Jeff and I named our little guy Joel shortly after learning of his anomalies, and we and the children have been calling him by his name here at home for quite a while.  It’s a short name derived from a short book of the Bible for what we anticipate will be a short earthly life, yet the meaning of the name and the message of the book from which it is taken are both powerful.

One of Jeff’s long-standing favorite Bible verses is Joel 2:25:  “”I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten– the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm — my great army that I sent among you.”  This promise was spoken by God to His chosen people, Israel, but the principle has been such a wonderful reality in Jeff’s life and the lives of many other believers.

In a similar way, we are also trusting God to bring good from what, to many, may appear to be a ‘wasted’ pregnancy.  He is a God who redeems all situations and experiences for HIS glory, and we are asking Him boldly to do that in some very specific ways, and ultimately, as HE wishes!

Joel means “YAHWEH is God,” and with this name for our T-13 baby, we proclaim our complete faith and trust in the GOD who forms and sustains all life.  Though “defects” and “abnormalities” occur in our sin-cursed world, we know that these are not a part of God’s original, perfect design.  We also know that T-13 has been allowed to become part of our journey by His will and that He has plans to use it to conform us to His image AND bring glory to Himself!

Daniel means “God is my judge.”  Both Joel and Daniel are prophetic books, and as we sense that our Lord’s return is very near, we’ve been turning to them more often in our hearts and minds.  We know that God is soon going to judge the entire world, and he is using this experience to draw us closer to Himself in humility, seeking His perfect judgment and mercy.  More about that, hopefully, in a future post.