What's in a name?

Ok, so this isn't specifically about diabetes, but it's about my diabetic child...


The following is an email I sent out in December of 2008 when I was 8(ish) months pregnant with Faith.  This day, and the response I got from this email were the reasons Chuck and I chose the name Faith.  Prior to this we were settled on a different name (that I can't recall at the moment...).  

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God is so good! I have to share just how I got to see Him work
Wednesday...Some of you have heard most of this story but everytime I tell
it I forget some part of it, plus I'm so excited about it I have to tell it
again...
I have the privilege of being the Awana Commander at my church & we had
Share Shop Wed night where the kids get to spend the Awana bucks they have
earned during the year..Anyway, I had to go to Tyler to pick up some things
to stock the 'store' with & so I called Rachel (my sister) & asked her if
she would ride with me...which I rarely do (most of you know our
relationship is rocky at best) but I thought she'd prob enjoy getting out of
the house & I wanted some company so I called her & she agreed to go with
me.. So, we take off to Tyler with the church credit card & stop at the
dollar tree. I load my buggy up & proceed through the checkout only to find
out (after she's rang up my $60 worth of $1 goodies) that they only take
Mastercards as debit cards with pin numbers..not credit.  I remembered I had
Chucks Chrysler MC with me but didn't know if I'd be able to use it nor what
the pin was so I apologized to the cashier & asked her to void the
transaction & help the long line of customers behind me while I tried to get
Chuck or Preacher on the phone to try to figure out what my options were.
While I'm on the phone trying to reach them this lady walks up to me & says
"I'd like to pay for your purchase". Of course I thanked her profusely but
told her I couldn't let her do that cause I'd rang up $60 worth of stuff!!
She insisted & before I could stop her had walked over to the register &
paid for the stuff!! I apologized & thanked her (& thanked her & thanked
her) & asked her to please give me her name & address so I could get the
church to send her a reimbursement check & she wouldn't hear of it. She
wouldn't even tell me her name! She looked me in the eyes (and this part STILL gives me chills), laid her hand on my pregnant belly, and said, "Honey, trust me, you have enough to take care of."  (OMG!!! In hindsight this leaves me speechless!!)  After that, all she said was "Merry Christmas" & walked away!! I couldn't believe it! So after I picked my chin up off the floor & the bags of stuff I put Eli & Grace in the backseat of the suburban. By the
time Rachel & I got in the front seat Grace was praying (out loud) thanking
God for the blessing he'd just given us & the "angel he'd just sent to us".
Rachel heard this & just started bawling! When Grace was done she said,
"Mommy, we just met a real live angel didn't we?" & before I could even
respond Rachel spoke up & said "yes ma'am we sure did!"  She was completely
taken aback! It was so incredible to see God use this lady I'd never met &
my 5 yr old daughter to show Himself to my sister that day not to mention
bless our Awana program in the process!  Those of you who know Rachel know
what a big deal this is..  But, that's only the beginning!  It had been my
desire to stock the store with some spiritually enriching items for many
reasons, one of which being the fact that many of our kids use this shopping
opportunity to 'purchase' gifts to give to family & friends.  I just always
thought that could be an awesome opportunity to get Jesus' message into the
hands & homes of people that I might never even get to meet.  Because of my
budget & the sheer number of items I needed to purchase I really didn't
think I'd be able to do that this time around BUT because of the generosity
of that lady that God had arranged to have at the $ tree (& GREAT Christmas
sales promotions) I was able to go over to Lifeway & The Scroll & purchase
Bibles & Christian CD's & all kinds of gifts that would help spread the
gospel! I was SO excited I couldn't stand it!  So I take Rachel home & head
to the church to 'price' my loot. We meet for Awana Open Assembly & I share
with the kids how God had blessed us that day & allowed Grace & I to meet a
''real live angel''... Before I let either of the classes go 'shopping' I
challenged the kids to honor God with how they behaved & that I didn't want
any fighting over merchandise or stealing from each other (which we've
experienced in the past) Anyway the kids shopped their hearts out & because
of all God had done that day almost every child walked away with at least
one gift item with scripture and/or gospel message on it, 2 kids that said
they didn't have Bibles were able to buy themselves one (& not just any
Bible but fancy little kids study Bibles), & one girl even bought her
pregnant school teacher a Beginners Bible "to read to her baby"!!  Plus if
that weren't enough, not only did I not get one single report of fighting or
stealing but the kids were buying gifts for each other and sharing their
Awana money with other kids that didn't have as much!! It was so moving!!
I was SO proud of them!!

