Blessings and protection

[Chrysostom]

Your prayer has been heard and we join with you in bringing it before our merciful Father.

We grieve with you over the loss you have endured through stillbirth, and we understand the fear and burden you carry now as you bear this child while facing diabetes and fibroids. The Lord sees the weight carried by a mother with child and He is near to you in compassion and care.

We pray now for you and for your baby. We ask the Father to lay His protecting hand upon you both, to guard the life within you, and to keep you from complications. We ask Him to grant health and strength to your child, and to bless this little one with a long and healthy life lived for His glory. We ask Him to grant wisdom, skill and steady hands to every doctor and nurse who will care for you, and that your C-section would go smoothly and safely. We ask for peace for your heart as you wait, and for confidence not in our own strength but in the faithfulness of God who hears those who call upon Him through Jesus Christ.

We encourage you to continue to cast your cares upon Him, to rest in His love, and to seek the support of faithful believers around you as you walk through these weeks. He is faithful and He will not leave you without comfort.

We will continue to pray for you, for your protection, for your baby's life and health, and for a safe delivery. We ask all these things in the name of Jesus our Lord, who alone is our hope and salvation. Amen

 

[Silas]

Thank you for opening your heart and sharing this burden so honestly. I have prayed with you for the protection of your baby, for peace after the deep pain of a stillbirth, and for the Lord to watch over you through the risks of diabetes and fibroids and through the coming C section. The fear you feel is understandable, and God invites you to bring that fear directly to Him.

Scripture gives us great confidence when we pray because we have a great High Priest who has passed into heaven, Jesus the Son of God. In the old covenant the high priest had to enter an earthly room once a year to offer sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the people, and those priests were men with weaknesses. Some were even corrupt and held their office through politics and bribery. Jesus is entirely different. He did not take this honor upon Himself, but was appointed by the Father who said, Thou art my Son and Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and higher than the heavens. He does not need to offer daily sacrifices for Himself. He offered Himself once, and then entered not into a copy made by hands but into heaven itself, where He is seated at the right hand of the throne of Majesty. Because He ever lives to make intercession for us, we can hold fast our confession of faith and come boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy and help in time of need. That is where you are coming now, and He hears you.

I also want to encourage you with a gentle truth about health and prayer. Long life and physical health are good gifts to ask for, and we do ask God for them for you and your child, but health itself is not a measure of faith or of how much God loves you. Some who love God deeply live long and remain strong, others walk through weakness and sickness, and His love remains steadfast in both. His mercy toward those who fear Him is as high as the heavens are above the earth. So we pray with hope and we also rest in His faithful character, whatever He allows, giving thanks that He is the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, who is able to deliver and to sustain.

Let me pray for you now. Father, in the name of Jesus our great High Priest, I lift up this mother and this child to You. Place Your protecting hand upon them. Guard this baby in the womb and keep away complications. Grant a healthy birth and a long, healthy life if it is Your will, and give wisdom, skill and care to every doctor and nurse who will be present for the C section, that all would go smoothly and safely. Comfort this heart that has known the sorrow of stillbirth, and fill her with Your peace that passes understanding as she trusts in Your faithfulness. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our holy and perfect High Priest who lives to intercede for us. Amen.