Many times in life we get discouraged because of life's challenges and we
question if God is really by our side. It is only normal for us to go
through these human emotions that cause us to sometimes question God, but
I assure you on the authority of His Word that He is always with us and
never too far away that He cannot reach forth and touch your heart and let
you know that He is near. (Psalm 139:7-10)

I hope you will be encouraged by this message that shows the love of the
Lord and how He holds us close to His heart.


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. 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
the couple's new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and
weighing only one pound and 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 Danae 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. Through the dark hours of morning as Danae held onto life
by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of sleep, growing more and
more determined that their tiny daughter would live and live to be a
healthy, happy young girl. But David, fully awake and listening to
additional dire details of their daughter's chances of ever leaving the
hospital alive, much less healthy, knew he must confront his wife with the
inevitable.

David walked in and said that we needed to talk about making funeral
arrangements. Diana remembers 'I felt so bad for him because he was doing
everything trying to include me in what was going on, but I just wouldn't
listen, I couldn't listen. I said, "No, that is not going to happen, no
way! I don't care what the doctors say. Danae is not going to die! One
day she will be just fine, and she will be coming home with us!" As if
willed to live by Diana's determination, Danae clung to life hour after
hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her miniature body
could endure. But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David
and Diana. Because Danae'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 Danae 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 Danae 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 Danae 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 chance of surviving, much less living any kind of
normal life, were next to zero. Danae went home from the hospital, just
as her mother had predicted.

Today, five years later, Danae is a petite but feisty young girl with
glittering gray eyes and an un-quenchable zest for life. She shows no
signs, whatsoever, of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she is
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, Danae was sitting in her mother's lap in
the bleachers of a local ballpark where her brother Dustin's baseball team
was practicing. As always, Danae was chattering nonstop with her mother
and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent.

Hugging her arms across her chest, Danae asked, "Do you smell that?"
Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana
replied, "Yes, it smells like rain." Danae 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, Danae
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 Danae then 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 Danae on His chest and it is His loving
scent that she remembers so well.

Author Unknown


We may never know just how close God was to us throughout our lifetime
here on earth, but I am sure God will be faithful to reveal it to us when
we meet Him in heaven.

I encourage you to never doubt God when trials come, but rather rest in
His strength and remember His promise found in Joshua 1:5 "I will never
leave you nor forsake you".

Just as we show our confidence in the friends and family that we see with
our physical eyes, we need to have that same confidence in the Lord and
know that He is constantly with us and always has our best interest in
mind. Stay steadfast in your faith when troubles come your way and know
that God will deliver you because of your focus and trust in Him.
(Deuteronomy 31:6-8) (1 Chronicles 28:20)


Read and meditate on these scriptures:

Psalm 139:13-16 "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit
me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully
complex! Your workmanship is marvelous-and how well I know it. You watched
me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in
the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life
was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day
had passed."

Psalm 86:1-7 "Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need
your help. Protect me, for I am devoted to you. Save me, for I serve you
and trust you. You are my God. Be merciful, O Lord, for I am calling on
you constantly. Give me happiness, O Lord, for my life depends on you. O
Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for
all who ask your aid. Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord; hear my urgent
cry. I will call to you whenever trouble strikes, and you will answer me."

Deuteronomy 31:6 "Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid of them! The
LORD your God will go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you."

All scriptures can be found in the New Living Translation.


In Christ Service,

Dwayne Savaya
Gods Work Ministry