As you can imagine I was flying pretty high, having an Awesome day when...
Chuck comes walking up to me with tears in his eyes & asks me 2 come with
him that he has something to tell me.. I have to be honest with you, deep
down I was thinkin come on, not something negative I'm having too good a
day! But I followed him out into the hallway & he hands me an envelope.. I
feel like I have to stop here & tell you things have been kinda rough
financially for us recently (along with the rest of the world). Most of you
know Chuck sells cars for a living & if you've..well, been awake.. in the
last few months you've heard the auto industry is not experiencing a banner
year. So we've had 2 specific needs that we've been praying about & quite
frankly were starting to get a little discouraged about..now don't get me
wrong, we believed God would provide, just weren't sure how or when..& when
I'd get weak & feel sorry for myself Chuck would say Sarah come on He's
never failed us before & I'd get irked cause I knew he was right (which
naturally irritates me, hahaha) and God has moved many people to be really
good to us recently BUT back to my point.. we had 2 specific needs that we'd
been praying about & when I opened the envelope I found an unsigned
Christmas card containing the answer to our prayers!!! I couldn't believe
it!  We have no idea who it came from (except God, of course) but man, I
hope they somehow know how much of a blessing they are to us & how grateful
we are!!  Chuck & I just stood there crying, unable to even wrap our minds
around what was taking place.
So, after we wrap up Awana I call my mom to share with her what an amazing
day I've had & learn that the $tree incident had such an impact on my sister
that she'd already called mom & told her all about it! All about what that
lady had done & Grace praying without being prompted at all & that "it just
HAD to be the Lord"! So then I got to call Rachel & tell her I'd been
visited by a 2nd angel that day!!
We get home & I'm tucking JC into bed & praying with him & get up to leave
his room & he stops & asks me if I'll stay in there with him while he prays.
So, of course I do and he prays the most precious prayer thanking Jesus for
the blessings he'd sent us that day & that while we didn't know what that
lady's name was he knew God did so would he please somehow let her know she
was a blessing to us & that we were "very grateful & appreciative" for what
she'd done! Man I hope that lady knows she invested $60 in so much more than
a buggy full of toys!!

Oh man, 24 hours later I'm still shaking my head.  God is so good, but I
feel like that day He was showing off!  I pray that reading this gives you
hope that whatever you're going through God is big enough to handle it if
you'll just trust Him to do so...& never under estimate how God can use you
if you let him. That lady at the $ tree & the people that gave to Chuck & I
may not have thought their contribution was much, but boy oh boy were they
ever wrong!!  Little is much when God is in it...

I hope each one of you has a blessed day & a very Merry Christmas! I already
have..

Love, Sarah Wilson    
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Ok, so excuse the run-on sentences.  I was excited and typing all of that out on a small phone keypad!


So, after I sent this email out to EVERYONE in my address book, Chuck got a call from someone saying that they thought we needed to name our baby "Faith".  Up to this point, this particular person hadn't been very supportive of our Christian faith and had even made comments that we were pushing it off on our children.  After reading this, they said they could see that our kids truly get it, they were inspired by it, and they thought we should name our new baby Faith...so, we did!

Ok, on a side note - I am speaking at an event for DiabetesFriendly.org this weekend.  Y'all pray that God speaks through me.  This event feels WAY out of my league...they are fancy and well..y'all know, I'm not.  I'm excited to do it, though.  This is the foundation that donated about a third of the money for us to get Ruby.  We are SO thankful for them!  Y'all check out their site! 


Also, I got some VERY exciting news about the next cool thing that God has placed before us.  I can't share details just yet, but keep watching!  It's going to be SO fun!!  It's just a reminder to me, again, that God can do whatever he wants to!


Love y'all.