Rebecca
Leann – Her Story
Four years after the birth of Elena, our second
daughter, Jack decided he wanted a son, so I began to pray for one. I asked the Lord to bless us with a son, to
carry on our little family name and although I really did not particularly care
what the Lord blessed us with, I did ask for Jack’s sake. I recall driving to Gold Kist near Perimeter
Mall shopping center and for a year, I earnestly sought the Lord for Jack’s
son. It finally happened and I was
expecting – I was going to put my faith to the test and believe the Lord
granted me this – a son.
From the beginning I would pray for this “son” and
ask the Lord to bless the child’s mind, body (physically) and let the call of
God be upon this child’s life. I hoped
it might be in ministry somewhere, serving the Lord – if He would grant my
petition.
The house that we had purchased had a large lot – one
acre, and Jack was a gardener but the back half of our lot was cut off –
divided by a creek that was approximately 30 feet across, 20+ ft. deep and ran
from one side to the other. There was
only a 2 ft. pathway to reach the back half.
Jack was very discouraged because he could not access this area and make
our family a garden. Our neighbors had
lived on this Cul-de-sac since it was built and tried to get the county to fill
it in but they gave it very low priority and would not. Each time someone called to discuss it they
were told that there were other more important needs ahead of ours, but it was
on the list. No matter how many times
the neighbors called, this is what they were told.
One day I walked out to that deep ditch dividing our
property and decided to seek the Lord to move it along. I prayed:
“Father, please send the county
out to fill this hole in so Jack can have a garden. You say in your Word: 21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye
have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig
tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou
cast into the sea; it shall be done. Matthew 21:21 KJV
"Lord, this is a mountain, except it is going down
instead of up! I am asking in the name
of Jesus Christ for this mountain to be removed!" I walked away thinking: “There, I took care
of that” and totally expected it to be filled in somewhere down the line.
God has an awesome sense of perfect
timing! I was four months along with my
third child – I was given a delivery date of September 9th when I
started having problems – bleeding! I
was so upset that I might loose this child and began to pray for healing. My doctor checked me over and said I’d be
fine but put me on bed rest for two weeks, with feet propped up, so I did just
that. On the first day I was home I was
visited by a man from Cobb County wondering if anyone was going to be home, as
they were going to be filling in our backyard ditch and needed to have someone there
– they would be bringing in lots of heavy equipment! I was so excited at how God worked out the
timing on this answer to my request – how awesome is that!
After two weeks of resting I was given approval to
return to work and while I was driving to work that first day back, the Lord
spoke the following to me: “If raised in the right way, this child will
have a heart for me like its mother. You
are going to know more about this baby’s delivery then the doctors and staff
do”. I asked: “Lord, how could I possibly know more
then the doctors, considering they have been delivering babies for many
years?” I went to work and told our
ladies prayer group about what the Lord had told me – we met once a week,
shared lunch, prayers, and what the Lord had spoken to us. I stored these things away – to test them,
and watch to see how this could happen or if it would happen.
My due date of September 9th was
approaching fast and I had begun to make everyone at work very nervous. I looked like I was going to give birth any
day and people at work wanted me to leave! So during my next doctor visit I decided to
ask - we were allowed to take medical leave two weeks prior to our due date and
six weeks after. He answered: “No Sharron, I cannot lie for you – you can
work two more weeks, then I will give permission for your medical leave.” I also felt the baby was not in a head down
position and asked the nurse, but she and the doctor both told me the baby was
in the correct position to be born. I
did not agree, for some reason; I went home very discouraged. My mother phoned,
as I had been on her mind all day and she wanted to know if my hospital bags
were packed – I stated that they were.
She then said: “Sharron, I think the doctor is wrong about
your due date – I think you are going to have that baby August 9th,
and that he is a month off on his date.”
My mother had
never seen me pregnant as she lived in Tampa, Florida and I had never traveled
down there while pregnant, but she had given birth ten times to eleven children
– the last two were twins (full term: 9 months) so I really respected her
opinion. Also, she had been correct
regarding my daughter, Christina’s birth, so I wondered. Around 4:00 AM my water broke and Jack and I
were on our way to the hospital! While I was waiting for my doctor to arrive,
another doctor filled in for him and told me the baby was in the proper
position to be born but I had not dilated at all yet, so Jack and I waited for
my doctor to see what he thought.
A young nurse
came next to check me out so, I tried explaining to her that I felt the baby’s
head was “here” – at the top of my stomach and this (bottom area) is the baby’s
bottom. She checked me out and stated
like everyone else, “It feels like the baby is in the correct position though,
but I am new at this”. About this time
an old nurse came in the room and our young nurse asked for her opinion. She checked me over and said: “I can feel the baby’s head in the birth
canal so the baby’s in the right position.”
I said: “I think this is the head – right here (I touched my tummy area) and
the bottom is down there.” She was
indignant that I would question her. She
exclaimed: “I have been doing this for
thirty some years and I know the difference between a baby’s head and its
bottom.”
