Turning Points: WHEN WE'RE DESPERATE (Pt 2)

Lisa and Wade Shelden were kind enough to share a piece of their story with our community last Sunday. Here's a recap from Lisa in case you missed it:

I grew up in a very religious family. Went to private (Lutheran) schools, elementary & high school. Went to Sunday school and church every Sunday, had chapel 2 times per week in school, had theology class every day in school and took confirmation class once per week for three years in junior high. During summers I attended Lutheran overnight camp and vbs. So .... there was a TON of "church" in my life. Once I got to college my participation in church tapered off dramatically. Once I graduated from college and was pretty much completely independant of my parents I attended very infrequently. Why, because I was completely burned out. Too much of what I thought was the same exact stuff week after week, year after year. I still maintained a prayer life on my own and never stopped believing but my church experience became an obligation that was meaningful in my life.

Skip ahead nine or so years. Wade and I were married and had Avery already. Wade was agnostic I guess you'd say. He grew up sort of hit-or-miss going to church but never really bought into it. We had Avery baptized in my parents Lutheran church as an infant because we thought it was the responsible thing to do -- but we were not church goers. We talked about it, but never really put much effort into finding a church to attend. December 2002 changed the lives of our entire family. Levi was born with a severely life threatening birth defect that we were unaware of until delivery. He had a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. He was born by c-section, we got to see him for about 1 minute and he was rushed from Raleigh Community hospital straight to Duke to the NICU. We were in shock. We were scared to death. We had never heard of this condition before and were clueless if he was going live or die before he arrived at Duke.


My OB was the father of 8 and a Christian. After he sensitively explained what was wrong with Levi he asked us if he could pray with us -- and did. Then our parents came in and prayed with us. Those few hours were the turning point for our family.

Wade told me later that he prayed for the first time in years during the days that Levi was being treated -- and that he meant the prayers, believed they were being heard. Wade's dad told me later that he'd made some very big promises to God that he knew he'd have to make good on, now that Levi was "saved". Wade's sister decided after Levi was okay to be baptized and confirmed in the Catholic church -- to become a participating, practicing member of the church she'd been married in. Many, many of our friends and family prayed on their own, with their respective churches, bible studies, small groups and prayer chains for Levi's healing. We were blessed and God evidently wanted the same outcome we did.

Once we brought Levi home we started church shopping. Went to Grace and new that we found the group of people we wanted grow in Christ with. Our special group splintered off from Grace, became Connections and here we are. Wade was baptized by Jeff Tippett through Connections -- a huge deal for our family. He was saved and is a believer! Levi was dedicated, not because we felt obligated, but because we wanted to thank and praise God for the miracle he gifted to our family. Wade's parents also have since joined and become heavily involved in church, Sunday school, Bible studies and mission work.

Needless to say it was a HUGE turning point for all of us -- and this is just the story from my perspective :-).