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Pastor Ron Ward (Senior Pastor in Chicago UBF)

Dear Chicago UBF Member:

Our God is living and he hears and answers our prayers, as we have experienced so many times this year. Today I ask you to pray for baby Gabriel Roberts. As you probably know, he was born several weeks ago (June 9) to Andrew and Rita. He is God's answer to prayer and a very precious child to us all. We shared the great joy of Andrew and Rita at his birth.

However, doctors discovered that he has an AV Canal defect that requires heart surgery. This surgery has a high success rate. But he cannot have this surgery until he weighs 11 pounds. He is currently at 9 pounds. He has had a hard time feeding by mouth, so he has spent many days in July and August in the hospital and has recently been fed through a tube. Now the tube is leaking and he is not getting the full amount of nutrition he needs. He has also been running a high fever, which needs to be brought under control before he can have surgery.

You can understand how difficult this time is for his parents. With their permission, and at their request, I ask your prayers for Gabriel Roberts to eat well and gain enough weight and have a successful surgery which heals his heart condition completely. And would you please pray for Andrew and Rita to have the comfort and encouragement that only Jesus can give and to go through this trial by faith, and for their house church to be firmly rooted and grounded in the living God through the grace of our Lord Jesus.

Your prayers are precious in the sight of God. May his grace be with you.

In Christ, P. Ron