A tribute to:
Baby Elisha Mangohig
7-8 May 2025
The text message read: ‘Guess what … we are going to have another baby!’ My immediate reaction was sheer delight. This was a baby we had prayed for – the third addition to a precious family already blessed with both a son and a daughter, yet feeling incomplete.
‘Baby Mango is due in May – same time as your third grand baby – yeah!’ Again, I was so grateful with the thought of loving two little children who could grow up to be friends.
I knew full well that this much-hoped-for-baby would not be raised in the suburbs of a large Australian city, but rather in rural Vanuatu, where his parents were planning to support a Bible translation project. But with our work roles that led us to serve in Vanuatu at times, the possibilities of also being part of this child’s life filled me with joy and excitement.
As the time for the birth approached, the family returned to Melbourne, Australia, for medical checks and to await the blessed event. All appeared to be going well – until the day that changed everything …
My husband, David, and I were looking after their gorgeous children as a standard ultrasound was performed. Hours after the parents were expected home, they came wearily into the house with tears in their eyes. ‘It’s a little boy … but there is something very wrong.’
Right then and there we prayed together, entrusting their son, and all the unknowns, to the care of the One who loves us. They knew their son was wrapped in love – held by them, and by God, in the confines of his mother’s womb. But the news of discovering severe genetic issues in the development of their boy shook them to the core. Lord, have mercy!
Over coming days and weeks, more was revealed. Their son was given the name ‘Elisha’ meaning: ‘God is my salvation’. He was prayed over countless times. He was cried over. He was loved and cherished by those who were close, and by those far away. United in prayer through all the painful confusion, we waited for Elisha’s delivery and trusted God for his ultimate deliverance.
Labour came a week early and was mercifully straightforward. Upon news of Elisha’s arrival, a 24-hour prayer vigil was activated, with people from all over the world interceding for his life. Elisha fought to live as the medical team did all they could to stabilise him in readiness for life-saving surgeries. Christ, have mercy!
But as the night unfolded, it became clear that life in this world outside the womb was not possible for baby Elisha. Jesus had created him for purposes beyond our understanding, beyond our realm. Jesus was calling him Home and would deliver his precious child into God’s very presence.
His parents wrapped him in a special blanket, made with love for such a time as this. They held him and wept over all the ways they would miss him. They worshipped God – just as I had witnessed them do time and time again – before, and after, the day that forever changed their lives. They whispered their love, sang him lullabies, took treasured photographs, and held him close as they said goodbyes and entrusted him to Jesus – the only One who could ever love him more than they did.
Yes, this little one was wrapped in love, even from before conception. Now, he is forever wrapped in love, and nothing in all of creation can ever change this magnificent reality.
While we lament the loss of Elisha’s presence in this world, I do wonder about the timing of Elisha’s birth and passing. For instance, as I write, one of our State Parliaments is debating an evil abortion bill. This proposed piece of legislation would force all medical practitioners to participate in abortion, or face losing their employment and careers. Throughout Australia, ‘up to birth’ abortion is legal and this ‘treatment’ was offered several times to our friends. Oh how much we all would have been missed if they took what was offered as an ‘easier option’. Thank you dear Paul and Nicola for choosing life and love in your darkest hour.
Elisha lived amongst us for less than a day, but his impact will be felt in ripples across the earth in ways we are only just sensing now. In a world determined to exclude and ‘get rid of’ anything or anyone less than perfect, Elisha arrived, showing everybody who met him and prayed for him that all of life is utterly sacred. He was not to be discarded. Not an inconvenience. Not a waste. He may not have been ‘perfectly formed in utero’, but he was perfectly wrapped in love from before the very beginning.
Elisha Mangohig was, and is, and forever will be a beloved child of God, created in his image. For eternity he will be a son for Paul and Nicola, brother to Joey and Katarina, always an integral part of the fabric of their family. Elisha was never rejected. Never abandoned. Never put to shame. Now in the arms of Christ, Elisha Martin has been rescued from the painful troubles of this life and carried into eternal life. But oh how he will be missed!
There are so many mysteries here. Why did God create Elisha only to take him Home almost immediately after birth? Why now? Why did this happen to such a beautiful family after all our prayers for conception? Why did this happen just when the family were about to embark on a ministry project they had earnestly been training and preparing for – for over a decade.
I have no answers to these questions, and so many more.
But this I do know:
Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed by the sorrow and grief. His compassions never fail, and they are new every morning.[1] Great is God’s faithfulness and I will keep worshipping, along with our sorrowing friends, until we are reunited with our children who have gone before us – forever enjoying each other in glory with him!
Postscript:
Our precious grand baby, Huxley Gray Wake, was born the day after Elisha was birthed into Heaven. May his life also bring glory to God, and may he always know that he is forever wrapped in love. Dear friends, when all is said and done, this is all that truly matters.
[1] From Lamentations 3:20-33