In Jonah's Name

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." John 14:12-14

The last couple of weeks have been super busy as a group of three friends from Wisconsin and I, along with some wonderful local volunteers, have worked very hard to put together the Jake Memorial Baptist College's library here in Monrovia, Liberia. Because it was such a major project and we didn't want to be interrupted by going back to the house for either snacks or lunch, I brought to the school the makings for peanut butter sandwiches and a wide variety of snacks and drinks. 

Image Acacia Landowski

I also brought Jonah. There are two families living on the campus with children his age and he had a wonderful time playing with them while the ladies and I worked. However, from the very first day I noticed that Jonah and his friends were very distracted by knowing I had brought such wonderful food with me. It seemed they found it hard to relax unless they knew exactly when and how they were going to get some of it. 

But they had an obvious plan of attack. The children on the college property noticed that the big soft spot in my heart for Jonah made it hard for me to say no to food requests and so, if one of the children wanted something, he asked Jonah who would in turn ask me.

In the children's eyes, because of my authority over the project in general and the food stash in particular, I was a very important woman! And while Jonah's friends were too young to understand the full legal implications of adoption, they understood that there was something about our relationship that made it appropriate, and ultimately very beneficial, for them to ask for things through Jonah rather than coming directly to me.  

And that is how it is with prayer. Jesus told His disciples in John 14 that they were to ask for things of the Father in His name. When they did that, their requests would be answered. Now of course Jesus was not promising some carte blanche thing based on the magic word "Jesus," but rather He was promising that if they asked for appropriate things—appropriate based on what they knew about God's nature or "name"—God would give it to them. And, very interestingly, that answer to the prayer given in Jesus' name would bring glory to Jesus' Father. 

What an awesome privilege we as Christians have! Just as when I gave snacks to the children "in Jonah's name" honor was brought to me, so when God answers prayers given in Jesus' name, God the Father is glorified. Our task, both wonderful and daunting, is to know and love Him more and more so our requests are the very things Jesus Himself would ask of His Father.

The library-making team! Acacia Landowski, Terri Marks, Julie Landowski and me.

See Shades of Brown.
See The Myth that God Never Gives More than I Can Bear.

Putting Together the Bible Puzzle

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. I Corinthians 2:14

stockx.change mishahu

During our earliest days of missionary work if someone had told me I had a "lite" version of Christianity, I would have been insulted. However, several years later, when God led us into ministry among the Liberian refugees who had fled to the Ivory Coast, I totally fell apart. I began to see that, indeed, my version was wasn't holding up.

God used that time of upheaval to lead me into a deeper relationship with Him than I had thought possible. I had an insatiable appetite to know God more. And that meant learning more from the Bible. By God's grace, because I had a rich Christian heritage that included a lot of Bible training, I already had a very good foundation.

Through the years I have come to think of the Bible as a huge puzzle—one I want to put together! By handling it as such, growing in God's Word is broken down into more manageable parts.

1. The edge pieces are very important when making a puzzle. They "frame" everything that will come. The edge pieces of Bible study are memorizing the names of the books of the Bible and knowing the basic information each book contains. While this doesn't have to be done first, the sooner it is done the better.

Stockx.change klsa

2. In puzzle making I often choose a particularly colorful or interesting portion and work on that first. Likewise, God has often used areas of specific interest such as the life of Christ, the Holy Spirit, proofs of the resurrection or the Christian home to draw me into certain books of the Bible in a deeper way.

3. When making a puzzle, I sometimes save the most difficult part—often the sky pieces—for last. And at this point I beg for help from anyone passing through the door. The "sky" of Bible study represents the part that is, for whatever reason, most difficult to understand. I have found for these portions I need extra help. While study tools are helpful every step of the way in Bible study, it is especially important for difficult passages that I take advantage of pertinent books, DVDs, classes or sermons.

Christianity "lite" will never satisfy the deep desire of my heart to know God more. How thankful I am God has given me a desire for His Word. And while it is not easy, as the Holy Spirit guides me into truth, the puzzle of the Bible slowly but surely starts to come together.

Image Pixabay - Hans

See Out of the Darkness and Into His Light.

See Snail Manna (A Short Story).

