It was a very special day for us when we were invited to go with some friends to visit Brother Julius Stadsklev.
Often had we heard Brother Branham tell the story of the Stadsklev baby, who had died. They had a plane ready to take Brother Branham to Germany to pray and raise the dead baby up; but when Brother Branham got the Word from the Lord to not go, Brother and Sister Stadsklev buried their baby girl. Afterwards, that broken-hearted mother packed away all her little baby girl’s belongings into a chest, which would remain closed for a very long time.
We had never met the Stadsklevs before, and were very much looking forward to meeting them.
When we arrived, the garage door was open, and as we walked up, Brother Stadsklev welcomed us in. The whole family was in there: Bro. Julius; his wife, Gloria; and their children, David and Deborah.
This just happened to be the day that Sister Stadsklev, that little, broken-hearted mother, had finally worked up the courage to open the chest in which she had placed all of her little baby girl’s possessions.
She told us that she just could not bring herself to opening it up before that morning, thirteen years later, and she was opening it right there in their garage, where that chest had been stored. Needless to say, this was a very precious moment for that entire family. They did not treat us like we were intruding upon their special time; indeed, they made us a part of it with them.
Sister Stadsklev was fondly caressing, and embracing each item, telling us about every little article of clothing, the toys, the pictures; everything in that chest was more precious to her than gold. There was a very soft, tender, and special sweetness about her that morning.
She looked at our baby girl, who was almost a year old, and promptly gave us her baby’s pretty, little, white sweater.
We put it on our daughter right away. She wore it often, and it got passed down to our second daughter, who is wearing it in this picture.
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