The Gracious Favor

This post has nothing to do with the photo below. I just thought the photo was funny. I thought Finn would hate the sunglasses and pull them off but he loved them and left them on for ten minutes before I finally took them off. He's standing on his own here with just a little help from me (you can see my hand holding onto his arm). He's almost six months and basically wants to stand all the time.
So here's what I really wanted to write today. Yesterday I was reading in II Corinthians and in the first chapter I was just gobsmacked by something Paul wrote. In no way am I comparing myself to Paul (I WISH!) but I felt like it was something I could have written after what we went through with Finn's hospitalization and feeling so many prayers for us and him. Here it is:

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
-II Corinthians 1:8-11

Okay, so obviously we weren't in Asia, but in my heart I felt "the sentence of death" for Finn. Dr. Summar told us that Finn was about five hours from death when we brought him to Vanderbilt. Quickly that "sentence of death" was countered with an almost palpable sense of all the prayers that were being said on bent knees, from friends and family as well as people we had never even met. On top of that, I have never felt so close to God as I did during those scary days. I knew I had no hope other than in Him and I felt completely dependent on him. The final part of verse 11 sums up Finn's hospitalization for me - that "many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."

I know if you are reading this then you likely were praying for us back in March and April. I just wanted to remind you how much it meant to me and how I feel about you and the miracle that God worked on Finn.