Clueless in Liberia

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. Ephesians 1:3-7

Because he was raised in Liberia and went straight from there to college and never had a need nor chance to take driver's training, our son John-Mark did not show up at the DMV for his driver's lisence until he was 22 years old. But if that wasn't embarrassing enough for the poor kid, when he submitted the necessary paperwork of vital information, he found out he didn't exsist. There was no such person as John-Mark Sheppard.

John-Mark in 2004 

It turns out that our Mr. Brainiac, the guy who at twelve years old knew the feeding habits of every animal I could name and the Latin names for orchids I couldn't name, had never bothered to look on his passport and notice that his legal name was not John-Mark Sheppard, but rather John Mark Sheppard. No hyphen. Because we hadn't wanted him to have trouble when filling out computer-programed documents—a double first name and no middle name—we had officially named him John Mark. We thought we were helping him.

John-Mark was not a happy camper. How could he have not known his own name? he asked glumly. But Mark and I were as surprised as John-Mark. After all, we had certainly talked about it around him. And more importantly, his official name—the proof of his true identity—was on every single document he had used to travel around the world since he was three years old. All he had to do was look.

Image stockx.change

But how many times have I been just like John-Mark in my spiritual life. I've had all the information about my true identity right at my fingertips, but either neglected to look or looked so casually it made no impression.

The Bible is replete with information telling me who I am in Christ, yet for years it did not  effect my daily life in the way it should have. Rather than rejoicing in my standing with Christ, I lived in fear of His disapproval. However, when I began to study the Bible with greater enthusiasm and paid more attention to what it actually said, my true identity became clear. I am an adopted child of God, accepted and beloved, because it brings God pleasure.

There couldn't possibly be a more wonderful identification!

John-Mark, Sara, Audrey and Noah outside their home in Voinjama, Liberia—2013

See The Lowest Servant in the Room.

See Am I Gorgeous Yet?

See Why "Casual Christianity" Misses the Point.

The Myth of the "Perfect" Quiet Time

Blessed are You, O LORD! Teach me Your statutes! With my lips I have declared All the judgments of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways. Psalm 119:12-15

Years ago, when I had two babies as well as three school-aged children in the home, God led me into a more intense time with Him in Bible study and prayer than I had ever had. I truly desired time with God and I prioritized it.

As the years have passed I have continued to desire time with God. I have found, however, that if I am going to  faithfully spend time with Him, I must let go of the perfectionism that says that unless I do it in one certain way, it doesn't "count."

Perfectionism says,

1. "I will have my quiet time when I can do it all in one stretch with no interruptions." 

2. "I will have my quiet time when I figure out a plan that works for me."

3. "I will have my quiet time when the house is actually quiet."

4. "I will have my quiet time when I find the perfect spot."

5. "I will have my quiet time when the house is in order."

Obviously if I created this list of requirements before I communicated with my husband, we would not talk much. The same is true with my communication with God. Just as the seasons of my marriage have required Mark and me to think through the when, where and how of our communication, the same is true with my quiet time with God.

In the very busiest season of my life when I had not only four of my children in the home but also multiple foster babies, I found that by breaking up the various spiritual disciplines into bite-sized pieces, I could find time for the Lord and not put the children at risk. I could pray when I woke up in the night to feed a baby or  while in the car. (Actually, in Monrovia some of my most intense praying is in the car. "Please keep us all from dying!") I could listening to an audio Bible while washing dishes. And a few minutes with God in either prayer or Bible reading before I went to sleep at night wrapped it all together as with a big red ribbon.

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Now my life is a bit more "normal" and my quiet times with God are easier to schedule. However, I continue to enjoy the habit I developed of talking to Him continually and listening to His Word as I went about my day. I know God's goal for me is increased Christlikeness and as I grow in faith through reading (or listening to) His Word and prayer, that goal is reached—even if it is not "perfect." And if He's happy, I'm happy.

See No Longer Playing the Part of the Martyr.

See Am I Gorgeous Yet?

How Loving the Bible Should Turn Us into Geography Buffs

Nancy - 1966 school picture

Unless information is of practical value to me, I find it hard to retain.  As a kid it never occurred to me that I would need to know anything other than U.S. geography, so names of countries would lodge in my brain long enough to take a test—and then promptly fall out. Thankfully I have matured a bit and obviously, because it is my "adopted" continent, all things Africa now interest me. 

But besides Africa, I am also very interested in the geography of the Middle East.  Since the Bible is always Israel-centric and Israel is in the Middle East—as are all of the peoples and kingdoms that have dominated her—as a Christian it too has become an "adopted" area of the world. 

