* The smell of rain** **

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor
walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy
from surgery. *

Her husband, David , held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest
news. That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only
24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new
daughter, Dana Lu Blessing.

At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew
she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.

"I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could. *

"There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even
then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very
cruel one. Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the
devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived.

She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and
she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral
palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.

"No! No!" was all Diana could say.

She and David , with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the
day they would have a daughter to become a family of four.

Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away

But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana.
Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the
lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't
even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength
of their love.

All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in
the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to
their precious little girl.

There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger.

But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an
ounce of strength there. At last, when Dana turned two months old.
her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time.

And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn
that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life,
were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had
predicted.

Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with
glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs
whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a
little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving ,
Texas , Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local
ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing. As always,
Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby,
when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you
smell that?"

Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana
replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."

Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?"
Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It
smells like rain.

Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders
with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like Him.

It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."

Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the
other children. Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed
what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known,
at least in their hearts, all along.

During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when
her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on
His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

The Egg

Jeremy was born with a twisted body and a slow mind. At the age of 12 he was still in second grade, seemingly unable to learn. His teacher, Doris Miller, often became exasperated with him.

He would squirm in his seat, drool, and make grunting noises. At other times, he spoke clearly and distinctly, as if a spot of light had penetrated the darkness of his brain. Most of the time, however, Jeremy just irritated his teacher.

One day, she called his parents and asked them to come in for a consultation. As the Forrester's entered the empty classroom Doris said to them, "Jeremy really belongs in a special school. It isn't fair to him to be with the younger children who don't have learning problems. Why, there is a five year gap between his age and that of the other students."

Mrs. Forrester cried softly into a tissue, while her husband spoke. "Mrs. Miller," he said, "there is no school of that kind nearby. It would be a terrible shock for Jeremy if we had to take him out of this school. We know he really likes it here."

Doris sat for a long time after they had left, staring at the snow outside the window. Its coldness seemed to seep into her soul. She wanted to sympathize with the Forrester's. After all, their only child had a terminal illness, but it wasn't fair to keep him in her class. She had 18 other youngsters to teach, and Jeremy was a distraction. Furthermore, he would never learn to read and write. Why waste any more time trying? As she pondered the situation, guilt washed over her. Here I am complaining when my problems are nothing compared to that poor family, she thought. Lord, please help me to be more patient with Jeremy.

From that day on, she tried hard to ignore Jeremy's noises and his blank stares. Then one day, he limped to her desk, dragging his bad leg behind him. "I love you, Mrs. Miller," he exclaimed, loud enough for the whole class to hear. The other students snickered, and Doris' face turned red. She stammered,"Wh--why that's very nice, Jeremy. N--now please take your seat."

Spring came, and the children talked excitedly about the coming of Easter. Doris told them the story of Jesus, and then to emphasize the idea of new life springing forth, she gave each of the children a large plastic egg. "Now," she said to them, "I want you to take this home and bring it back tomorrow with something. "Yes, Miss Miller," the children responded enthusiastically... All except for Jeremy. He listened intently; his eyes never left her face. He did not even make his usual noises. Had he understood what she had said about Jesus' death and resurrection?
Did he understand the assignment?
Perhaps she should call his parents and explain the project to them.

That evening, Doris' sink stopped up. She called the landlord and waited an hour for him to come by and unclog it. After that, she still had to shop for groceries, iron a blouse, and prepare a vocabulary test for the next day. She completely forgot about phoning Jeremy's parents.

The next morning, 19 children came to school, laughing and talking as they placed their eggs in the large wicker basket on Miss Miller's desk. After they completed their math lesson, it was time to open the eggs.

