Guest Author, Erma Ullrey: How a Children's Picture Book Came to Life

 

Thank you, Erma, for sharing this with us.

 

Like you, we watched in shock as one hurricane and then another ravaged Florida only to make its way through Tennessee and North Carolina. Pictures captured bits of the devastation these storms inflicted. But people with swollen, red eyes, brave enough to choke out the horror they endured, broke our hearts and prompted us to give.

Whoever said “you don’t know what it’s like until it happens to you” expressed pain and genius in eleven words.

Maybe I sound like a broken record, but I can’t imagine how people get through this life without the Lord! And while it’s true He sends rain on the “just and unjust alike” (Matt.5:45), I’d rather walk through the storm with my hand in His.

 

… Shockwaves hit when the doctor pronounced my husband Bert’s stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Unlike Kubler-Ross’s neat and tidy phases of grief, a disorganized rush of emotions followed. Denial, certainly. Then, the inevitable blur of faith, confusion, strength, weakness, anger, and fear. Like a thousand pinpricks, a crack in my armor began to reveal itself.

“How could a loving God…?” The question that rears its ugly head and torments a believer. In my quiet moments, I behaved more like Jacob. I didn’t have a physical wrestling match with the Lord, but an intense spiritual battle raged.

The doctors had told us the statistical prognosis regarding Bert’s disease spelled “hopeless.” But we determined to weigh those percentages against faith. Yet my wrestling continued.

Thankfully, the Lord invites us in Hebrews to come and reason with Him .

I came, but I was beyond reason. Not that He needed my reminders, but I showed Him all the places in His word where He healed the sick. I cried out, asking Him to show me He was still a miracle-working God. That He cared about what was happening to Bert. That every promise in His word remained true. That He still is our faithful God.

Yet, the more I prayed, the louder the storm grew.

I got in the car to go to lunch with a group of Bible study friends. As I pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, I again asked God to let me know He was Immanuel-with us.

Beyond frustrated with this unanswered prayer, I walked up to the restaurant, exhaled, and gasped as vapors from my mouth hung in the air. That's when it hit me.

God had answered my prayer through this simple act. Genesis 2:7 says, "Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life..."

Every breath was, is, and always will be proof of God's existence and love.

My wrestling ended there and then. The Lord had given me the proof I’d asked for.

That afternoon, in an effort to capture what God showed me, I penned the first words to A Snowflake's Adventure.

https://www.amazon.com/Snowflakes-Adventure-eMarie/dp/B09HFXX3NC/

...seven years later, my husband is living with cancer and doing well.

A Snowflake's Adventure is the story of God's personal love. To my husband. To me. To every child He's ever created. We are His one-of-a-kind design. Unique. Purposeful. Each and every one of us.

(To the glory of God, we donated this #1 Amazon children’s book through OCC/Samaritan’s Purse to 500+ children around the world on Christmas Day 2021!)

 

https://www.amazon.com/Snowflakes-Adventure-eMarie/dp/B09HFXX3NC/

 

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