April
23, 2018
Dear
Pastor and Praying Friends,
For
whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the
Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
– Romans 14:8
In our
previous letter we asked for prayer regarding our son, Brayden. He was diagnosed with Trisomy 18. On Thursday, March 7th, we went
for his 36 week checkup, and found out that he had passed sometime that
morning. We know it had to have happened
that morning because he was such an active little fella and that morning was no
different. Even the ultrasound tech
thought he was sound asleep upon first glance because he had not yet begun to
show any signs of death. You can imagine how shocked we were when we found no
heartbeat.
The
doctors recommended that my wife try and go into labor naturally for the sake
of her health, so she did. March 11,
2018, Spring forward Sunday, she began to have contractions as she was preparing
for church. Once we were sure it was
real labor we headed for the hospital just down the street. He was delivered that afternoon at just after 1:00. We had a small memorial service on the
following Thursday. I am thankful for
those who attended, two of which raised their hand for salvation. As was mentioned in the verse above, Brayden was the
Lord’s while he lived in the womb; and Brayden is definitely the Lord’s
now. We are thankful for the opportunity
to have been his family for the brief time that he was with us. Of course, we would have preferred to have
him with us now; but we trust our heavenly Father, who loves us more than we
could ever imagine, to know what is best for Brayden and us.
Thank
you for your continued prayer and support for our family and our church. May the Lord continue His work in us.
In
His Service,
Pastor
Raymond Beckles
Lighthouse
Baptist church
Newport,
Arkansas
