Saturday, December 26, 2015

Prayer for Anna Erickson

Martha Erickson at her daughter's hospital bedside
Lord, our hearts break as we think of Anna Erickson today. Life can change in a moment. Lord, you saw little Anna fall and hit her head in Nairobi on Christmas Day. You watched her normally healthy body’s reaction to the head trauma. You were with her in that pain. Now beautiful, vibrant, joyful Anna fights for her life. Thank you that the doctors were able to remove the blood clot. Now we pray for a miracle, Lord. We plead with you to restore activity to her brain stem. We ask for total healing. We ask for protection and support for her entire family as they keep vigil. Thank you for those rallying around the Ericksons in prayer and encouragement around the world. We enter that prayer circle, joining our hearts in faith and trust, asking you to restore Anna to her family. And we treasure our loved ones, holding them close, realizing we can never take them for granted. In Jesus’ trustworthy name we pray, amen.

Healthy Anna




5 comments:

  1. The apostle Paul, when facing imminent death, wrote this: "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen." He considered the ultimate rescue to be death--swift travel to the heavenly kingdom. While we asked God to restore Anna to us now, He sometimes chooses to give the ultimate and perfect rescue instead--His presence in heaven. Anna has been declared brain dead and her family has said good-bye. Please keep praying for her precious siblings, wonderful parents, the extended family, and the countless others who love her and her family.

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  2. From Anna's father, Matt: "We are very sad to say that our sweet girl Anna passed away earlier tonight after suffering a head trauma from a fall 48 hours earlier. Our family loves her so much and will miss her tremendously. She was the life of every party and everyone who knew her loved her. We are so happy to have had 8 years with her.
    We are astounded at the outpouring of love and support from so many people from around the world. Your kind words and prayers mean more than we can say right here. We had incredible support from our friends here in Kenya to help us through this.
    We are planning to have a memorial service here in Nairobi early this week. We are also planning to have a funeral in Minneapolis sometime next week after the 3rd. More details to follow on these.
    Please keep praying for our family in this incredibly difficult time. We are praying that God would give us faith to trust that he is good even through these circumstances."

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  3. Another update from Anna's father and funeral/visitation information: We were overwhelmed by the hundreds of people who were able to be at Anna's memorial service yesterday here in Nairobi. The community here has been incredible walking down this difficult road with us.

    We are also astounded by the thousands who have rallied on social media around Anna and our family. We have no words to express how humbled and grateful we are to everyone who has prayed for us, sent us messages of support and financial gifts. I wish we could thank you in person.

    We are having a visitation time for Anna on Sunday from 1-4 at Bradshaw Funeral Home at 3131 Minnehaha Ave in Minneapolis.

    Anna's funeral will be at 11 am on Monday, January 4th at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis.

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  4. http://m.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/116045/?fullname=anna-jewell-erickson

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  5. Here is a lovely video memorializing Anna: https://www.facebook.com/matterickson/videos/10154075912247069/?theater.

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