The Works of God

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
(Psalm 139:14 ESV)

In August when Paul was in the hospital and hooked up to several different kinds of monitors, I had the chance to see his brain fire with activity even though he looked entirely out of it.  This was especially true when his mother and his sister talked to him.

We all realized there is a lot going on in that head of his even when he couldn’t show it or respond to us.

I just finished reading an astonishing article on that subject: A Drug That Wakes the Near Dead in the New York Times Magazine.

There is no reference to God or spirituality in this article, but I found myself worshipping our God who creates and sustains such an elaborate mechanism as the brain.  There is some amazing stuff in this article.

And some hard things, including reminders that parents are frequently the first and last protectors of their children with disabilities, including adult children.  Things change in families that experience disability:

The Coxes have surrounded themselves with a new group of friends — other parents with children like Chris. The families in this informal group share strategies and trade information on emerging research and experimental treatments. They also talk of weariness and isolation. “At the end of the day, you feel like you’re a thousand years old,” Judy says. “And you have no idea how you’re going to get up and do it all over again tomorrow.”

Actually, I do have an idea, and I hope you do as well:

I have forgotten what happiness is;
so I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the LORD.”
Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
(Lamentations 3:17-24 ESV)