Katie and Trevor are so encouraged by your continued prayers and support. Considering that they are unable to pray with most of you in person, they would love for you to post your prayers, favorite Scriptures and thoughts as comments on this page.
“You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessings granted us through the prayers of many.”
2 Corinthians 1:11
I was in classes with Trevor at Berry and became aware of your story through facebook. I am so touched by your courage and faith, especially since having a little girl of my own. I can’t imagine the many different emotions you must go through everyday. I am praying for you all… for your continued strength and faith, for the health and happiness of Karis and your whole little family, and for the continued joy I know your sweet girl brings to your life.
Dear ones,
We are friends of Sandra and Steve and you!
Please know we have prayed for baby Karis every day since we learned about her.
I was just looking at the videos, and your sorrow at the hard times, became mine too. I love the video with the “Your Hands” song in the background….I know you are in His hands, and I continue to pray for healing.
She is on the prayer list at our church in Loganville, and we pray for her as a church family every Wednesday night.
Our love and our prayers are always with you!
Janice Whaitley-Chapman
Trevor and Katie,
We received a prayer request for your precious little Karis; we are honored and humbled to stand in the gap for her.
We have signed up for the updates.
May God fill you each day with Isaiah 40:31 strength as we place all of our faith and trust in Him.
Bowing Humbly Before His Throne
Sherry and Tommy Harrison
http://www.gospelines.com
sherry@gospelines.com
Heavenly Father, You Alone are Wise and Sovereign. You know all things down to the fabric of our being because You created us and we are Your children. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” (Jer 1:5)
You are faithful Lord God; we lift Karis, Katie and Trevor up in prayer for complete wellness and healing; comfort and peace as Only You can provide.
Thank you God for the presence of Your Holy Spirit as we pray for little Karis in Christ Jesus’ Holy Name, Amen and Amen.
I just read of ya’lls story from Katy and wanted to let ya’ll know we are praying for Karis and your whole family. As a new mother myself I could not imagine what you guys are going through.
Lord, you love our child as You love all children,
Bring healing to our child who is not well.
Stay by his side and comfort him through this trying time.
Keep us ever mindful of Your loving presence
Bless us with Your powerful healing and comfort us also.
Thank You for hearing our prayer!
We will be praying and thinking about ya’ll.
Love,
Amber and Dan
Happy 10 months little bug! I always love my days when I get to treat Karis. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I have work to do and can’t just hold this precious baby girl! Katie, the website is amazing! I love my bracelet and I’m passing out my prayer cards! As you well know you, Trevor and Karis are always in my thoughts and prayers!
Love,
Candice
Katie and Trevor,
I absolutely love the website! Katie, the “Everyday” video is fabulous-I have already watched it twice 🙂 I am so proud of how Karis did this week!! Looking forward to more time with all of you. Please know that you are in my prayers “everyday”!!
Much Love,
Katy
Praying for you daily.
Dear Trevor, Katie, Steve and Sandra,
We were so touched to receive this web site to follow the progress of Karis. You are in our thoughts and prayers as you travel to UNC. We pray for the tender touch of those over Karis, for a comfortable surface for her to lay on and for the room conditions to be soothing as she tries to sleep. We pray for you, Trevor and Katie as you tenderly hold Karis, touch your precious child and feel God’s power radiate through out your being.
Remember the Sweet Sleep Pillowcase? I made it and we have been praying for Karis for several months. Look at her while she is asleep and keep the verse in mind.
‘When thou liest down, thou shall not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.” Psalms 3:24
In His name we pray, Mary Grace and Alan (former Mountain Park Members)
Lord,
Please continue to give Katie and Trevor the strength they need to make each day a joyful day. Guide them through their marriage. Let them always love each other and be loving toward each other, even on the days that are most trying. Guide them through their parenthood as they seek to do Your will with their daughter, Karis. Help them to remember on good days and bad that they have influenced and continue to influence hundreds of people through their faith, family, and love for Karis.
Amen.
Oh Father in Heaven, we are deeply grateful for the wonderful day you blessed the Almys with, which through the Almys has blessed US. Please continue to bless and watch over and strengthen Karis every day. Please keep us ever prayerful and ever hopeful and ever faithful in thy goodness and grace and unfailing love. May there be more smiles and more progress tomorrow and every tomorrow after that! We love thee. We praise thy name forever. Amen.
Katie and Trevor. My heart is broken for you in what you are going through. Our daughter faced death at 5 months, and had to have open heart surgery, weighing only 9 pounds. I know what it feels like to hear a Doctor say words similar to what you have had to hear. I also know the peace that comes when God says everything is going to be OK. I am praying that God sends that peace to you. It is a “peace that passes understanding”… You can’t understand it unless you have experienced it! Keep praying, don’t give up. I am continuing in my prayers for Karis. I will keep the hope, I will ask for more faith, I will not give up! I will pray and pray and pray and pray with tenacity, that Satan who likes to threaten us with death, will have no power over this precious child. I will pray that we all can resist and resist him until he flees! I am claiming James 4:7 and Ephesians 5:10. Love in Christ. Annette Strietelmeier (Troy’s Mom)
Please know you are all on my heart each day. I continue to plead with the Lord for her healing…He can do it, He is mighty, but also I pray for His perfect will and grace for al lto receive and accept it. He loves you so much…even when we do not understand, we must hold fast to Him!
