By Vini Tejas Pandya
My daughter, Shalom, the fulfillment of God’s promise to me, was born on September 8th, 2017. We all waited expectantly for this moment when we would take our little princess home and our loving family of four would turn to five. Instead, we had to wait at the hospital for exactly 115 days before we could finally reunite as a family.
When Shalom opened her beautiful mouth with a loud cry, we noticed the roof of her mouth had an unfamiliar opening. Her chin looked small, her little jaw was siting further back than normal, and no one knew her tongue was a little tiny too. She was diagnosed with Pierre Robin Sequence and had a cleft palate.
Shalom came into the world struggling to breathe. Considering the complications, she was transported to one of the largest children’s hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. They handed her over to the best team of doctors and various specialists who also discovered Shalom was born with two holes in her heart which eventually filled on their own.
After almost two months at the hospital, one fine Friday, we had a decision-making meeting. We were advised by the doctors and surgeons about a surgical intervention for Shalom. The procedure was called the jaw distractors and involved enlarging her jaw in the hope that it would help with her breathing.
We were deeply troubled and had no peace about the surgery. We called out to God to save our daughter and pleaded to bypass the jaw surgery as the surgery sounded quite invasive and involved breaking her jaw. I reminded God of the Scripture in John 19:36 where none of Jesus’ bones were broken and hence to protect Sholom’s jawbone too.
The next Monday, Shalom developed a viral flu (a blessing in disguise). This common cold infection prohibited the surgeon from touching Shalom for any surgery till she was four weeks’ virus free. It was such a relief as it gave us time to pray and seek God’s face for His healing touch upon Shalom. We claimed the Scripture where the touch of Jesus’ hand would heal every one (Luke 4:40).
Miraculously, God Himself gave growth to Shalom’s chin and after two months of laying her alternatively either on her right or left side, she could easily lie on her back without dropping her oxygen level. Her tongue grew a little and didn’t fall back anymore.
The surgeon came back saying that she didn’t need the jaw distractors as her breathing had improved on its own. We rejoiced in our hearts to see the touch of the Master. Jesus, the Miracle-Worker, was constantly interceding and mediating on behalf of Shalom.
God was not just looking after Shalom, but He supernaturally provided an army of prayer warriors from various groups and churches to pray for Shalom’s healing. Various friends and pastors visited us at the hospital with words of hope and encouragement, making our journey easier. Twenty-four-hour prayer chains were held for Shalom and even different prayer lines continually made intercession for Shalom’s healing.
Our home church strongly stood by and we knew that God was carrying us in His very own hands. He spoke to us through His Word and guided us continually.
Almost four months at the hospital seemed like forever but I felt peace in my heart when I surrendered Shalom to the Lord and went about praying for other NICU mothers at the hospital. That made my journey a lot easier as I shifted my focus from my own problems, and it gave me a mission to share the love of God with the broken hearted.
As for Shalom, her battle was not over yet. The feeding was still an issue. She could not go home till she ate safely. Shalom was not fed orally for over six months of her life because of the possibility of aspiration. After a long wait, they put in a gastrostomy tube.
Then the day came when it seemed like our chains were broken. On December 31st, a cold, snowy day, Shalom was discharged from the hospital. God’s timing was strategic and on the New Year’s morning, Shalom opened her eyes in her own home in the presence of her most loving family. God proved His faithfulness to us.
After two months of being home with excessive trials and lot of prayers, Shalom started eating and drinking by mouth and never developed any of the chest or ear infections that were possible. The gastrostomy tube was taken out and she has been doing everything so beautifully. God amazed us with His goodness.
Our God is a God of miracles. We believe that because Jesus lives, so shall Shalom live an amazing and abundant life. In May 2020, they successfully operated on Shalom for her cleft palate repair.
We believe the God who created the heavens and the earth by His great and mighty power and infinite wisdom is the same God who has given such profound wisdom and knowledge to the most amazing surgeon, Dr. Eric Hubli, to do such artistic work with so much skill and expertise. God not only looked after us but also provided us with the best hands to perform Shalom’s surgery. We thank and appreciate Dr Hubli very much and give all glory to our great God.
Matthew 14:35, 36: “(They) brought unto him all that were diseased; and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.”
VINI TEJAS PANDYA
Vini has also written a lovely book of poems called, I TOUCHED THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT. You can contact her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.