Our Story of Hope- Huie Family (Dash)

“Dash” was so special for so many reasons. One of them being, doctors had told my husband and myself we might not be able to conceive. After about 3.5 years of trying to get pregnant, we were starting to get frustrated. But…God! I remember being so incredibly nervous when I went to the hospital to have an induction, but God directed me to Psalm 139 and my fears were stilled. Everything went perfectly, he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I had the privilege of being able to stay home with him and we lived each day to the fullest! God knows our future and makes preparation for what we are about to encounter, and I’m so incredibly thankful. A few weeks before Dash passed away, he kept coming up to me randomly, saying, “it’s ok, momma. Don’t be scared.” At the time I didn’t understand, but I do now.

Dash was so full of life and energy and absolutely loved to dance. The weekend before he passed away, Ballet Memphis was doing “The Wizard of Oz” ballet at the Orpheum. I knew Dash would absolutely love it, but at the time money was a little tight as my husband was in the middle of a huge career transition. I had decided we better be frugal and wise and so I had decided not to go. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart so strongly and impressed on me that “life is too short, and to buy the tickets.” So that’s exactly what I did.  I told my husband that we could just go ahead and make a special day out of it and celebrate Dash’s birthday early (which wasn’t until June 19th, and this was April 8th). My husband cleared his schedule and we had the best day together. It was a perfect spring day, we enjoyed lunch, and took so many pictures. He had an absolute blast. He loved the ballet, but towards the end he kept getting out of his seat to dance in the aisle. When I asked him to sit back down, he said “Mom, I need to dance!” And I’m so glad I let him. That was just who he was, so full of joy, life and laughter. We even let him open some of his birthday gifts early that I had hidden away in the closet. Sunday we went to church and spent the afternoon hunting Easter eggs. He went to bed that night like any other, we said his prayers and tucked him in.

 Monday morning I  noticed he was sleeping in later than usual so I went in to check on him and found him not breathing. He had been with Jesus for a little while already. God is helping me daily with that trauma. His everlasting arms carried me through that horrific moment and are carrying me daily. No one could ever give us a definitive answer as to what exactly happened, even after the autopsy and toxicology testing. I struggled  with this for a long time, because Dash was so unusually healthy. I tried to do everything right, and I felt like I had failed. The enemy tried to tell me the lie that I was a bad mom, that I could have kept this from happening. It just didn’t make any sense.

Then, the Lord brought back to remembrance Psalm 139 that He gave me as I was on my way to the hospital. “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:16b. Dash’s mission on earth was accomplished and God just simply took him home, and out of his loving-kindness allowed us to have an early birthday celebration with our boy.  Looking back over Dash’s life, I see God’s prophetic whispers throughout this journey. Even leading us to name our son “Dash” was prophetic, because his life would be so short, but no less meaningful. He dashed in and out of our lives so quickly, but is still changing lives for eternity. When someone passes away, there are a couple of dates on the headstone—the birth date and the promotion date. But it’s not the dates that are as important as the dash in between. The dash represents their life, how they lived it, and the people they impacted. I believe Dash accomplished more in his short three years of life than some people do in a life time. I’m so thankful God chose me to be the mother of a boy so special, he got promoted early for a specific purpose.

Our Father is perfect in all His ways, and He doesn’t waste any of our pain. He wants to use it if we will bring it to Him. All the brokenness, all the shattered pieces of our heart, He wants to take it all and make something truly beautiful from it, like only He can. Just like my son said to me, I want to say to you, “it’s ok, momma/daddy, don’t be scared.” Trust God, and watch what He will do. “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”  Revelation 21:5