Saturday, December 30, 2017

God Never Says “Oops!”



Good Afternoon my OI family and friends. I hope you’re having a great weekend. I have been busy with family and my church family. I love my church family. Not only do we love the support of others when things get rough and they come alongside us in prayer, love, and support. That could come just from a word they speak to us in conversation, a verse they give us from the Word of God. This could also come with words of wisdom from them, maybe they have gone through something similar that you are now facing. Sometimes it’s words like “Try not to worry or let your imagination run wild until you get the results. Then you can proceed forward.” There are so many ways that we can come around one another. Do it for your friends and family even if you don’t think you have something you think they want to hear, you may be surprised. 

With this book, the entry is as follows. I will highlight the parts that pertain to my posting here. 

God Never Says “Oops!”

“You alone created my inner being. You knitted me together inside my mother.” —Psalm 139:13

What was God doing the day He knit Garrett’s lip in his mother's womb? Was He so busy solving other problems that he missed a few stitches? How easy for God to correct such a simple mistake. Perhaps God was so preoccupied putting extra stitches in Garrett’s beautiful heart that He forgot about his lip.

My grandson was born with a cleft lip and palate. Everyone was surprised. The ultrasound did not show it; the doctors and nurses even missed it at Garrett’s delivery. His mother was the first to notice as she attempted to nurse her son. Her hungry boy could not suck. As she gazed at her precious child, she was assured that God knit him perfectly in her womb. God did not say, “Oops! I missed a stitch.”

Nor was God surprised when Gabrielle was born with five broken bones. Brittle Bone Disease was the diagnosis. Confidently, her mother proclaimed, “Gabrielle is God’s good and perfect gift. God was in control on day one. I know God is in control of this. “God didn’t say “Oops!” when Gabrielle was born.

“Oops” isn’t in God’s vocabulary. He knows who, what, where, when and how. He also knows why. He knows that imperfect lips and brittle bones can lead us into His arms and sometimes, we need a good hug.

There were lots of hugs the day of the car accident. Careening into the creek, the car was totaled. Garrett’s family was shaken but unhurt. Big brother, Connor, had to be taken to the emergency room just to make sure he was all right. What a thrill for a two-year-old! His dream of riding in an ambulance (which he thought was a school bus) came true. When we arrived at the emergency room, my husband and I were relieved to see our daughter and her family intact. Connor excitedly jumped into his grandpa’s arms, gave him a big hug, and said, “It was fun, Grandpa!” Holding my daughter tightly, I whispered back, “God didn’t say ‘Oops.’ He knew all about it.”

When we go through the accidents of life, we need to jump into our Heavenly Father’s arms. And we hope when it is all over, we look back and say, “It was fun, God!” We will go for some rides in this life. We might as well go through them hugging Jesus. He isn’t too busy. He isn’t surprised, and He’s still in control.

Forgive me, Lord, for all of the times I may think You are saying, “Oops!” Cleanse my heart of doubt that You are in power. You created me, and You created this day. You know how it will end. There are no accidents in Your perfect plan.  Thank You that You are knitting everything together according to Your will and for my good. Hold me and carry me through my days.

Ok, now time for me to explain why I highlighted the parts I did. Let me preface this by saying this was a gift given by my church family. I saw the title and thought how great is this. A book for Moms. It said bathtime reflections for drained Moms. Yes, did you catch the pun there between the bathtime and the “drained” Moms? Enough of the puns now. I was busy with family a few days after Christmas and this book sitting there under our tree kept me looking at it. I need to read that book. I was able to finally take a few minutes to look at it and as I was going through the titles of the entries I stopped on this one, God Never Says “Oops!” Why you may ask. Well, as many or few of you in the OI family may have heard some of us express the words, I did a snap, crackle, oops! Yes, kind of like the cereal Snap, Crackle, Pop! We tend to say that when we break something or feel that we may have. I know our son and I have said it ourselves.

Now to continue. The part where the entry speaks about Gabrielle being born with five broken bones and the diagnosis being brittle bones disease. That connected to me right away as our Son and I both have brittle bone disease, better known as Osteogenesis Imperfecta. While the challenges that come with this disease can pull at our attitude. We can either let it impact our attitude and pull us down or we can choose not to let it pull our attitude down and soar with confidence and not let our minds run wild. I have had three back surgical procedures and some other procedures besides and the doctors seem to agree on the same thing when speaking with me. The words, that were spoken were after two of the surgical procedures. The doctors said they saw something concerning and they were also concerned with the number of visits to their office I was making because of the bone pain, the injuries that were occurring with no trauma involved. Also, the surgical staff spoke and showed me things on the special surgical X-ray machines they were using. I can tell you it’s really scary when you see your own bones and they are about transparent!! Then to hear they are degenerating (crumbling inside). This isn’t something good to hear. The words that came at me next stopped me in my tracks as if I could move to begin with I was just coming out of a surgical procedure and hear “we feel that you may have a more severe form of Osteogenesis than we thought or worse bone cancer. Yes, that word cancer was spoken. This is something hard to digest. I kept things quiet because nothing had been done yet to say one way or the other yet. Then I went for more testing and a letter came just before Christmas saying that things weren’t as favorable as hoped. They were waiting for more results to return to make decisions of action. Then another message comes in my email telling me to check my messages from my doctor. I did that and learned that the bone turnover is high. This usually ends with having to get infusions to reduce the turnover. The rest of the results should return soon. I see the doctor in January.

All this is upsetting, but I still haven’t given up. Yes, I have cried several times about this. It’s hard to take in.It is hard to move forward some days when it hangs over you. Yet, I decided not to let it break my spirit and keep up the unbreakable spirit. I also took a look again at the name of the bone disease Osteogenesis Imperfecta - do you see something I see? Ok, let me show you. Imperfecta means something is wrong right? God never said ‘Oops!’ When He designed our son and I and all of us with Osteogenesis Imperfecta because He made us we can say “I’m perfecta” Did you catch that? We are perfect in God’s eyes!

Thanks for hanging out with me and reading through this long post. Have a great New Year’s everyone!! When I have to final update on the results I will be sure to post them here. Know that you can write me anytime here and I will respond. If you need prayer please leave me a message and I will pray alongside you.



Thanks for Stopping by,
Grace & Peace,
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