God Has Answered
In my last update, I asked you to pray for Yana as she was overdue to deliver her new baby. Now, I wanted to report to you that Eliana has arrived safely into the world. They did end up taking her by cesarean section, but she is fine and healthy. (6 lbs. 4 oz., 19.2 in.) After a couple of days of soreness, Yana is good as well.
She was born in Ukraine... which has become the focus of the world these days for all the wrong reasons. When we think about Ukraine, we think of fighting, war, destruction and death. Those are awfully ugly words that were not present in this world when God created it, and will not exist someday in the future, when He makes all things right. On the other hand, LIFE is a good word, and when we add the word “new” to life... it rings even sweeter. NEW LIFE. That’s what this new baby girl represents.
What we have seen for the last 6 weeks in Ukraine is the result of a broken world in which nations can be led by men gone mad, who can kill without remorse. We look at Mariupol now as the poster city for carnage and suffering. When a reporter asked a mama coming out of a basement bunker in that city with her children what she felt as the bombs rained down, she said, “I simply thought we were all going to die”. That ugly word again. When I talk to people in Ukraine, or Romania, or even Russia about this war, those grating words get brought into the conversation often. Someone has said that death has a perfect record and is undefeated, and he’s racking up massive totals in this war. However, I want you to read what I’m writing with your ears wide open… IT IS NOT TRUE. Death IS indeed defeated…and it's because of Christ’s resurrection. Death is totally defeated with no chance of a comeback. Just as on that day 2000 years ago, when all seemed at it’s worst and death had won, HE AROSE, and He lived and lives forever more. Because of that, HE gives us life. New Life. Eliana is a reminder of that in these extremely dark days. Thank God for this little package that brings that good reminder of encouragement and hope.
She was given such a beautiful name by her parents, and I took the liberty of looking up what it means. Eliana has a Hebrew origin that means “God has answered”. He has breathed into the nostrils of another of His dear children the breath of LIFE…and with that life, He’s giving her His great and unmatched love that will follow her all the days of it. To those bent on fighting, war, destruction and death, God has answered,..and His answer is Life. Because of Him, we will always have it and someday those old, ugly words will lose all their meaning as they are eliminated from the vocabulary of those who will live it forever in peace and in His presence.
Welcome, Eliana.