Finally my
doctor arrived and I explained to him my concern that the baby’s head was
opposite what everyone was saying. He
checked me and said he agreed with everyone else – the baby’s head is in the
birth canal, but just to be safe he would listen to me and do an X-ray to make
certain of the baby’s position. All this
time I had not had one labor pain either, but the water broke so I knew I would
have this baby sooner or later.
After viewing
the X-rays, the doctor agreed with me – the baby was in a breach position and
what they thought was the baby’s head was her knee! She could not be born the way she was
positioned, so they did a Cesarean on me – “she” was born at 2:15 PM on August
9th, not September 9th!
My mother had been correct, and the Lord had truly spoken to me
regarding my baby’s nature: “If raised in the right way, this child will
have a heart for me like its mother.”
I am amazed each time I tell this story, in thinking about the Lord
saying: “a heart for me like its mother”!
How precious to have the Lord say
such a thing about your heart – for Him!
The name that
the Lord chose for my daughter was special also. While I was in the hospital recovering, I
considered names left from our previous list, but the name that kept coming to
my mind most was “Rebecca”. I liked the
name because my close friend Rebecca had been the one the Lord used to
introduce Jack and me, but I did not want to mention this to him. I was blank though about choosing another
name – there just was no other name I liked.
A nurse came in to attend to me and asked if I had picked out a name
yet. I told her we had not, when she
said: “You know my favorite name is
Rebecca, I think it is such a beautiful name.” It was like a little check in my spirit that
perhaps this should be her name. Early
the next morning, after she was born, my husband called and said: “The name I like best is “Rebecca Leann” as
it sounds good: “Rebecca Leann Wright”.
I was speechless for a few seconds – we knew that this was the name the
Lord had chosen for her!
I wanted to
share with you one last thing regarding Rebecca – something she wrote to a
Mormon missionary one day when he asked her some questions (she was 22). She said she prayed that the Lord would help
her answer his questions but it revealed to me what the Lord had stated about
the child that day, on my way back to work: her
heart for Him. Here is what she
wrote:
I’m mainly writing you this to answer your
question. The exact question was “…What
you [I] believe.” What is the nature of God? What is the meaning of
life? What is the role of families in God’s plan?” Then you asked
“What gives you the strength to get up every morning? What do you want
for your life? What are you going to do to get it?” Well, I’ll try to
answer this as well as I can.
I believe the Apostles Creed which is:
I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker
of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only
Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; HE
descended into hell. On the third day He rose again; He ascended into
heaven, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will come to judge
the living and the dead. I believe in
the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the
forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
My mother once paid me to memorize that
and I did it just to get the money and then forgot it, but a few years later I
memorized it again, and this time for the right reason, because I really love
it, and it really says what I believe and feel.
God’s nature is Love, He is Love.
How else can you describe Him better than that? A friend of mine in high
school used to say he couldn’t see how God loved us, and I would tell him I
couldn’t see how he couldn’t. I find it a bit hard to explain past that,
because love isn’t a physical thing you can see, but like a DC Talk song says “He’s like the wind, you can’t see the wind
but you can see the effects of the wind” I find that, a good
description.
The meaning of life for me is to serve
the Father with all our mind, soul, heart, and strength, and to show His
everlasting love to others and serve as a witness to all of His eternal
love.
The role of families is the same, for me,
as the meaning of life: to serve Him with all our being.
The parents are to guide and teach their
children about Him and guide them along His glorious path. Whether in
families or as individuals, we are to serve Him as children of God.
What gives me strength to get up every
morning? The Lord of course and my desire to do His will, and get closer to Him
than I was the last day. It is impossible to get to know every aspect of
God, so I want to learn and build as close of a relationship with Him as I
possibly can – and this life is too short to waste even a day. He is the
first one I talk to in the morning and the last one before I go to bed. He is
who I see in all of nature; in trees, wind, the sea, waves, the sky, the grass,
the flowers, in all His creations, including me. I see Him when I look at
the ceiling, when I look in the mirror and talk to Him, and when I look inside
myself. He is my father, my teacher, my professor, my Almighty counselor,
and my best closest friend. He is someone I want to be like, and I can
never get enough of. In his own words He is: “I am that I am”.
What I want for my life is whatever God’s
will is, I want His plans for my life, because my life is devoted to Him.
I want to worship Him and be a witness to as many as I can while I’m
here. I also want a family; of course, I want to be a mother that
embodies the Proverbs Wife, but the rest I’m currently working on
figuring out.
What do I want out of life? I want the
fullness of God.
What am I going to do to get it? I
will pray and meditate on Him, read His Word (for the Word was with God, and
the Word was God, in the beginning), continue to talk with Him and follow
the path that the Lord sets before
me.
I hope that I answered your questions, I’ve
never written my responses before to anyone and as I’m sure you’ve noticed on
occasions, I tend to ramble, even when I write, so I tried to stay on topic and
not ramble too much. I think I will
leave it on that note and say adieu. Have a glorious day and I’ll talk to
you later!
Sincerely,
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