Prayers for Maddie Grace

I'm a pray-er.  I pray all the time, but I must admit I do pray more often in times of trial and turmoil.  It's something I'm working on; I need to make sure I'm saying prayers of thankfulness as often as I'm praying for my own benefit.  I'm both a very spiritual person and a religious person.  I prayed vigorously during my pregnancy.  Some of you (at least I hope people are reading!) know that my pregnancy was difficult to say the least.  I have blood clotting disorders that complicate things for me during pregnancy and complicate things for the baby during pregnancy and delivery.  So I constantly prayed for health, that I would be healthy and that Maddie Grace would be healthy.  That was my daily prayer. Starting when I was 18 weeks pregnant,  I prayed daily for not only health but that Maddie Grace would have typical chromosomes.  I prayed that prayer every single morning on my way to work.  Obviously, Maddie Grace was born with an extra chromosome, and one of the hardest things to accept about prayer is that sometimes prayers go unanswered.  I think that's one of the hardest things to reconcile, that sometimes my will and God's will aren't the same.  I am realizing every single day that Maddie Grace was made for me and Adam.  We were born to be her parents.  And I have a feeling we will only come to realize that more and more as she grows up.  And I think there will come a time that I thank God for unanswered prayers.  I'm not going to lie, it's not always rainbows and  sunshine.  Besides the moments I think all parents of newborns have where you wonder, what in the world have I done? Those moments usually happen when Maddie Grace thinks midnight is a perfectly acceptable time to get fussy, or when she has spit her pacifier out for the thousandth time and I really want to get the duct tape out and tape it to her face. There are also moments that it truly hurts to think about the future, but those moments are coming less and less.

When I was pregnant, my Aunt gave me a book, Praying the Scriptures for Your Children, by Jodie Berndt.  I have really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it to anyone who is a mother, or is currently pregnant.  There is one scripture from this book that I keep coming back to, that I've read over and over:

Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
-Isaiah 43:1-2

This scripture reminds me that God knows Maddie Grace, through and through, that she was His first, and has been given to Adam and I for awhile.  Whenever I have my moments of fear and hurt about the both the present and the future, I read these words and know that Maddie Grace will be safe wrapped in her Creator's arms.