Several years ago God really did a huge work in my heart and I became a person who really, really loved the Bible. (I had always respected it a lot, but it would have been an exaggeration to say I loved it.) One of the most helpful things I have done in my study of the Bible, and so ridiculously simple that I can't believe I waited so long to do it, is to print out a map of the Middle East. Now when I am reading and come to a name I don't recognize, instead of assuming it doesn't matter very much, which of course was never true, I Google it. I get a majority opinion on what the place in question is presently named, find it on my map, and I then write the ancient name near the present-day name. 

Photo from stock.xchng Ove Tøpfer

Why bother? Identifying locations and labeling them breaks down the divide between Bible times and now. (The people of Bible times were, in most cases, simply the ancestors of the present day people of the various locales.) And on a very practical level, because many yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies have exact locations given in the Bible, it makes today's Middle East news fascinating and relevant. 

So, here's how to get started on a more interesting way to study the Bible.

1. Print out a map such as the one here. 
2. Find a pen and a notebook for jotting down Bible references, keeping track of questions that come to mind, etc., etc., etc.
3. Grab your Bible.
4. Prepare your favorite beverage.
5. Find a comfortable chair, in a spot with good lighting, in which to sit.
6. Enjoy! 

"Middle East Maps and Online Resources." Infoplease Atlas.
© 2000–2007 Pearson Education

Enquiring minds should want to know!

See Learning to Love the Bible.
See Tell Me Someone is Praying for Us!

Why "Casual Christianity" Misses the Point

Below are a few not-so-random questions about my husband.

Mark and Nancy Sheppard

1. How would Mark feel if every year I made the same New Years Resolution—this year I would spend time with him? Cross my heart, hope to die.
2. How would Mark feel if I hardly ever thought about him except for two hours each Sunday morning?
3. How would Mark feel if I never mentioned him unless someone else brought up the subject first?
4. How would Mark feel if I felt guilty about how little I knew about him, but did nothing to learn more?
5. How would Mark feel if he had written me long, detailed letters and I never bothered to read them? 
6. How would Mark feel if I was perpetually too busy to talk to him?
7. How would Mark feel if his plan for our marriage scared me more than it excited me?
8. How would Mark feel if I didn't care to figure out what pleased him?
9. How would Mark feel if I talked with him very infrequently—like only when I was in extremely serious physical or financial trouble?
10. How would Mark feel if I pretended everything was "just fine" in our relationship, but I was really cheating on him?
11. How would Mark feel if I found him so boring that I avoided him as much as possible?
12. How would Mark feel if I loved my hobbies, work, and many other things much more than him? 

If any of these things were true, I don't doubt Mark would sit me down and, perhaps with even a fair amount of emotion, confront me about my attitude. I am quite sure he would tell me he was not interested in a "casual marriage" in which I appeared to be just barely tolerating him—even acting ashamed! In fact, I imagine Mark would say my acting as though I were ashamed of him made him feel ashamed of me, and he wanted so much more for our relationship than this "in name only" business.

And what if I were asking these questions about God instead of Mark? Would He not feel the same way?

See The Greatest Treasure of All.
See How to Avoid Becoming "The Other Woman."
See the satirical Book Review: Humility and How I Attained It by I.M. Phake

"Tell me someone is praying for us!"

When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly —Matthew 6:6

Sheppard family - 1997

Several times in our missionary career, as Liberia or the Ivory Coast was falling apart politically, I could feel the deep danger around us even more than usual. In those moments I would grab Mark's arm and demand, "Tell me people are praying for us!" He would dutifully oblige because, while he didn't have the same need to have it said aloud, in times like these both of us were clinging tenaciously to the hope that someone somewhere was praying for us. In those moments we understood that prayer was our greatest need. 

In our action-oriented Western culture, praying seems counter-intuitive. Yet while it can feel like "doing nothing," prayer is in reality the most important thing we can do. 

Oswald Chambers, in his devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, says it clearly.

Jesus did not say, “Dream about your Father who is in the secret place,” but He said, “. . . pray to your Father who is in the secret place. . . .” Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray. We cannot seem to get our minds into good working order, and the first thing we have to fight is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this problem of our idle and wandering thinking. We have to learn to discipline our minds and concentrate on willful, deliberate prayer.

