I Still Have My Bracelet

This is Danielle posting.

I had the privilege of speaking to Molly for a brief time last night.  As we closed our conversation, I shared with her a story about my son and his blue Wavy bracelet.  With the thought of that story fresh in my mind, when I failed to be able to put my mind to rest for the night, I did what I often do... I wrote about the many thoughts running through my head and posted it to my personal blog late last night.

I am honored that Molly has asked me to share that blog post with you as well.  Please know that the subject matter and urgency for prayer remains the same.


Thank you for reading, following, and most importantly, praying!

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I Still Have My Bracelet

My family has prayed for "Wavy" and her family for well over a year now.  

Like many others, we wore blue bracelets with the words "For the Love of Wavy" to remind ourselves to pray for her situation during the time that her case was in the Appeals process.

{November 2009}

After the Appellate Court ruled in favor of M&M, we got a bit lackadaisical and  took our prayer bracelets off.  

Truthfully, I haven't seen those bracelets in our household for quite some time.  I'm not sure why.  I think I was overconfident that our prayers had, indeed, been answered and our bracelets were pushed to corners of our household that are only seen on rare occasions.

Last week, when I learned the news that the Supreme Court of Kansas had ruled against M&M and that Wavy would soon be removed from their home, I was unable to hide my raw emotion in front of my children.  I was forced to try to explain to Noah the cause for my tears.  I tried to be vague so as not to scare him, but he was familiar enough with Wavy that I felt I had to tell him the truth about the situation.

The way he responded to my explanation broke my heart at the time.  

He simply looked at me through puppy dog eyes and said... 

"But Mommy, we prayed for her.  We even wore those bracelets."

He was right.  

And I was forced to try to explain an even more difficult concept to him... that sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers in the way that we want Him to.  

After mangling an explanation about prayer and God's goodness in spite of bad things, Noah's eyes lit up as if he had just come up with the most brilliant of ideas, and he excitedly said the following words to me...

"Mom!  I still have my bracelet.  I can still pray for her!"

With that, I hugged him tighter than normal and told him how much I loved him.  And that was the end of it.

Until last night.

As I was doing my nightly clean-up-the-mess-from-the-day routine, I picked up Noah's little bucket that houses his "Silly Bandz".  As I picked it up to take it to his room, I was immediately struck by something....

Somehow, somewhere, his blue bracelet had resurfaced and was sitting at the top of his beloved collection of Silly Bandz!  I honestly don't know where he found it or when he found it, but there it was, perched on the top as if it were the most important "band" amidst the hundreds of other bands within that small bucket.

What struck me was that something I consider to be so mind boggling and hard to comprehend, let alone explain, is very clear to a small child.  

That even when it seems God has not answered our prayers, we can, and SHOULD, still pray! 

We still have our bracelets!

Noah didn't have to think through the million different nuances I've tried to rationalize in my mind over the past week.  He just did what he knew to do.  He found his bracelet.  He prayed.  With the same level of trust that he prayed the last times he wore the bracelet.  He does not question whether or not God can answer his prayer.  He just trusts.

I have prayed for many miracles in my lifetime.  I've witnessed many small miracles and some big ones too.  And there have been miracles that I prayed for that didn't happen... at least not in the way I wanted them to happen.

I do believe in miracles.  

I do believe that God can make possible the impossible.

Yet, I know that He doesn't always perform the miracles I ask for.

Trying to balance the hope that He will answer my continued pleas for His intercession in this case with the reality of knowing that His ways are not always my ways is difficult.  I often feel like I'm risking my own faith by asking Him to do something so big - to perform a miracle - to make possible the impossible.  I don't want to be in a position of wanting to question His plan if it happens to be different than what I've prayed.  I feel vulnerable in asking.

But I will do it anyway.

I still have my bracelet!

I spoke with Molly this evening. 

She, too, is wrestling with the delicate balance between being realistic about their current situation, yet knowing that God is still able to intervene in this case.  Knowing he can perform a miracle.  Knowing he can make possible the impossible.

She and Matt are exhausting every single option they possibly have to be able to keep Wave in their home.

But the reality of the matter is that it will, indeed, take a miracle to make that happen.

What will the miracle look like?

An open mind.  Eyes that see things in a new light.  A transformed heart.

The miracle must be in the mind, the eyes, and the heart of the birthfather and of his counsel.

I do not have liberty to share any more than this.  But if you happen to be reading this blog post, I beg you to stop right this very minute, and pray that minds be opened, eyes see things anew, and hearts be transformed.  Right now, I ask you to pray for a miracle.  Right now, I ask you to pray that God make possible the impossible.  

Be vulnerable.  Risk it.  Ask.

I still have my bracelet!  

Do you?