Last week, Lauren and Michael McAfee asked for prayers for their little daughter Zion, whom they recently adopted from China, as she underwent surgery to have a tumor removed from her liver. The surgery, Lauren wrote, “could not have gone better,” and now Zion is discovering Christmas for the very first time.
Michael is an author and director of community initiatives for the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., and his wife, Lauren, also an author, works in the corporate offices of the Christian-owned Hobby Lobby. So when they posted about Zion’s surgery on social media, they received hundreds of responses and are covered now by the prayers of thousands of people.
In fact, Michael was scheduled to give a tour of the museum to an out-of-state visitor last week, but, because of Zion’s surgery, was unable to be there. When he told the stranger he had to find a replacement to guide the tour, the guest replied with one question: “Is Zion your daughter?”
Michael told the visitor he and Lauren just adopted Zion from China less than two months ago. In response, the coming guest wrote back, “Wow! I didn’t realize she was your daughter. Many have been praying for her.”
“That is a remarkable testimony to God and his work to rally thousands upon thousands of prayer warriors to intercede on her behalf,” Michael wrote in a Facebook post about the email exchange. “I thank God for it, and I thank YOU for helping to share our story. In the midst of this storm, I’m overwhelmed by the love, support, and encouragement from you.”
Covered in prayer — and I’m sure eager for a distraction or two — the McAfees set up their Christmas trees over the weekend, and there’s no doubt in the videos Lauren posted that they were an instant hit with little Zion.
“We set up the Christmas trees last night after she went to sleep, then watched her discover them this morning when she woke up,” she wrote. “It was so sweet.”
“In the last video, she went to each of the trees to ‘shake a limb,’” Lauren continued, “as if she were shaking their hands introducing herself.”
As for the prayers, Lauren wrote in a separate post that, over the last week, she and Michael have learned people “all over the world” have been praying for their daughter. They have heard from people “in Argentina, Israel, England, Italy, France, Russia, Australia, Brazil, India, New Zeland, Norway, China” and all across the United States.
Please continue to pray for Zion and the McAfee family as they wait to learn the results from last week’s surgery.