The Kindness of a Stranger..

Something someone posted on Twitter "Just got prayed on by a stranger" reminded me of something that happened to us when we were in the hospital when Emily was first born.. as anyone who has followed this blog or knows me at all knows that our daughter Emily was born very premature.. I mean really premature, she was what they called a micro-preemie! Emily weighed only 14.7 oz when she was born!!! She was in the hospital for 6 months.. and thankfully after she was discharged has NEVER returned.. to say we are blessed is an understatement. Anyway, back to the story at hand... The story of Emily is a remarkable one... and the outcome truly amazing and I could go on and on about it. I love sharing her story... but this post is about one day of our 179 day journey at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia... one of the worst days there, but looking back now I think one of the most amazing as well.. We had been there a few weeks and Emily was having a really really bad day.. infact she had just gotten an infection which can be fatal for babies as small as Emily... we decided to go to the church inside of CHOP!! It was a tiny church inside the hospital.. we went up to the front of the aisle in between a few rows of pews on each side. There was a book that people could write prayers in and bibles.. There wasn't a preacher there or anything .. they did have a service, during certain hours but we weren't there at the right time. Brian isn't a very "religious" person. What he believes in exactly is hard to define. He is skeptical of religion but believes that there is a god or something larger than us. But at the time.. he was, like me so scared was willing to do anything if it would help Emily. So we sat there in the pew, shaking, obviously crying, and looking I'm sure like how we felt completely devastated. We were.. our Emily whom we loved and needed more than anything ever before was in a real bad way.. it wasn't looking good. we knew we needed a miracle... people often say that but we truly did. Her tiny body was fighting as hard as it could but we just weren't sure how much more it could take. We knew though she was a fighter... had been since the moment she came out.. so tiny & small the doctors feared she would not survive the delivery.. yet she came out crying with apgars of 8 & 9! The doctors in the delivery room hardly could contain their surprise... it lifted our spirits.. but apparently this happens sometimes.. preemies often have a "honeymoon" period before the "rollercoaster" preemie ride begins.. every premature parent knows what this means.. the good days (the ride is smooth) and the bad days of the SCARIEST up & downs you can imagine. This particular day was one of the scariest dips.. so anyway we were there... trying anything we could to help our daughter. We were there a few moments when this man came up to us... he was just a man. We hadn't seen him before.. he was an african american. He was kinda ordinary looking.. I'm not sure I could tell you anything about him today.. my focus was solely on Emily... but this kind stranger said something to us like, "do u have a child here at the hospital" Our tears making it hard for us to speak, I'm sure we just shook our heads! Maybe said.. "yes" He said something like "I can see your pain, they say that people who pray together can move mountains.. would it be alright if I prayed with you" again.. i'm not sure if we said much or just nodded our heads again but we did pray with him.. the words were his,..I was quietly saying my own.."Please GOD, Please GOD, Please let her be okay" Anyway, We sat there praying together.. this man, Brian & I. After a bit. we had to leave... we had to get back to Emily.... so we left him, this man who took the time to pray for us & OUR Emily. We didn't even get his name.. didn't even properly thank him... we said a quick heartfelt Thank you, perhaps shook his hand, then we left! Looking back it doesn't seem enough. he stopped his day, whatever reason he was there for... to help us! Whenever someone says the expression.. "the kindness of Strangers" I think of this man. This man who was there and offered the one thing we needed that day.. HOPE! That day didn't end with some miraculous healing... but it did end with Emily there to fight another day, and that was all the miracle we needed.