SID: Oy vey. You have a daughter against impossible odds. You couldn’t even have children. Mike Shreve and his wife have a daughter. She’s pregnant, and the doctor says “It looks to me like she’s going to have spina bifida and cretinism. Maybe you should consider something alternative.” Mike and his wife said “No way.” So, what did you do?

MIKE: As we walked out of the doctor’s office, my wife said that the Holy Spirit came upon her and God spoke to her and said we would have a daughter, and that she would be a dancer. She would dance for the Lord. So she held onto that word.

SID: Now that’s the opposite of what the doctor is saying. With spina bifida, she’s not going to be a dancer.

MIKE: Yeah, there’s no way she could’ve been a dancer. In fact, she probably would’ve been in a wheelchair and not been able to walk. So God said “Your daughter will be a dancer.” If that wasn’t enough, when we got to the car, she turned on the radio, and the first song that came on was that beautiful song “I Hope You Dance.” She took that as an absolute confirmation from God. When she went home, she was studying the Word, and just praying over this unborn child.

SID: But what do you do with a doctor’s report like that?

MIKE: Well, it was very disconcerting, but she began to pray Psalm 138:8. That verse says “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.” She laid hands on her stomach every day, and she would do two things. She would say “Child, you concern me, so I believe God is going to make you perfect.” Then she would sing that song over her, “I Hope You Dance.” That was kind of a ritual, not only once, but many times a day. Later on, when Destiny Hope… We named her Destiny Hope as a prophetic way of opposing what had been spoken over her. Instead of being hopeless, you have hope, and you have a destiny.

SID: You did what God says to do. He called things that are not as if they were.

MIKE: Yes, and I believe God gave us those names for her. We prayed very seriously about it.
Then when she was born, the doctor did not know, really, what my wife had been claiming for months. As she came forth from the womb, somewhat anxiously she said “Doctor, how does she look?” His words simply were “She’s perfect.” The very word she claimed over her for months was realized and fulfilled. Sid, we’ve had a battle of intercession over both of our children.

SID: Tell me about your daughter’s dancing.

MIKE: From a natural standpoint, she never would’ve danced had that been true, but then God gave her the miracle.

SID: You were singing that over her, your wife.

MIKE: From the age of 3 onwards, she had this natural proclivity toward dance. In fact, I would buy her these videos of kids singing Christian songs and dancing along with it, and it became her favorite thing to do. For hours, she would stand in front of the TV and mimic their gestures and movements. She could dance so well at an early age that at the age of 5, 6, and 7 she was dancing with Christian dance troops made up mostly of 16, 17, and 18 year olds, and could do just as well if not better than most of them, sometimes. God gave her that gift of dance, and that was a prophetic declaration over her. But you know, there’s a promise. We’re talking about the 65 promises God has given our offspring. Sid, I highlight one in the book that I want to read now
because it ties in so well with my daughter’s miracle.

SID: I’m glad it’s your book. I wouldn’t give you mine.

MIKE: It’s Psalm 139:13-16, where it says…

In other words, the spine was written. All the parts she needed in her body, God wrote it, as well as… God mapped out her destiny, and God was involved in her formation in the womb. I counsel parents, if you’re having a struggle during pregnancy, claim Psalm 139. That’s one of the 65 promises given to believers that your children will be fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderfully made! I believe that’s a promise we should claim boldly. Not just pleading with God, but boldly affirming His word.

SID: You know what I can envision? A mother or father, or grandmother or grandfather, takes this, writes their child or grandchild’s name in each prayer as you instruct. Then in the back, you have a little diary, the family vision statement, and personal confessions, and memorable happenings. Can you picture ten years from today, twenty years from today, giving this to that child?

MIKE: What an awesome gift. I encourage parents to get one for each child they have.

SID: And then, your son, speaking of your daughter dancing when she wasn’t supposed to even be able to walk, your son starts walking, but he’s walking on his toes.

MIKE: That’s right. He was a toe walker until he was about 7 or 8 years old. Constantly. He never walked flat footed. We were very concerned for him. We prayed, but we did not pray our way through to a miracle for all those years. For some reason, we just didn’t get to that level of fighting faith necessary to get a miracle. We took him to a hospital in Atlanta Georgia that’s especially geared toward helping young people of this problem area. The doctor told me what would probably have to be done is to clip the tendons in his heal. He said it’s a very chancy thing. It could grow back better and longer, where it wouldn’t be such a problem for him to walk. Then again, he could be immobilized the rest of his life from it.

SID: What a predicament! What would you do if you had such a predicament? Let’s find out what Mike did. Don’t go away, we’ll be right back after this word.