We must have a specially selected place for prayer, but once we get there this plague of wandering thoughts begins, as we begin to think to ourselves, “This needs to be done, and I have to do that today.” Jesus says to “shut your door.” Having a secret stillness before God means deliberately shutting the door on our emotions and remembering Him. God is in secret, and He sees us from “the secret place”— He does not see us as other people do, or as we see ourselves. When we truly live in “the secret place,” it becomes impossible for us to doubt God. We become more sure of Him than of anyone or anything else. 

In the last week I have felt overwhelmed with sadness for the state of the world, particularly those in Syria and Egypt who cannot escaped the horror that has become their lives. (Tap here.) I have asked God to show me what I can do to help and the same answer keeps coming back. Pray.

Bereaved Syrian man holding child (Image public domain)

And so I share this burden with you. If each of us would take as little as five to ten minutes to go to a quiet place and pray for these people, it would honor God and make a difference for them. The following requests can be a launching point.

1. Let us pray that those who have not yet heard the salvation message as given in the Bible will be told—and find new life and comfort in God.
2. Let us pray that God would meet the daily needs of the suffering people. 
3. Let us pray for government authorities to have a clear understanding of the politics behind the unrest so those considering intervention, whether political or humanitarian, will do so wisely.

Often after our own dire situations in politically unstable Liberia or the Ivory Coast, we would find that indeed someone was specifically praying for us at the very time we so desperately needed it. Today as a desperate wife lays a hand on her husband's arm and says, "Tell me someone is praying for us!" I want to be the one remembering to do that most important work of all.  

See Prayer: If You Will Ask.
See Learning to Love the Bible.
See On Making Jonah a Sheppard.

Prayer: "If You Will Ask"

In the classic movie and its recent remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the bratty  Varuca Salt says over and over in her perfect British accent, "I want a pony! I want a pony!" Her rich, indulgent father seems incapable of controlling his response to Varuca's non-stop begging, much less choosing with confidence to give her what is truly best.

Sadly, many Christians pray like they are Varuca and God is Mr. Salt. They assume God can be forced to give in to their endless begging. Others know that childish model of prayer is not correct, but are unfamiliar with another model and therefore avoid prayer altogether.

So what exactly is prayer and why should we do it?

Enter Oswald Chambers.  In this reprint of the classic, If You Will Ask: Reflections on the Power of Prayer, theologian Oswald Chambers, (most famed for the devotional, My Utmost for His Highest), shares, in a totally readable fashion, amazing insights into prayer. And unlike so much written about prayer, rather than chiding the reader for not praying more, Chambers instead whets his reader's appetite for prayer.


Mr. Chambers ties prayer to Calvary. He says several times in the book that Jesus did a tremendously difficult work on the cross so that prayer could be simple for us.

We try to explain why God answers prayer on the ground of reason. This is nonsense. God answers prayer on the ground of redemption and on no other ground. Let us never forget that our prayers are heard, not because we are in earnest, not because we suffer, but because Jesus suffered. Because our Lord Jesus Christ went through the depths of agony to the last ebb in the garden of Gethsemane, because He went through Calvary, we have "Boldness to enter the Holiest" (Hebrews 10:19).

Unlike the willful Varuca, who endlessly badgers her father for "stuff," real prayer is first of all about knowing God and not about what we can get from Him.

Then why ask? The whole meaning of prayer is that we may know God. The "asking and receiving" prayer is elementary; it is the part of prayer we can understand. But it is not necessarily praying in the Holy Spirit. Those who are not born again must ask and receive; but when we have received and have become rightly related to God, we must maintain this simplicity of belief in Him while we pray. Our minds must be saturated by the Revelation of prayer until we learn in every detail to pray in the Holy Spirit. Prayer in not an exercise, it is life.

I highly recommend this book. If You Will Ask: Reflections on the Power of Prayer is excellent for the one who is new to prayer as well as the one already well-schooled in it. Although it can be read in one sitting, because the book is short (117 pages) and divided into twelve chapters, it is the perfect book for a person with only snippets of time here and there. I recommend reading it with a pen in hand. There will be many, many passages you will want to highlight. 

Thank you, Mr. Chambers, for your clear teaching. And thank you, God, for being nothing like Mr. Salt!

See Learning to Love the Bible.

See Tell Me Someone is Praying for Us!
See On Making Jonah a Sheppard.

