April Prayer Letter

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 7^th, 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