This is the story of a beautiful prayer said by the pure trusting heart of a precious little boy named Phil. Phil is my grandson and this is the story of how he became a big brother.
One night in the fall of 2011, I was babysitting Phil. When it became time to say his bedtime prayers, I asked him if there was anything he wanted to ask Jesus for. Right away he said, “I want a baby.” You see Phil wanted to be a big brother very much. He was still hurting from his mother’s 2nd miscarriage. I responded, ” Why don’t you ask your Uncle Peter to go and ask Jesus to send you a baby. What do you want, a baby brother or a baby sister?” Right away Phil answered, ” A baby brother.”
Peter was Phil’s 6-year-old Uncle that had died in August of 2011. We all were still grieving and missing our “Sweet Pete” as we called him very much. Peter had health issues and Phil has type 1 diabetes so they had a lot in common and were very close. Phil folded his little hands and said the sweetest prayer. “Dear Uncle Peter, please go and ask Jesus to send me a baby brother. Thank you Uncle Peter, I love you.” I had tears in my eyes as Phil finished his prayer. It was said so sweetly and sincerely with his little blond head bowed and his hands folded. I thought to myself, wow, how can God not answer this child’s prayer. It was so pure and beautiful. I was sure my daughter Jenny would have a baby boy.
Well God did answer this prayer, but not in the way I thought would happen and much sooner than I expected. The next week Jenny called me and had very exciting news. She received a phone call from a family whose daughter was expecting a baby in a few weeks who had decided the best thing for the baby was to place it for adoption. They had heard about Jenny and her husband’s fertility problems from Jenny’s sister Megan months before. They said that they felt God wanted them to be the adoptive parents of this baby. And yes, it was a baby boy.
Simon Mark was born Dec 20th 2011 on the 4-month anniversary of Peter’s birth into eternal life. Jenny, Eric and Phil were there at the hospital and brought home this precious boy a few days later. On Christmas day as I held this beautiful child only 5 days old, I reflected on Phil’s prayer and how it was answered. I think Peter knew we would be missing him so much at Christmas that he helped send us Simon and he knew how Jenny, Eric and Phil longed for a baby in their family.
Precious Simon helped heal our broken hearts that first Christmas and has brought so much joy to our family. From the heart of his big brother, Simon was born in our family. God answered Phil’s prayer through the intercession of his Uncle Peter.
As we gather together this Christmas, Simon will be one year old. He is such a joy and gift to us all. We still miss our “Sweet Pete” but know that he is always watching over all of us. We look forward to the day when we see him again and we thank him for helping answer Phil’s prayer for a baby brother and all the other prayers he has helped us with.