Learning to Love the Bible

Some years ago a friend challenged me to pray that I would learn to love the Bible more. I liked the Bible a lot. I admired the Bible immensely. I wanted to love it. But to be honest, a good Francine Rivers novel could send me reeling off into Excuseland. Sadly, when I prioritized reading that fascinated me, I revealed what fascinated me a bit less. And so I prayed, not with much faith, that God would stir my heart to love His Word. To really, truly love it.

photo from stock.xchng Yoshi Aka

While we were in the States on our one-year home assignment I was given the Beth Moore "Daniel" Bible study disks and an empty workbook. Upon our arrival back in Liberia I made the decision that I would do the entire study even though I would be doing it alone. To my surprise I found it absolutely riveting. Additionally, I found Beth's obvious love for the Bible truly inspirational. Here was someone who was "all woman" - I could hardly wait to see what she was going to be wearing - but was this Bible brainiac! I longed for that same enthusiasm.

In the months and years after completing the study I found my heart drawn to Daniel, but also to the other, lengthier, prophetic books of the Bible. I had always enjoyed the book of Revelation, but the big Old Testament books of prophecy like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel had seemed overwhelmingly confusing. After all, how could I possibly figure out which prophecies were fulfilled in the past and which remained unfulfilled? 

Two things happened at the same time to create a map through the maze. First, my husband bought me an iPod with the Bible downloaded into it. Unlike a tape or disk player, an iPod traveled with me. I could "read" Isaiah (or whatever) while doing the laundry, washing the dishes, making the bed, etc., etc., etc. Instead of it taking weeks to read, I was now able to listen to a big book of the Bible within a couple of days at the most. And then when I was done listening to the book I could go back and listen to the whole thing again and again and again. Not surprisingly, with that kind of repetition the fog began to lift a bit. 

Second, I discovered the wealth of information on the internet. It turned out that I was not the only one interested in end time events. There were articles on even the most obscure passages. True, some of the writers were "guessers" or even obviously unbiblical in what they were saying, but others relied heavily on the Scriptures to defend their positions. My interest in prophecy and the end times made the third of the Bible that deals with that become fresh and alive. 

Photo from stock.xchng Billy Alexander

It gradually dawned on me that God had answered my prayer. I loved the Bible. I really did. It was God's work in my life, and to Him I give all the glory. 

See Tell Me Someone is Praying for Us!

See How Loving the Bible Should Turn Us into Geography Buffs.

See Why "Casual Christianity" Misses the Point.

On Making Jonah a Sheppard

In 1986 I was pregnant with Nathan when Mark and I, along with toddlers John-Mark and Melodie, left Minnesota's cold and snow for mission work in Liberia's never-ending summer.  (Click here.)  It turned out to be a life filled with more adventure and challenge than we could have possibly imagined. Despite many harrowing experiences in the years that followed - a civil war and its subsequent work among the refugees - by God's help we and our children (Heidi and Jared made five) not only survived, we learned to thrive.

Sheppard family - 2003

After nearly twelve years in refugee work in the Ivory Coast, when the war ended and we returned to Liberia our focus was on the training of national leadership. All of these were adults, of course. However, God opened a door for us to touch lives through fostering. With the help of our children we took in numerous Liberian babies and toddlers who were later adopted into the homes of Americans. It was one of the most amazing ministries God ever gave us as missionaries. We had the opportunity to touch a child - in some cases to literally save a life - and then send that little one on to a loving Christian home. During this process, as we were out and about or when people came from the States to be united with their child, we were often asked if we planned to adopt a child ourselves. We always replied by saying that if God wanted us to adopt, He would have to make one child stand out. 

At the end of  2008, after our one year home assignment in the States, we flew back to Liberia with Heidi, Jared and Melodie. Melodie, now a young adult, felt God was leading her back to Liberia to minister in her areas of greatest passion - the discipleship of women and the care of needy children. 

Melodie with neighborhood children - 2009

After a busy Christmas and New Year 2008/2009 conference season in the interior of Liberia we returned to Monrovia, excited and primed to resume fostering. Melodie was already involved in the lives of a group of needy children from a local orphanage and within weeks we had three little boys sharing our home. 

