Jesus Heals: a Baby Believer book (& my story)

At 22, I sat in a doctor’s office and listened as the doctor told me I’d likely never have kids. My body, she said, wasn’t 22. It was 60.

“Give us faith to be strong
Father, we are so weak
Our bodies are fragile and weary
As we stagger and stumble to walk where you lead
Give us faith to be strong…” -Andrew Peterson

Time marches on.

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[Disclosure of Material Connections: I am a member of the Jesus Heals launch team. The publisher, Harvest House, provided me with a complimentary copy of Jesus Heals in exchange for writing and publishing this review. I was already a fan of the Baby Believer Primers by Catechesis Books before being selected for the launch team. All opinions — and photographs! ;) — are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review.]

Several years later, like Abraham, “under the oaks of Mamre California as [I] sat… in the heat of the day” (Genesis 18:1), I felt an overwhelming peace. Time would not win. My God who pushed back the sun’s shadows on the stairway of Ahaz (Isaiah 38:8) could turn back the overly-speedy hands of time.

And so I sojourned.

“Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that, no less than he
And on this road to righteousness
Sometimes the climb can be so steep.” –Rich Mullins

Nine years ago, on a misty mid-January night on the West Cost, my Alenka crashed through the starlight to me. Jehovah, rapha. Jehovah, jireh. She walks around on earth with me now, on loan to me, a heaven-sent treasure to steward.

God sees. God hears. God knows.

And then, again, through the wilderness of waiting I wandered. Oh, the weariness. Oh, the barrage of questions, over and over and over again — “don’t you want more?” (What people don’t understand about having an only child.)

“Give us grace to go on…
Give us hearts to find hope
Father, we cannot see
How the sorrow we feel can bring freedom
And as hard as we try, Lord, it’s hard to believe
So, give us hearts to find hope.”

The year I turned 35, I sat in the front row of an Andrew Peterson concert and lifted my hands to heaven as he sang —

“There’s a woman at home and she’s praying for a light…
Peace, be still
Peace, be still
My daughter and I put the seeds in the dirt
And every day now we’ve been watching the earth
For a sign that this death will give way to a birth
And the rain keeps falling
Down on the soil where the sorrow is laid
And the secret of life is igniting the grave
And I’m dying to live but I’m learning to wait
And the rain is falling
Peace, be still
Peace, be still…” –Andrew Peterson

Peace, be still.

Nine months later, I stared at the pregnancy test and cried.

Jehovah, rapha. Jesus heals.

And then, the fetal echocardiogram showed a healthy heart, with no trace of the ductal arch defect they said was there.

Jehovah, rapha. Jesus heals.

Lochlan Ambrose wasted no time, eager to invade our world with joy.

And Jesus held the hands of the doctors and nurses again, as they infused life into his tiny tired lungs.

Jehovah, rapha. Jesus heals.

And then he came home.

Jehovah, rapha. Jesus heals.

He’s here now, and I tell him tales of deliverance. I tell him the tales of old, to be sure, the Red Sea moments and the crumbling Jericho walls, but also tell him of now. His deliverance. Our deliverance.

He’s the modern miracle in our midst.

I read to him of God made flesh, dwelling among us. I tell him God moves in this tangible world, touching our physical bodies, and imbuing us with the light of heaven.

I tell him we all wait for the second coming as we waited for him —

expectant

longing

eyes toward heaven

full of hope.

Come, Thou long-expected Jesus / born to set thy people free.

This book has been such a gift in our lives.

Do you want solid, truth-centered, life-giving books like this in your home, too?

The Baby Believer Primers — slightly over-sized board books! — are an exceptionally-illustrated series, bringing the foundations of faith to life for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.

We love them around here.

While other board books might focus on shapes, colors, and animal sounds, the Baby Believer series makes topics like the creeds, creation, the beatitudes, and the resurrection accessible to the tiniest members of your family.

Let the little children come — how marvelous. How anchoring. How full of light and truth!

Baby Believer primers allow us to hide God’s truths in our hearts in a gloriously joyous way. And Jesus Heals, the most recent release in the Baby Believer series, celebrates the miracles of Christ’s ministry, reminding us Jesus’ power has not waned, and encouraging us to seek Him in the most personal ways.

I’m so thankful for these books, which allow me to set an early example of personal devotions and prayer with even Lochlan, tiny as though he is now. You can start your own Baby Believer collection and begin reading them to your kids, too.

• + First Bible Basics: A Counting Primer

• + Psalms of Praise: A Movement Primer

• + Let There Be Light: An Opposites Primer

• + From Eden to Bethlehem: An Animals Primer

• + Holy Week: An Emotions Primer

• + Jesus Heals: An Anatomy Primer