Ashley

Our middle daughter, Ashley, was born in December of l986.  Kathy and I were rejoicing at the ease of everything with this particular pregnancy.  Kathy had spent hours reading the psalms before Ash was born and had her heart prepared for Ashley to appear into this world.  I was teaching a group of people in Denton, Texas at the time, and we would meet on Sunday mornings, and Wednesday evenings.   As we were getting ready to leave for this particular Wednesday evening service, Kathy informed me she believed it was about time for Ashley to arrive.   I said , "Then we had better check with the doctor on call."  They told us to come by on our way, and sure enough, they confirmed what she already knew.  I called Doyle, and he said, "I'll take care of Denton!"  Ashley was born around 10:00 PM.  Everything was great, and I accompanied Ashley to the nursery.  After a complete visual examination, the nurse in there said, "There is only one thing wrong with this baby!"  I said, "What's that?!"  She said, "She's perfect!"  Well, by the next evening, the devil had made his move.

Our pediatrician came and informed us that Ashley had, what they had called, jaundice, but it was a spirit that came against our home.  I reluctantly left Kathy that night and went home, and frankly, both of us were a little dismayed.  However, I knew I needed to get out of there and pray!  She also began to read the psalms out loud.  Though we hadn't requested  a private room, the Lord knew what was ahead and mercifully gave her a room alone.  She prayed the psalms until her head would no longer stay up, and finally, she  went to sleep.   Even though things did not look promising, I knew now was not the time to be weak but fight with everything in me against this attack!  The next morning, there was no change.  They informed us that they wanted Kathy to go home and leave Ashley there.  Although not feeling like it, I knew I had to be strong because I knew Kathy's heart was about to break, and we continued to pray.  The Lord began to minister to her about Moses' mother, and how she put him on the water and committed him to the Father.  We knew God was saying, "she is mine, put her in the basket, put her on the water, and trust me."  We left the hospital with no baby, and our hearts were rending.
 
We had already planned to have the people from the Denton Church over that evening.  So we went home and prepared dinner as we had planned.  Kathy and I had invited Doyle and Patti over also, and as we were talking, the lord revealed to Doyle that the spirit was coming from people's tongues.  James 4:6-10 talks about our tongues being set on fire from hell, full of deadly poison, therewith we bless God and curse men, etc.  Needless to say, we began to bless people and kept on praying.  Blood tests on Ashley would go down as we would pray and we would be encouraged that we were overcoming. Then as we would relax, the blood count would go up.  It was like a roller coaster.  God revealed to me in Joshua about the battle of Ai where the Jews' enemies prevailed because of sin in the camp.  Joshua dealt with the sin in the camp, stretched his spear toward Ai, and the Jews prevailed.  That is what was going on with Ashley's blood test.  We would see the thing turn around, our soul would relax, and then the blood count would change.  We saw that we needed to hold fast and not to relax, but continue to believe until the battle was completely won.

We were going into the hospital on that Saturday to see Ashley.  They had her in an incubator with all kinds of things attached to her.  Our emotions were running wild, and we knew that we had to get hold of ourselves.  We went back by the church to let Doyle know what was happening, and he said, "Come on up to the house.  I will follow you in my car."  We were sitting at a stop light, and I will never forget this as long as I live.  Kathy began to laugh, and I asked, "What's going on?"  Kathy had seen a vision of a man standing right beside Ashley.  He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and one leg crossed over the other.  He stood there totally calm and unconcerned.  We knew in our heart that God's angel had charge over Ashley.  I jumped out of our car, ran back to Doyle, and told him what Kathy had seen.  I know the people around probably thought we were nuts, but frankly, who cares when you are overcoming!!!

Things began to turn around in the spirit.   Kathy and I had telephone duty that night on our prayer line at the church.   We began to talk afterwards with Doyle and could tell  we were overcoming the spirit.  Kathy said, "I'm ready to get my baby out of that hospital."  We called to find out  where the pediatrician was to no avail and concluded it was not the right time.   God was not quite done with our hearts.  The next morning I was speaking to the people in Denton, and God had me speak on "Faith".  Needless to say, God was talking to me, and as I was speaking, the Spirit of God rose up and began to set me free of unbelief and strengthen me.   I exclaimed to the people, "I have got to go and get my baby!"  I literally felt like a roaring lion, and I knew it was the power of God in me!  We closed the service and headed back to Plano where we knew Doyle was eating lunch.  He had encouraged and believed with us through this whole thing.  Doyle asked me where we were headed, and I told him.  He said, "Go on!  I will be there when I'm done."  Kathy and I went to the hospital, and it just so happened our pediatrician was off.  Ha!  God had gone before us and had it all arranged.   It just so happened he was a personal friend of Kathy and a little too close to the situation.  I made my firm request to the doctor on call, and actually, he was somewhat overwhelmed.  Of course, we know most people are when it the power of God!  He hesitantly replied,  "I'll have to take another blood test.", and I responded, "No problem!  I'll be waiting right here!"   They took another blood test, and the doctor returned to report, "I guess I will have to let her go".  I said, "I guess you will."   When we left the hospital that day, we knew that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had intervened in our lives.  To the eyes, Ashley was still as yellow as a canary, but we knew in our hearts that spirit had bowed it's knees.  We had agreed to take her back on Tuesday for one more blood test, and the Lord had us share with our friend, the pediatrician, who was a religious Sunday School teacher and student of the Bible, what had taken place.  It was more overcoming of religious spirits, which is what Jesus constantly dealt with in His life.  After that time, Ashley's coloring began to return to normal, and she has been a healthy child ever since.  Oh yes, we have had attacks, but we've overcome the attacks by believing Jesus died, was buried, and rose again, reading the word of God out loud, and oh yes, worshipping God.  You say, "You really believe worship will help, don't you?"  You better know that is how we have overcome lots of things in our lives, in my children's lives, and even in our dogs' lives.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.(Heb.13:8)  His power has not diminished or left this earth.  Romans 1:16 tells us the gospel is the power of God unto salvation unto all that believeth.   So let's believe.!!!