Big Faith- Praying and Believing

As many of you know, Jonah, my son was recently discharged from the NICU. He was born 9 weeks early due to complications in my pregnancy. The NICU journey was extremely taxing on our family, emotionally and physically. But spiritually, it was invigorating for me. I know that sounds crazy, but I really mean it. This whole journey has changed me spiritually. More than anything, it has taught me about prayer and faith. These two things go hand in hand. I've learned that you can't pray for something and not expect results. If you do, you certainly won't get the results you were looking for.
About two weeks ago, Jonah was at a standstill in his progress. He had failed two crib tests, which just means he couldn't maintain his body temperature outside of the incubator and he was failing miserable at bottle feeding. His little suck muscles in his jaw just weren't working yet and he was just too tired to eat from a bottle. The doctors had told me that we wouldn't try another crib test for another week and that it would just take time for him to get better with bottles. I went home absolutely devastated. I felt like I absolutely could not handle having my child away from me any longer and I cried out to the Lord for help. And I heard an answer. It said, "ask me for what you want." Then he led me to several verses : Mark 11:22-24 (it talks about praying and believing and you will receive), then Matthew 13:58 (where it says "And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.". After reading these verses I distinctly felt the nudge to pray for what I wanted. And what I wanted more than anything is for Jonah to meet these specific milestones by Friday April 26. And that is what I prayed for. I prayed specifically that Jonah would meet those milestones by that Friday. Even though it seemed impossible, I prayed and believed. And in my weak moments I cried out, "Jesus, help my unbelief". If you have followed Jonah's story, you know that Jonah was discharged from the NICU on Friday April 26. This means he met those milestones even BEFORE Friday April 26. And I was reminded that Ephesians 3:20 says "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us"
Now THAT is just like the God I serve. To do immeasurably more than I had asked. I promised the Lord that I would shout it from the rooftops how He had answered my prayer. It's taken me some time to post this because I haven't had a lot of sleep with my little premature angel at home, but I wanted to share another story of God's faithfulness to us and how He answered some prayers that took some big faith.
Jonah still has progress to make and I am continuing to pray prayers that are requiring more big faith, but I've seen the power of prayer and I believe that the God who created my child and knew him before he was formed is incredibly capable of handling what seems like the impossible.
I hope if you are reading this and are struggling with something, this will encourage you to ask and believe that God still does miracles. He still answers prayers.