We are friends of your mom and dad.
Katie, the following prayer is in my daily devotional and I thought I would share it with you. I say it each night before going to sleep:
“Lord, I place in your hands the unfinished business of the day, the hopes I had at its beginning and the regrets I have now at its end. Thank you for the times I felt your presence in the satisfaction of accomplishment and the enjoyment of your good creation, especially the people you have placed in my life.”
By saying this prayer, I am reminded that God calls us to let go of our greatest fears, troubles and sadness so that we may rejoice in what is good and pure and focus on the hope that tomorrow brings. I hope it helps bring you peace.
OOPS! I am technologically inept. Here are the words to the 6th verse.
“Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all who love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.”
You are surrounded by and lifted up by the prayers of many daily. God IS with you.
Love,
Corinne
What a precious hymn Corinne. Thank you for that sweet reminder! I have her on my chest now for “tummy time” but the little stinker is using it more like a pillow than a springboard! Guess that just means we’ll have to work extra hard on Monday =)
Dear Katie and Trevor,
The 6th verse of one of my favorite hymns keeps coming to me as I pray for you and Karis. The hymn is written by St. Patrick and the first line is “I bind unto myself this day” and the 6th verse has a different tune (Dierdre from my childhood hymnal). It is a verse I sing often in the car and the shower.
Since I’ve read about your family, I haven’t stopped thinking of you. Please know that your family is in my heart and prayers, I will continue to pray for Karis.
Love,
Jennifer Taylor
The words of this song were an answer to my prayers today and I wanted to share them here with you.
“Tempted and tried, we’re oft made to wonder
Why it should be thus all the day long,
While there are others living about us,
Never molested, though in the wrong.
Refrain
Farther along we’ll know all about it,
Farther along we’ll understand why;
Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine,
We’ll understand it all by and by.
Faithful til death, said our loving Master
A few more days to labor and wait,
Toils of the road will then seem as nothing
As we sweep through the beautiful gate.
Refrain
When we see Jesus, coming in glory,
When He comes from His home in the sky,
Then we shall meet Him in that bright mansion,
We’ll understand it all by and by. “
KRISTA… did you make the “Something Spectacular” blog???? You’re amazing.
Dear Almys, the following prayer is one of my favorites. I have offered the following words to God MANY times and He has never failed to grant me the strength I needed.
The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
Trevor, Katie, and Karis,
What a time this is for you guys. I am so thankful that both of you know the Lord and that He can be your encouragement. Father, I thank you that you have promised to never leave us or forsake us. I thank you that you will not give us more than we can handle because your grace is abundant and you are the provider of strength. I pray Lord for Trevor that you would ease His spirit that His classes would all be ordained by you that they no longer become just book work but sweet time understanding and scraping at the depths of who you are. I pray then Lord that through His studies and professors that you have sovereignly placed in his life that he would then be able to come home and wash Katie in your Word and in what you are doing. Father, I pray your protection over there marriage. I pray that this time would draw them deeper into relationship with you and with each other. I pray for your super natural grace to abound that they would have eyes to see each other’s true needs. That when things are hard that you would help them see the heart of what is going on and love and respect each other in that moment. I pray that they would have sweet fellowship in the honest vulnerability that you desire between husband and wife. Protect them Lord. Keep them. Give them friends and fellowship.
Lord, I pray too for Karis. I thank you that you are the author of life, that you knit her together in her mother’s womb, that you know every hair on her head, every thought in her mind. I thank you that you feel the hurt that she and her parents feel. I thank you that when you walked on this earth you grieved when John the Baptist was killed, that you wept when Lazarus died, you had compassion on a people who did not deserve your compassion…thank you. We ask you again that you would heal Karis on this earth. May she live to tell of your wonders. Use her to bring glory to yourself Lord. We ask you and thank you that you are good, that you hear us and that you are faithful to answer.
Thank you Lord. Watch over them now, Lord. Bless them and keep them and make your face to shine upon them and be gracious to them….
We love you guys. Pray for you all very regularly!
HIS,
Jennifer Albertson
Sweet Jennifer,
What a precious prayer. Thank you so much for sharing it with me. I aggreed with you in prayer as I read it just now =) Thank you for your faithfulness to pray.
With hope,
Katie
Katie:
“I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.” Psalm 6:6-9
Hold tight to God and he will bring you peace and steadiness.
The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us, making us to will and to do His good pleasure. May you be strengthened in the inner man where it really counts.
Dear Trevor and Katie, Mom (Sandra) has kept us updated on Karis. You & Karis are on my mind and in my heart and prayers. Sandra and I met many years ago at FBC, S’ville when the children were coming along. Then I was her OB-GYN nurse for many years with the births of Trevor and his siblings. Babies have always had such a special part of my life and heart. Little Karis is so precious. I will continue to pray that God will give you all the MIRACLE that HE can so provide-complete healing for Karis. Remember Psalm 61:2. Love and prayers, Glenda Batchelor