David A Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 One of my good friends sent this too me. David A Subject: THE SMELL OF RAIN 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 Caesarean to deliver the couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound and 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. Through the dark hours of morning as Dana held onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of sleep, growing more and more determined that their tiny daughter would live and live to be a healthy, happy young girl. But David, fully awake and listening to additional dire details of their daughter's chances of ever leaving the hospital alive, much less healthy, knew he must confront his wife with the inevitable. David walked in and said that we needed to talk about making funeral arrangements. Diana felt so bad for him because he was doing everything to try to include her in what was going on, but she just wouldn't listen, She couldn't listen. She said, "No, that is not going to happen, no way! I don't care what the doctors say. Dana is not going to die! One day she will be just fine, and she will be coming home with us!" As if willed to live by Diana's determination, Dana clung to life hour after hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her miniature body could endure. 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. Today, five years later, Dana is a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She shows no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she is 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fall54 Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 Thank you so much David , that was beautiful. God Bless You, Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 Wondeful story....It remind's me of one my grandmother told as her oldest daughter Elizabeth lay dieing from burn's she recieved when the wood stove flashed back on her. Everyone including my mother and her 2 other sister's and the minister and doctor were in the room with her when just shortly to all this she had been in unbearable pain she suddenly sat up with the biggest grin grandma said you could imagine,and began talking in a very excited voice. Grandma said she kept asking everyone if they could hear the beautiful music and singing.Finally grandma said she asked her who was singing and playing the beautiful music and she said the Angel's" can't you all see them and hear them.My grandmother told her no when all at once she started almost shouting oh mommy mommy he's here he's so beautiful.My Grandmother said she asked her who's here and with tear's coming down her face and a unmistakable glow on her face she said oh mommy it's Jesus and closed her eye's and died. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angie Daughter of Bill Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 David and Larry, Both of these stories are so touching. Just when I finished wiping tears from David's story, I read Larry's story........more tears. Not tears of sorrow, but tears of joy.........joy that can only come from a loving, caring God who is with us all the time. As the children's prayer says.......God is great, God is good............ Thank you for these inspirational stories~~~~ Angie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fall54 Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 Larry, Thanks for sharing that. It was beautiful and a testament to what we can all look forward to when our time comes. In God we trust. God bless you, Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirleyb Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 Another of Davids post that brought tears to my eyes. May he be with God and smelling the rain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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