-journey.html
Jonah’s Journey – The Beginning - http://northviewchurch.blogspot.com/2006/11/jonahs-journey-beginning.html
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I would like you to meet Jonah Van Spronsen - age 21 months. Jonah is the first son of George and Jessica. He has a younger brother, Samsun.
Oh, I forgot to tell you this one. Jonah can't speak yet. He has a tracheotomy. Long before getting married Jessika had learned to be quite proficient in Sign Language. Today Jonah speaks to mommy, daddy, grandma and whoever will listen with over 50 Signs. Watching him sing along with his grandma, “Get on the bus…” was an absolute joy. The big smile on his face as he watched her and heard her singing, makes the above account even more amazing!
~ Pastor Murray ~
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Thursday, November 09, 2006
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