"God, I choose to give Olive to you. She is yours.
I choose to be thankful for the time that you decide to allow us to steward her here on earth.
I will be thankful for a week, 5 months, 2 years or 50 years, you choose to keep her on earth.
I trust you with her life."
This was the prayer, I said, on my knees the first night we arrived home from the hospital, with Olive. After hours of checking if Olive was breathing every 5 mins, and no sleep at all. I woke up Dan, my husband and shared I could not sleep. Sleepily, he encouraged me to trust God and get the sleep I desperately needed. And went back to bed.
This is when the Holy Spirit put a gentle finger on my heart and God asked me to give Olive to him. For Him to keep and protect for as long as she lives. It was another moment of trust and surrender. It only took me a few seconds to get out of bed, on my knees and say the prayer. After my 5 sentence prayer, I got back in bed and slept like a rock, well, until Olive woke up again hungry. :) I have been sleeping well every since.
That day was just about 5 months ago. This past Father's Day, Sunday June 21st, was when we publicly dedicated her to the Lord, but the night we arrived home was her first dedication.
Pastor Joel, dedicated her sharing the testimony of her name, Olive Brave (previous blog) with our church. It was a powerful time of sharing God is "the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not" Romans 4:17 and Olive is a testimony of that!
God really brought faith into the room!
Below is the prayer of dedication that Pastor Joel prayed!
(There is an interpreter on stage, but hard to see so the prayer is written out below).
Father we give you praise. We give you thanks today and we glorify the name of Jesus,
because you have blessed us. We thank you for this family.
We pray right now for Dan. Thank you for the vision you have given for his family and his ministry. We pray your blessing over all those things, God. That you could continue to make him a visionary for his house. Pray you would give him courage. Father, let him led out of courage in his home.
Lord, we pray for Carole today as a mom. Thank you for the testimony she has already shared about how you have transformed her through this experience. Lord give her the grace necessary. Lord, give her the moments and the wisdom to know when to disciple and when to offer mercy. Father, we pray that you would be with Carole. And Lord that you would bless them as parents.
And now Father we pray over this little beauty. We thank you for Olive. We pray that just like she has already done, she has flourished where there was nothingness. We pray that her life would be a living testimony of you calling into existence what did not exist before.
Lord like her parents prayed that she would be a giver of hope to the world around her. That expectations would arise in the room, when she walks into the room, not because of her but because of the spirit of God within her. And Lord right now I pray that she would bring boldness into the world and that fear would be set aside and replaced by a love and a boldness that comes through her attitude, through her words, through her countenance and through her presence.
So, we bless her right now and as a church community with our outreached arms, we pour your blessings into little Olive. We bless her in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and everyone said amen. AMEN! Amen!
Since that Sunday, I have met many people that were there and were blessed and encouraged to met Olive. I have been able to share more details of my testimony of overcoming, through Olive's birth. As well as listen to their stories and pray for together.
We celebrated after the service, with a lunch afterwards at a near by restaurant with friends. I was able to share the full testimony of Olive and her name! As well as just have some great fellowship! It was a great day of celebrating of Olive Brave!
Dan's parents, Rick and Patty, were able to drive down from PA and see DC the Saturday before!