In the first egg, Doris found a flower. "Oh yes, a flower is certainly a sign of new life," she said. "When plants peek through the ground, we know that spring is here."
A small girl in the first row waved her arm. "That's my egg, Miss Miller," she called out.
The next egg contained a plastic butterfly, which looked very real. Doris held it up. "We all know that a caterpillar changes and grows into a beautiful butterfly. Yes, that's new life, too." Little Judy smiled proudly and said "Miss Miller, that one is mine."
Next, Doris found a rock with moss on it. She explained that moss, too, showed life. Billy spoke up from the back of the classroom, "My daddy helped me", he beamed.

Then Doris opened the fourth egg. She gasped. The egg was empty. Surely it must be Jeremy's she thought, he did not understand her instructions. If only she had not forgotten to phone his parents. Because she did not want to embarrass him, she quietly set the egg aside and reached for another one.
Suddenly, Jeremy spoke up. "Miss Miller, aren't you going to talk about my egg?"

Flustered, Doris replied, "But Jeremy, your egg is empty."

He looked into her eyes and said softly, "Yes, but Jesus' tomb was empty, too."

Time stopped.
When she could speak again, Doris asked him, "Do you know why the tomb was empty?"

"Oh, yes," Jeremy said,"Jesus was killed and put in there. Then His father raised Him up."

The recess bell rang.
While the children excitedly ran out to the school yard, Doris cried. The cold inside her melted completely away.

Three months later, Jeremy died. Those who paid their respects at the mortuary were surprised to see 19 eggs on top of his casket, all of them empty.

~~unknown

This blog post is dedicated to a little angel baby, who gave up her life but in doing so, saved her mothers.

Late Tuesday evening, a family in Maui were on their way home from a party where they had shared food, laughter, and fellowship with the other members of their church. Mike and Tiana, who was 7 months pregnant, and their 5 young children, had been attending the church there since May 2009; not even a full year. But their faith has been strong and they fully trust in God and have been thankful to Him for turning their lives around.

On this Tuesday, the roads were wet and what was normally a routine drive home on familiar roads became a horrific scene as Mike lost control of the truck. Hydroplaning, they skid out before rolling over about three times. When they finally landed and the rescuers came, the children were miraculously fairly well with the exception of the 3 year old girl with a broken wrist. Mike received injuries to his leg, but he could not take the time to dwell on his own injuries, because his pregnant wife Tiana was obviously fighting for her very life. At the hospital, it was just a few hours later that the medical team realized that the unborn baby no longer had a heartbeat. But in their desperate attempts to save Tiana’s life, removing the baby was not a priority, although they didn’t understand the significance of this decision at the time. Tiana had head lacerations, major internal organ damage, a shattered pelvis, and many more wounds. The bleeding would not stop and she received over half a dozen blood transfusions. Not an ounce of her own blood remained in her battered body. She remained in surgery on Maui while frantic doctors did everything within their power to stabilize her. Meanwhile, doctors and nurses were mystified at the loud roar coming from the waiting room; it sounded like a riot of people, out of control. Someone finally told them that it was not a riot; it was members of Mike and Tiana’s church, who had taken over the waiting room and transformed it into a prayer room, where they were unabashedly crying out to God at the tops of their voices. The Coast Guard was called upon to send a helicopter to transport her to Oahu, where she could be seen at the major trauma center for the entire Pacific area; Queens Medical Center. Finally, about 18 hours after the accident, she was successfully transported to Oahu.

Mike, still wearing the clothes he’d had on during the accident and refusing medical treatment for his leg, left his children in the loving care of friends and family members and came with his wife. Church members on Maui, Oahu, and the mainland were bombarding heaven on their behalf. Tiana, however, was not expected to live.

At Queens, this time late Wednesday night, Tiana again returned to a cold steel operating room table and was under the desperate hands of worried doctors, who were trying everything within their power and knowledge to save her. Her sweet baby remained inside of her, and it was beginning to dawn on the doctors that Tiana should already be dead. The combination of injuries that she’d sustained, the loss of blood, the amount of time that had passed since her accident….it all added up to the medical reality that Tiana was inexplicably alive. And then the mystery was solved; her unborn baby was keeping Mommy alive. Although the baby had died hours after the accident, because of its size, weight, and location it was putting just enough pressure on certain injured areas….stopping certain amounts of bleeding….keeping just the right organs from shutting down completely. From the time of the accident to nearly 24 hours later, she had sustained her mom.Even in her death, that baby girl was working hard. In fact, in her brief time on earth she did more for her mother than some people will do in their entire lives; and all without her taking a single breath.

