Will was born with a different name. But on the third day, as he was being kept alive on a high frequency ventilator, with virtually no hope in sight, Becky and Brad turned and entrusted him to God for whatever He wanted to do in this. They gave this declaration; \u201cThy will be done\u201d, and asked that his name be changed to \u201cWill\u201d to testify that Will\u2019s life was in the Lord\u2019s everlasting hands, to use how He desired, whether for a moment or longer…for Becky and Brad, that was a defining moment.<\/p>\n
Psalm 139.13-18 was claimed upon his birth. You see, he had a hole in his heart, his lungs were restricted. The doctors said at the end of the first week of his life that each day should have been his last. But God had other plans. And are we eternally grateful! Just ask his three siblings-Luke, Sarah Peyton and Annie-or his younger cousin, Renzo, as to how he has impacted their lives.<\/p>\n
Sovereign God<\/h3>\n
What is the heart of this Psalm? \u201cFor you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother\u2019s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made\u2026my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> (NIV) God is Sovereign, he makes no mistakes, and he sure didn\u2019t with Will.<\/p>\n You will notice that his middle name is Daniel. What comes to mind when you think about Daniel? An escapee by God\u2019s grace from a den of hungry lions, and much more! Will has experienced many trials and his family has suffered with and for him along the way. But God\u2019s grace has been sufficient and continues to be. These have shaped our family and our deeper relationship with Christ.<\/p>\n Will can relate to Paul. I\u2019m sure they will spend a lot of time in eternity sharing stories and praising the Savior. Paul asked for God to remove his \u2018thorn in the flesh\u2019 three times. But what God assured him was that his grace was going to be sufficient.<\/p>\n During the first few hours of Will\u2019s life, after prayers with family and notifying friends by phone to join in with us, I sought time alone with God there in Presbyterian Hospital. I pleaded for him to give me a truth that I could place my trust in and cling to. Maybe you have been there also. Well, he delivered. I was led to Psalm 27.13,14 (NKJV).<\/em><\/strong> \u201cI would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!\u201d <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Have I, has his family, have countless others, seen this goodness? You bet; in spades!! Will has a pure undefiled love for Jesus, he has a servant\u2019s heart, he has a mind like a steel trap\u2014and a sense of humor that will keep you laughing for hours. He is simply an amazing work of God\u2019s art. If he meets you once, your name is embedded in his memory. His prayers are special; childlike, simple but refreshing. You just know that the Father makes a special point of turning his ear toward Will when he prays.<\/p>\n What Will\u2019s life really does is make us consciously aware of the goodness and mercy of God, our heavenly Father. While I\/we stand amazed at his life so far, what it really does is point us to his even more amazing Lord and Savior. Will loves his family, his friends; and if you met him, he would start loving you. That\u2019s just how God knit him, right there in his mother\u2019s womb. And all of us are eternally grateful that this young special lad was placed in our lives. Each of us has been moved closer to Christ because of his life. Thank you, Will; praise you, Lord.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Someone special Will Daniel Ellerman is turning 19 on the 15th. Our fourth of five grandchildren and he was uniquely born with Down Syndrome. Before you say, O, I\u2019m so sorry, DON\u2019T! The only reason you would be led to think or say that is because you have never met him. For those who have, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[61,88,74,75],"class_list":["post-2770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blessing","tag-bcd","tag-encouragement","tag-everlasting-father","tag-scripture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/will-ellerman-young-man-small.jpg\")
<\/a>The goodness and mercy of God<\/h3>\n