Julie

I spent a lot of time last year praying for my sister, Clare. She had one child, but her attempts to get pregnant a second time were unsuccessful – she’d had two miscarriages so far. She and her husband were also expecting to leave London to go back home to Sydney, which seemed like the best thing for my sister at the time, but at the last minute her husband’s job insisted on transferring them to Chicago. I felt for her, being so far from home and family when she was still reeling from the miscarriages. That Christmas I flew out to Chicago to be with her and her family.

At the time I was reading a daily devotional for women, which guides you through the Bible and suggests ways to pray. One day I came across a little piece which really encouraged me to pray for Clare. The phrase that stuck in my mind was ‘we ask for cabbages when we could ask for cream!’ The writer suggested that instead of asking for vague answers to prayer, we should think big, and specifically list the details of what we are asking for.

I got quite excited by this and showed it to my sister, even though she’s not a Christian. ‘Let’s ask God specifically for a baby as a Christmas present,’ I said. ‘It’s too late to ask for one this Christmas’ – after all, it was already December - ‘but we can ask for a baby for next Christmas!’

My sister had no objections – in fact she prayed as well. I prayed for her every day. I even fasted from time to time.

Chicago turned out to be the best place that Clare could possibly be. Through a chance conversation with a stranger, Clare heard about a consultant who was at the top of her field and might be able to help her. She made an appointment and was quickly diagnosed with an auto-immune disease, which makes her immune system treat babies as foreign bodies. When Clare got pregnant again, it was under the supervision of this same consultant that she was given two full blood transfusions in the first few weeks. I prayed, and prayed, and prayed. The pregnancy went ahead normally, and sure enough, her baby was due in December.

At this point they received the welcome news that they were finally able to move back to Sydney. They did so but there was one small hitch: by October they had still found nowhere to live.

‘Clare, I’m going to ask God, and you will be in your new house with your baby by Christmas,’ I said.

My prayers were answered. By Christmas they had sold their old flat and moved into their new house. And my nephew was born just after Christmas on the 31st December.

I call him Miracle Max. I can hardly talk about him without crying; I am so convinced that his life is a direct answer to our prayer for a Christmas present. It’s definitely brought my sister closer to God - she is amazed at how specifically he responded to our prayers and gave her what we asked for.

Jesus said: "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” – Luke 11:9-10