An obstetrician was summoned and when the medical team was ready, the baby girl was removed by caesarian and the team began to work on saving Tiana in the way that her baby had already been doing. In her own way, she had shown them what to do and thankfully they learned enough from her to continue her task.

When the OB doctor came and relayed this information to Mike, Mike revealed that he and Tiana had already privately decided on their unborn baby’s name, long before the accident. He allowed his wife’s mother to gather everyone together in the waiting room and make the birth announcement for her precious granddaughter. She spoke of how God’s ways are mysterious and yet perfect, and although we cannot understand it, God arranged for that baby girl to exist for the reason to save her mom, and that now Praise Marie Mose (Moz-ay) was with her Creator after having done her job.

With Tiana still on the operating room table, Praise Marie was carefully wrapped in a blanket and given a soft baby hat. Mike was led to a private room and allowed to meet his daughter. After some time alone, he asked that everyone else be brought in, a few at a time, to meet her. I walked in with my pastor. He knew I was struggling with the decision to see this baby, in light of my recent and still-painful miscarriage. Something inside of me drove me to that room and to that baby, although most people may never understand why I wanted to do this. I saw Mike, tenderly cradling a precious and adorable 4 pound little girl. She had rosy skin, dark hair, and perfectly formed features. Long dark eyelashes softly touched chubby cheeks. Full lips closed in a peaceful expression.

My first feeling was, I admit, jealously. Mike was getting to hold his little girl, and I hadn’t been able to. Later, my husband confessed that jealousy had also been his initial reaction. We are, after all, only human. But instantly the jealousy turned to amazement. Adoration. Love. Awe. That little hero baby was gorgeous and perfect. It would be impossible to gaze upon her little face and NOT acknowledge the existence of a mighty God. Pastor and I wept as Mike softly whispered into his daughters face, kissing and nuzzling her as he told her to go find Ashleigh (Pastor’s daughter who drowned when she was 2), and Evangeline Joy, my own daughter. “You’ll find friends already,” he told her. “Cousins!” It was so sweet.

In that moment, I began to feel peace. Seeing Praise’s face put flesh and blood on the image in my mind, of Evangeline. I gazed at Praise and knew that without a doubt, those tiny souls were together with Jesus. I was actually looking at someone who already knew my baby girl. With tears I mourned again for my Evangeline Joy, but began to finally feel healing begin in my heart. I will see her one day. I will hug her. I will hold her. Until then, she is being cared for and although I will miss her for the rest of my life, I have Hope.

With the hospital's permission, Mike would be allowed to hold Praise through a long night, savoring every possible moment with her until the hospital would have to take her away and prepare her body for a funeral. I know that God was with Mike last night in that quiet hospital room. I will never forget that image in my head, of a large yet humble, gentle man, with a tiny blanketed still figure in his large arms. A Daddy so proud of his little girl that he couldn't bear to stop holding her. Praise certainly deserves every bit of love, recognition, and attention that she got through the night from her earthly father, even as her soul was already with her heavenly one.

After a little more time, Tiana was wheeled into ICU and the surgeon came to talk to the family. In short, she was stable. Of course she still has a long mountain to climb, and more surgeries to endure, but she was in fairly good condition after the long ordeal. Beyond any doubt, she is a miracle that medical science cannot accept credit for. Although it is through the care and expertise of the doctors that she is alive and well, in the end the doctors could only do so much. Those of us in the waiting room know the reality; God in heaven has been in control the whole time, and in His infinite love and mercy He gave Praise to Mike and Tiana, and Praise saved her Mommy. #TrueStoriesTestimonies