 The day Jonah came to our home - January  2009

Boy #1, Jonah, was an extremely sad, 11-pound, one-year old. He had suffered several serious illnesses and was in desperate need of the love of a family.  Boy #2, Titus, had a similar story. He, too, needed that same special attention as he waited to go to his "forever family." Boy #3, Levi, was a severely handicapped little guy and extremely close to death when he came to us. Our house and hands were full.

At the end of January 2009 an event occurred that would change the course of our lives forever. The Liberian government placed a moratorium on all international adoption. This sent our world, and that of many others, into a spin. I begged God for His mercy on the Liberian children with adoptions in process. I deeply feared for the future of the little boys in our home whom I loved so much. 

Heidi and Titus share a laugh - 2009

In the blackness of the African night I struggled with understanding the promise of Romans 8:28-29. "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (NKJV). While I was very familiar with those verses and had seen them played out in my life literally hundreds of times - that ultimate "good" of becoming more like Christ as a result of trial (vs. 29)  -  I could not imagine a scenario produced by the moratorium itself that was anything other than heartbreaking. 

Time passed. After four months, Levi, who was now in great health but whose needs were more than we could handle permanently, went to live in a well-run special needs orphanage. Meanwhile Titus and Jonah learned to crawl, walk, and finally, run. We went through all the toddler stages with them. Finally, because his adoption decree had been signed before the moratorium, sixteen months after his arrival in our home Titus was allowed to go to his adoptive parents. We loved him tremendously, but rejoiced without reservation that the door had opened for him to go to the precious young couple that had prayed and waited so long for him to join their family.

Titus, Nancy, Jonah and Mark (right before Titus was united with his adoptive family) - June 2010

Jonah had no such decree and the moratorium remained in place with no end in sight. One child. One special child to whom we were attached at the heart. It gradually dawned on us that God was doing just what we had said He would have to do for us to know that we were to adopt.  One child was standing out. 

The decision to adopt Jonah was a big one, but, nevertheless, it was much easier decided than done. After waiting and waiting and waiting, through what can only be called a miracle of God's grace, He placed our case and the case of one other missionary family on the heart of the person in the administration of the government of Liberia who could allow an exception. While the moratorium for international adoptions continued, our two families were allowed to proceed as residents to adopt our long-term fostered children. There was no explanation for the mercy being extended to us other than God touching hearts as a result of the thousands upon thousands of prayers that had gone up on behalf of these two little boys. 

The following weeks were a flurry of activity as we did all within our power to prepare the documents necessary to adopt. The home study was done, the case study prepared and personal documents secured. The relevant papers were submitted to a local attorney who prepared the adoption decree to present to the judge. And then more waiting. Several more weeks. But at last, on October 27, we received the signed decree. 

Jonah leads rejoicing after a baptism - January 2011

Two years and nine months after his arrival into our home, Jonah became a Sheppard.  As we look at this precious little boy who has become such an integral part of our lives, we are awestruck at the cleverness of God. Only He could have arranged a situation so perfectly that we would know beyond any shadow of a doubt this child was meant to be ours. 

Years ago, as I agonized over the implications of the moratorium, I could not see how anything good could ever come from it. Ever. But there is no denying it grew us spiritually. And, among other things, through it God allowed me to see a side of my husband I had never seen before as he fought for the hurting children of Liberia. The moratorium also revealed my weakness, an unpleasant but necessary "good."  I, who thought I had grown beyond not trusting God in trying situations (click here and here), learned that certainly was not the case. Over and over I had to give my fear for Jonah's future to God, knowing if I didn't I would be consumed by it. God has been more than faithful and He has taught me, once again, to rest in Him. 

Mark and I are totally humbled by the grace God has poured out on our lives. Despite our fears and doubts, God has used the thing that initially filled our hearts with dread - the moratorium on adoption in Liberia - for good. It is the reason we have a new son. His name is Jonah.  He is our miracle.

Jonah James Sheppard - Oct. 2011

See Jonah's Brush with Death.

See One Grandma's Secret Desire.

Jonah's Brush with Death

We Sheppards are tremendously blessed with good health. Often people around us are sick and it will pass over us completely or we will just get the "lite" version. So after Noah's birth, while John-Mark, Sara and the babies were still staying with us, when the 24-hour flu made its debut and several in the house took turns getting it, we assumed any recipients would have a stomach ache for a while and that would be that.

