Earlier this afternoon, I was blessed to go visit a dear friend of mine. She has three precious nephews, and they were all over at her home, enjoying their aunt's company, when I stopped by to see her. One glimpse of the tender, little eyes was all it took to bring me back, in an instant, to times so long since passed, that the years seem to have been part of another lifetime...

The first-born little baby was named William, and he greeted this world far before any of us expected his company. Being born at only 21 weeks of gestation, he was instantly brought into a world of immense medical difficulty--even what some called impossibility. Tears and prayers were poured, as never before, from our hearts upon the altar of God's throneroom...and our Heavenly Father listened to our pleas for William's life.

He did survive and continued, with each day, in his tiny heart's struggle for life. Doctors, even now, are baffled by his overcoming such odds. All I know to say is that God chose to show immense mercy...there is no human explanation for the miracle of his life.

He will have difficulties that stay with him the rest of his days, but I have never yet found another heart so pure and so inexplicably able to make me feel as though I've suddenly entered the embrace of my Savior's loving arms. William just has a certain peace that overflows from his life and shares its fragrance with all who are blessed enough to be near.

During the first night of his life, I penned a poem--not knowing if he would still be with us the next morn. In its words was a certain dedicatory trust; we had no way of knowing what the next dawn would bring, but we knew God would be caring for William, no matter what came to pass.

You gave me a child, Lord,
For which I daily prayed.
Yet now he's weak, and I know not
When tomorrow could be his last day.

If the world cannot here hold him, though,
We trust Thy tender heart.
Perhaps Your lamb couldn't rest as well
Within our mortal arms.

If this be so, we lay him then
In Your own loving hands.
We pray, Lord, that You'll hold for us
Our precious little lamb,

And when someday, I come to You,
And my life here on earth is done,
I will hold out my hands and You will place,
Within them, my dear little one.

In that moment I'll know, after all that's passed,
Why You sheltered my lamb so long.
You knew that in no other place could he rest
As he could in the hand of God.

The Lord graciously allowed us to keep William here, and today as I looked upon all the precious little ones, my heart reminisced over the many years of faithfulness in which God has blessed us all. Never once, did He fail to show His love--even when it seemed hidden; Through all, He was perfectly orchestrating the symphony of life which cannot cease from showing His glory.

Today, William's existence is a testimony of God's faithfulness to all who have been blessed to know him. I consider myself honored beyond any measure to have shared in his life.

Before I bid you all farewell for this evening, I will share one more poem... This one was written on the day of William's first birthday, and I think you will begin to see, even at that early stage, what a beautiful place he was holding in our hearts.

Dear little one of blessing,
Tiny gift, oh precious lamb,
We were praying here for you,
While you were still within God's hand.

He held you there in Heaven
While we waited here on earth,
Until He thought the time was best
To show to us your worth.

In truth, you never really left
All Heaven's glories there above;
For when you came to bless us,
You carried, with you, Heaven's love.

So when we hold you here on earth
And cradle you within our arms,
We don't just hold a precious lamb,
But also love within our hearts.

So thank you, tender little one,
For coming with your love so true.
You've touched our hearts, and we will ever
Thank our Lord for sending you.

Thus ends the story of my cherished William. I cannot wait to see how the Lord will continue to use his life to bring unending glory to His name. Is it not written that God uses the foolish things of earth to confound the wise and the weak to confound the strong? The Lord is working through a little child, robbed of his sight, to open our eyes to the truths that matter most. I'm humbled by this precious gift of love from our Father's heart; I will never cease to marvel at His grace.

May the Lord bless you in everything to which you set your hands. I pray you will be used to bring great delight to His heart and tremendous honor to His name. God be with you!