Next
Next
What happens when the joy of bringing home a healthy newborn suddenly turns into a fight for his life?
Author Dana House joins Steve Marston to share the remarkable true story behind her new children’s book, I Missed You While You Were Sleeping.
Dana’s son was sent home after birth seemingly healthy. But she soon knew something wasn’t right. At just 21 days old, doctors discovered that his heart was enlarged and that he was facing life-threatening heart conditions. What followed was an extraordinary journey involving multiple heart surgeries, additional complications and a hospital stay lasting 161 days.
Through it all, Dana held tightly to something she believed God had impressed upon her heart: her son was a gift, and she could not allow fear and stress to steal the precious moments she had with him.
Dana shares the powerful origin of the phrase “I missed you while you were sleeping,” born during the long periods when her baby was sedated after surgery. She was standing right beside him, but she desperately missed seeing his eyes open, his personality emerge and eventually his smile return.
She also shares one of the most important lessons she learned during their months in the hospital: they hadn’t missed the experiences other families were having—they had simply lived their story differently.
It’s a conversation about a mother’s intuition, a terrifying medical diagnosis, trusting God when the outcome is uncertain, finding joy in the middle of suffering and recognizing every day of life as a gift.
Plus, Dana gives Steve an update on her son today—and the active, happy boy he has become.
I Missed You While You Were Sleeping is written as a children’s book, but its message of faith, hope, perseverance and treasuring the people God has given us is for adults, too.