Our son Jonah came to us in January 2009 as an pathetic, eleven pound one-year old. He was a sweet little guy who, unlike some of the men in the house, was very much in touch with his emotions. It didn't take us long to figure out that, for Jonah, a little pain went a long way. Wails of such intensity that one would assume a limb was being severed would turn to laughter in a matter of seconds.

Nancy and Jonah - 2009

So on Tuesday, June 25, 2013, when Jonah spent the day on the couch complaining of stomach pain, we babied him but were not overly concerned. After all, it was a 24-hour flu. At night, when he turned down his much-loved bedtime routine, we knew he was really feeling lousy. Additionally, we were surprised when Jonah, rather than instantly falling asleep like he normally does, cried piteously and asked me to put my hand on his abdomen and rub lightly. I felt badly he had a worse case of the flu than I had gone through a few days before, but assumed he would be much better in the morning.

The next two days Jonah spent on the couch, complaining of a stomachache and quite listless. At 3 a.m. Friday when we had an exact repeat of Tuesday night, we became truly alarmed. Jonah is a very heavy sleeper and it was stunning he was awake at that hour—and extremely disturbing that he was complaining of the very same pain in the very same place as he had two nights before.

We realized, of course, we should have taken him to the doctor already and if we had been in the States we would have rushed him to an emergency room. But, being in Liberia, we knew there was no place we could take him where anything meaningful would happen before morning. We did all we could to comfort him and eventually Jonah drifted back to sleep.

We were at the ELWA clinic ready to see Dr. Debbie Eisenhut, a missionary doctor with SIM mission, at around 8:30. Jonah was in pain, breathing rapidly, but, thankfully, uncharacteristically stoic. Within five minutes of entering her office, Dr. Debbie diagnosed Jonah with appendicitis. Previously scheduled elective procedures were pushed aside to make room for Jonah and within two hours he was in surgery. Mark and I were told to wait in an area near the operating room.

Dr. Debbie Eisenhut

About an hour and a half after Jonah went into surgery, Dr. Debbie appeared. I don't remember her first sentence, but I believe she said that the appendix had been successfully removed. The second sentence was something like, "Jonah is in respiratory distress and you have twenty minutes to figure out how to get him medically evacuated out of this country."

Mark grabbed his cell phone and began gathering information about a flight. He called local and international friends who could spread the message that Jonah was in urgent need of prayer. We were then rushed to the operating room and found ourselves standing next to Jonah as he struggled to breathe, his mouth contorted as he inhaled in huge, impossibly difficult, gasps. He was taking 48 breaths a minute and his oxygen saturation levels would tumble if the oxygen mask was lifted off his face even half an inch. Additionally, he wasn't waking up from the surgery. As Mark and I watched, periodically trying to wake him, we prayed. Our prayers basically consisted of two words—"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" with a sprinkling of "please, please, please." It was totally surreal.

Eventually the gasping was not as dramatic and Mark carried a limp Jonah from the operating room to a room on the ward, a trail of equipment following close behind. For the next hours, as Mark continued the stream of phone calls necessary to get an air ambulance to Liberia, Dr. Debbie and I watched Jonah's troubled breathing, secured his mask around his nose if it moved, and stared at the numbers on the little machine that measured oxygen levels.

At six o'clock everything changed. In an instant Jonah stopped breathing the pathetic, short little breaths and, for the first time, looked like he was sleeping normally. I pulled the mask up a bit. The oxygen saturation levels, rather than tumbling, remained high. And then, Jonah woke up. Dr. Debbie, Mark and I were relieved beyond words and rejoiced, praising God for the miracle we were witnessing.

From that moment on the recovery was normal for abdominal surgery. With great relief, the air ambulance flight was called off.  I stayed with Jonah at the hospital and Jonah was his normal, darling, dramatic self. Two days later he was dismissed in good spirits, well on his way to a full recovery.

Jonah immediately before dismissal from the hospital on Sunday, June 30, 2013

We praise God for the thousands of people across the globe who held hands with us as this crisis unfolded. We truly felt carried by the prayers of God's people and we owe to everyone who prayed a great debt of gratitude. Additionally, we thank God with all of our hearts for sparing Jonah and allowing us the continued, awesome and on-going privilege of having him as our son.

Jared, Nancy, Mark and Jonah

To God be all the glory!

See On Making Jonah a Sheppard.
See Prayer: If You Will Ask
See One Grandma's Secret Desire.