"Jesus Loves Me"

This weekend we had to make a last minute trip out of state for a funeral. During that trip a theme popped up several time and I found the "coincidences" quite interesting. It seems God has a unique way of talking to me, and the more I listen the more I hear.
The night before we left to Wisconsin we went to the store and bought some new music and a couple books to read. I picked "Heaven is for REAL", a true story about a boy who claims He spent time in heaven during an emergency surgery. Within the first few pages the outline of the book became eerily similar. A family of 4 are going a road trip and the youngest child has been so sick all week that they aren't even sure they should go. Well hello?! Ethan had been sick for 6 days to the point that we almost didn't go either. But we decided that by Thursday He was feeling well enough to go. Well they made the same decision. A few other small things kinda popped out before I said to Sheldon, "Baby, this book is crazy similar to what we are going through right now!"
I turn back to the book and sure enough, the next paragraph talks about the family passing their home church on the way out of town, which just happened to be called Crossroads Weslyan Church(Our church is called Crossroads Church!).
Now at that moment I laughed out loud and said "really??!" to God. And then kept reading.
In the meantime Ethan got so sick during the trip that we had to stop several time to take him potty and then even had to take a trip to the ER because He was screaming in pain while clutching his tummy and his urine was a dark orangeish amber color. We knew he was dehydrated and He hadn't eaten in several days which would explain the dark color. Thankfully the ER we stopped at happened to have an Urgent Care during business hours which saved us a ton of money! The Drs couldn't tell us much, and during a time we were trying to run some tests Ethan calmed down and fell asleep so we decided to get back on the road
(with assurance from the Dr that He should be fine) since we were just about half way to our destination. So back on the road I pick up my book again, and sure enough the next chapter is all about the littlest boy getting worse during their trip and they take him to the ER. Im thinking this is just too weird, and then the book gets worse. They find out the boy has ruptured apendicitis and has had the poison of that coursing through his stomach for 5 days! The outlook doesnt look good, even the Drs arent thinking He will survive this. I stopped reading for a few minutes and said a prayer, "Lord please dont be funny, its already been to similar so please heal my little Ethan and stop the similarities here! AMEN!"
Well I know the boy survives because without his survival there wouldn't have been a book! So a few months after his miracle the family drives past the hospital He stayed at and they ask him if He remembers it(now mind you He is only 3yrs old). And his reply is "of course, that's where the angels sang Jesus Loves Me". And this is where his family find out that during his emergency surgery to attempt to clean out his dying system the little boy got to go to heaven. He is even able to back it up by telling his parents specific things they were doing during this time. The father, a pastor, was so scared and angry with God that He found a private room, locked the door and lost it. He screamed and yelled at God and cried harder than he ever has before. He thought He was alone, but his baby boy who He thought was on the surgeons table was watching him from Heaven. The book goes on to tell about some extraordinary things, which I wont give away because you just have to read it!
Thankfully the "coincidences" end within the book. And Ethan has almost fully recovered now.
But we make it to WI and they start again. We arrived rather late due to all the potty stops and the 3 hour urgent care visit, so we have dinner with my cousins and then its time to put the boys to bed. Well by the time I get done doing that, everyone else had either left or gone to bed. But my cousin Mark just happened to be coming out of the bathroom and said He was up for hanging out a little bit. So we went downstairs and just talked. Now He had just received his last and final chemo treatment a week earlier, and I hadnt seen Him in years. So we were talking about everything He was going through and feeling. And then he says something that made my skin just fire up. He says "Well the first time they thought I had cancer I was in the big machine and to keep myself calm I decided to sing. I started with What a Friend I have in Jesus, and it just didn't do anything, so then I sang Amazing Grace, and nothing. Then I started singing Jesus Loves Me, and I kid you not, a choir of angels started singing with me. Its a sound I can still hear clearly in my head as if it were happening now"
My jaw dropped.
Did I really just hear that right?
A choir of angels sang the exact same song to him that they sang to the little boy in the book. Incredible. And the other thing is that its my all time favorite song to sing to my boys and to kids in general. It has always struck a chord for some reason and always been very special.
My cousin went on to share his story with me, and I truly think He should write a book. :) I wont tell you what He had to say, thats his story.
So as we ended our 2 hour talk I went to bed where Sheldon had already passed out and I woke him up to share everything with him! I told him, I think there may be more to this weekend than just a trip for a funeral!
I went to sleep on cloud nine just waiting for what the weekend might unlock. One of the things the Dad/Pastor kept saying was that even though as believers we talk about things like heaven, when they are presented to us like this we almost cant believe it.
This past weekend had some great times, some sad times and some very specific moments that I know were meant just for me. Maybe the biggest theme this weekend was Jesus Loves Me, so lets just end with that:
Jesus loves me this I know
for the Bible tells me so,
little ones to him belong,
they are weak and He is strong
Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes Jesus loves me, Yes Jesus loves me,
For the bible tells me so!

I am so grateful for the funny way things sometimes happen. :)


"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." Matthew 18:10