some words from matt and sarah

Here is what Matt and Sarah wrote to everyone about Anna Pearl. I hope you appreciate their perspective. Thank you for your prayers - keep lifting them up! You all are a blessing!

Christine
--------------------

Dear Friends,
Anna Pearl is with Jesus now. We are sad and weary but thankful that the struggle is over. We miss her and love her very much.
"This I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail - they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, "the Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for HIm". The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks Him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.... For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is HIs unfailing love. For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men." Lamentations 3:21ff
We have read these verses every day these past 2 weeks. We have learned what it means to wait quietly - knowing that our hope could not be in numbers on a monitor, urine in a tube, even the opinions of incredibly skilled doctors - our true hope can only be in Jesus. We trusted that whatever He chose to do would be the most loving thing - for Anna Pearl and for us. In the end we believe Jesus knew that the road ahead would have been too hard. We experienced tremendous miracles in these past 2 weeks and now the greatest of all is that Anna Pearl is whole.
We wish there were stronger words for 'thank you'. We cannot express our deep gratitude for the cardiologists and the nurses in Intensiv2 at the Freiburg Hospital. We would list names but are so afraid of forgetting someone. Everyone was so kind to us and so gentle with Anna Pearl. We saw true compassion and care and we know that it was hard for them as well.
We are also unable to express to everyone how much your prayers and pleadings and fastings and emails and comments and food and hugs and silences have meant to us. Anna Pearl was born into such a loving community and lived surrounded by luxurious amounts of love from everyone. We are so grateful.
we know the only way we have survived these past two weeks is the strong arms of Jesus under us - and the gentle surrounding of prayer.
Matt has sung all week... Blessed be the name of the Lord - He gives and takes away, He gives and takes away.
We are so glad He gave.
Please keep praying for us.
Matt and Sarah