Do you smell that?

[SGRock]

DO YOU SMELL THAT?
> >
> > At the end of this story, it gives you two options.
> I think you will
> figure
> > out what option I chose.
> >
> > A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in
> Dallas as the doctor
> > walked into the small hospital room of Diana
> Blessing. She was still
> groggy
> > from surgery. Her husband, David, held her hand as
> they braced themselves
> > for the latest news.
> >
> > That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had
> forced Diana, only
> > 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean
> to deliver couple's
> new
> > daughter, Dana Lu Blessing.
> >
> > At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine
> ounces, they already
> > knew she was perilously premature. Still, the
> doctor's soft words dropped
> > like bombs.
> >
> > "I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as
> kindly as he could.
> >
> > "There's only a 10-percent chance she will live
> through the night, and
> even
> > then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her
> future could be a very
> > cruel one."
> >
> > Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the
> doctor described the
> > devastating problems Dana would likely face if she
> survived.
> >
> > She would never walk, she would never talk, she
> would probably be blind,
> > and she would certainly be prone to other
> catastrophic conditions from
> > cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and
> on and on.
> >
> > "No! No!" was all Diana could say.
> >
> > She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had
> long dreamed of the
> > day they would have a daughter to become a family of
> four. Now, within a
> > matter of hours, that dream was slipping away.
> >
> > But as those first days passed, a new agony set in
> for David and Diana.
> >
> > Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was
> essentially 'raw,' the
> > lightest kiss or caress only intensified her
> discomfort, so they couldn't
> > even cradle their tiny baby girl against their
> chests to offer the
> strength
> > of their love. All they could do, as Dana struggled
> alone beneath the
> > ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires,
> was to pray that God
> > would stay close to their precious little girl.
> >
> > There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew
> stronger. But as the
> weeks
> > went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here
> and an ounce of
> > strength there.
> >
> > At last, when Dana turned two months old, her
> parents were able to hold
> her
> > in their arms for the very first time. And two
> months later, though
> doctors
> > continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances
> of surviving, much
> > less living any kind of normal life, were next to
> zero, Dana went home
> from
> > the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.
> >
> > Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty
> young girl with
> > glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for
> life. She showed no
> signs
> > whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment.
> Simply, she was
> everything
> > a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending
> is far from the end
> of
> > her story.
> >
> > One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near
> her home in Irving,
> > Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the
> bleachers of a local
> > ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team
> was practicing.
> >
> > As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her
> mother and several other
> > adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent.
> >
> > Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana
> asked, "Do you smell
> that?"
> >
> > Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a
> thunderstorm, Diana
> > replied, "Yes, it smells like rain." Dana closed her
> eyes and again
> asked,
> > "Do you smell that?" Once again, her mother replied,
> >
> > "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like
> rain."
> >
> >
> > Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head,
> patted her thin
> shoulders
> > with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it
> smells like Him.
> >
> > It smells like God when you lay your head on His
> chest."
> >
> > Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped
> down to play with the
> > other children.
> >
> > Before the rains came, her daughter's words
> confirmed what Diana and all
> > the members of the extended Blessing family had
> known, at least in their
> > hearts, all along.
> >
> > During those long days and nights of her first two
> months of her life,
> when
> > her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her,
> God was holding Dana
> > on His chest and it is His loving scent that she
> remembers so well.
> >
> > You now have 1 of 2 choices. You can either pass
> this on and let other
> > people catch the chills like you did, or you can
> delete this and act like
> > it didn't touch your heart.
> >
> > IT'S YOUR CALL! "I can do all things in Him who
> strengthens me."

I am sorry about the way that this is put in here but I could not resist. I read this and looked at my girls and thanked God for them and their love. My youngest daughter had to spend 3 weeks in NICU when she was born due to breathing problems. This reminded me of how God watched over her.