Power of Prayer: Amelia White


Its hard not to ooh and awe when little three month old Amelia comes into the room. She is a picture perfect little girl. For mom and dad, she is a living breathing miracle.

Jennifer and Taylor White had been married for several years when they decided to add children to their family. A first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. Then last March, Jennifer became pregnant again.

Just as the critical first six weeks approached a blood sample tested positive for spinal bifida. They headed straight to Dallas to a specialist who said that test was negative...but

"He told us, there was no amniotic fluid," says Taylor White. "And this was our first ultra sound of the pregnancy, this was our first time to even see...and there was no amniotic fluid, no kidneys of course because there was no amniotic fluid. We probably sat in the parking lot for maybe 30 minutes and just...dumb founded, and just awed and cried and just we didn't know what to do, we didn't know what to think."

"He told us then," says Jennifer White, "if I were you I would go home and pray, because it really doesn't look good."

The Whites had to another two weeks for final confirmation. 14 days later the news wasn't any better.

"I'm almost certain your baby has no chance of living," Taylor remembering what the specialist said. "In fact he used the word zilch, zilch chance. There is no amniotic fluid, there is not a genetic reason to explain this, it just happens. You can either terminate the pregnancy now or you can go through the pregnancy...and the baby will probably be still born or be born alive and die a couple of hours after being born."

"We decided," said Jennifer, "that we thought that was the best option, was to go ahead and induce early. I mean I would have a normal delivery you know and what understood the outcome would be the same, the baby was not going to make it either way. For me I could not imagine having to carry this baby to full term."

That early delivery would have happened at Tyler's Trinity Mother Frances Hospital. But because it was so early in the pregnancy, the hospital's ethics committee said no.

That's when Jennifer said she became angry... At God.

"And I thought you are going to make me carry this baby I can't, I can't do this I just can't. And the whole weekend I was just so mad that I was going to have to do this. By the end of the weekend I thought there is nothing I can do. I trust that God knows what He is doing though I don't understand. I don't think He does things to harm us even though we can't understand why they have to happen. And I just thought, okay, if I'm gonna make it through this I have just go to trust that You have a plan and that You are going to be there for us and carry us through this," says Jennifer.

"By that point," remembers Taylor, "our prayer was more, initially, or first reaction was to pray to God to help us make it through it. To comfort us. Shortly after that our mind changed and we said God we know you have the power to change this, and we're putting this in Your hands.

Regular sonograms for the next six months still showed no amniotic fluid. An inducement was scheduled six weeks before the due date. One last sonogram indicated something had changed. The Whites headed straight to their specialist in Dallas.

"His face just dropped," remembers Taylor, "just with amazement said I can't explain it. There is no other explanation than God just performed a miracle. There is a normal amount of amniotic fluid at this point he saw possibly one kidney. He said this is a perfectly healthy baby. There should be..she should have deformities, she should have not developed lungs and none of that was an issue at this point. When God performs a miracle he doesn't do it half way."

"we hadn't planned for a baby. We didn't have any furniture, anything. We didn't think we were going to have a baby. So just getting to...I mean we went that day and found a crib. It was amazing," says Jennifer.



Almost nine months after their ordeal began, little Amelia Faith White was born. A blessing for her parents. And a testimony they say to the power of prayer.



"We started this prayer and our local group started praying for us and they told people and they told people and they told people. To this day we still talk to people, churches we have never even heard of in Oklahoma or across the U.S. We get emails from people we have near heard...say hey listen we just heard the new about your baby I can't believe she is healthy," says Taylor

"we could feel that. Because, just that we had the strength to bear it and go on I just knew people were praying and God was with us," says Jennifer. "Whether He just wanted to show His power, show what He can do...I don't know. I truly believe that yes, that it was a miracle. The He chose to save her life."

"the people have seen a miracle," believes Taylor. "And in today's world people need to know that God exists. And this is just one proof that there is a God. That we are not in control of our lives. And people around here today are going to get to see that and its affecting people right now.