ImaGApeach
11-05-2003, 08:07 AM
THE SMELL OF RAIN ...
At the end of this story, it gives you two options. I
think you will figure out what option I chose.
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, Dana Lu Blessing. At 12"
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 Dana 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
Dana 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 they needed to talk about making funeral
arrangements. Diana remembers she 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.
Dana 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, Dana 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 Dana'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 Dana 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
Dana 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 Dana 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 chances of surviving, much less living any
kind of normal life were next to zero, Dana went home
from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.
Today, five years later, Dana is a petite but feisty
young girl with glittering gray eyes and an
unquenchable 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, Dana 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, Dana was chattering nonstop
with her mother and several other adults sitting
nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms
across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell
that?" Smelling the air and detecting the approach of
a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like
rain." Dana 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, Dana 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 Dana 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 Dana on His chest, and
it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.
You now have 1 of 2 choices. You can either pass this
on and let other people catch the chills like you did,
or you can delete this and act like it didn't touch
your heart like it did mine. IT'S YOUR CALL!
I can do all things in Him who strengthens me." (Phil.
4:13)
The next time you smell the rain, remember.......
At the end of this story, it gives you two options. I
think you will figure out what option I chose.
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, Dana Lu Blessing. At 12"
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 Dana 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
Dana 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 they needed to talk about making funeral
arrangements. Diana remembers she 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.
Dana 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, Dana 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 Dana'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 Dana 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
Dana 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 Dana 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 chances of surviving, much less living any
kind of normal life were next to zero, Dana went home
from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.
Today, five years later, Dana is a petite but feisty
young girl with glittering gray eyes and an
unquenchable 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, Dana 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, Dana was chattering nonstop
with her mother and several other adults sitting
nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms
across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell
that?" Smelling the air and detecting the approach of
a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like
rain." Dana 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, Dana 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 Dana 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 Dana on His chest, and
it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.
You now have 1 of 2 choices. You can either pass this
on and let other people catch the chills like you did,
or you can delete this and act like it didn't touch
your heart like it did mine. IT'S YOUR CALL!
I can do all things in Him who strengthens me." (Phil.
4:13)
The next time you smell the rain, remember.......