Scars

An excerpt from last week's Bible study:

"Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me." (Isaiah 49: 15-16, ESV)

"God is aware of His people and their situation. God's love for Jerusalem and His people goes beyond the love of a mother for her nursing baby. A nursing mother is aware of her totally dependent baby at her breast and feels compassion on the child. But God says, "Though she may forget, I will not forget you!" (vs. 15). God will never abandon His children! He will not forget them and their needs.

"As though He is holding up His hand for them to see, He says, "See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me" (vs. 16). The words "engraved" and "ever" carry the idea of permanence, for nothing can separate God's people and their city Jerusalem from His mind and heart. (Romans 8:35-39)." (Bible Study Fellowship International, Lesson 23, Series VI)

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

'For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35-39, ESV)

I've never thought about Christ's scars very much. I sing the lyrics "my name is graven on his hands, I know that while in Heaven he stands **(side note, although this rhymes it's incorrect: he's not standing, he's sitting... see Isaiah 6:1)** no tongue can bid me thence depart," and love that reminder. And I have certainly reflected on Christ's obedient and righteous life, fulfilling all Scripture, his death, resurrection, and ascension. Praise God for Christ's righteousness! And that his righteousness is imputed to me while my sin is imputed to him for God's glory and my salvation!

But I've never thought about the scars.

Our names are engraved on God's hands. Not written, not tattooed; engraved. Engraving is permanent. It is impossible for God to forget us or his love for us.

"[Jesus] bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." (1 Peter 2:24)

Wounds leave scars. Scars are only from wounds. I have a 7 inch scar on my belly. I can't see the majority of the scarring left from my C-section, but I know it's there. I know it's there every time I take a shower, get dressed, or try to do a sit up. I know other women who have major scars elsewhere from the trauma of their children's births, and they're reminded of them every time they have to go to the bathroom. We can't forget that experience - we have the scars as a reminder.

Scars.

Scars that mean my son is alive and breathing.

My son, by the grace of God moving through modern medicine, is alive and I bear the scars instead of him. He is physically healthy and bears no reminder of the trauma of the birth process. I, on the other hand, was completely incapacitated for a few days and had over a month long recovery from a major surgery I didn't anticipate after a hard labor for over 14 hours.

And I would do it all over again. I will, actually, with baby #2 (whenever God blesses us with another) and #3, and however many children God gives us.

This scripture pointed out to me that my scars, instead of making me self conscious or regretful that I didn't have the natural childbirth that I planned, should remind me of the grace of God and the miracle of my son's birth. He is a brand new person who is alive and well... what do a few scars on me matter?

And when I see my son living and growing and learning I am reminded that I live and grow and learn because of Christ's scars. Physically my son has life because of mine. Spiritually I have life because of Christ's. Were it not for his scars, I would be dead in my trespasses, overwhelmed by my iniquity, and without hope.

My scar means my son is alive and I will not forget him. Christ's scars (John 20:24-29) and the scars on God's hands from our names being engraved there mean he will never forget me, never lose me, never stop loving me. It seems impossible for me to forget my son - how much more impossible it is for God to forget those he has chosen and saved.


So... is your name engraved on God's hand? If you don't know, know it's not, or just need somewhere to start in scripture, I recommend starting with John. It's the fourth book in the New Testament. Then go to Acts, which is right after John. They are narratives and are pretty straight forward. Not scary. Take time to read the cross references... even the ones in the Old Testament :) (The cross references are usually printed in the center margin of a study Bible or along the bottom of the page of a scripture-only Bible). All scripture works together... if something is unclear, clarify it with other scripture and pray for the Holy Spirit to illuminate it to you.

Oh, your name IS engraved on God's hand... Praise the LORD! Read John and Acts anyway :) And definitely Isaiah... wow, Isaiah... there's so much there... Do you have a scar (physical or not)? What has God given you in your life to remind you that he will not forget or forsake you?


"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord: I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world." (John 11: 25-26, ESV)

Nebulizer salvation?

Yesterday I took Andrew to his first "sick baby" doctor appointment. I wasn't going to, but when I called the nurse help line to ask what I could do to make him more comfortable, the nurse was very concerned that his cold is moving to his chest and insisted I bring him in. So after 3 hours of going back and forth of whether to cancel the newly-made appointment, we went.

His symptoms pointed me to a chest cold, my Facebook friends to Croup, and the Doctor to Bronchiolitis. I think I was right. The Bronchiolitis test came back negative and the Doc ruled out Croup. Diagnosis: something viral making him wheeze (which could only be heard via stethescope) and cough (only occasionally but deep and gurgly like on a Mucinex commercial).

In other words, a chest cold.

Per Doctor's orders we now have a nebulizer with dinosaur child's mask, a month's supply of medicine for the nebulizer (which is the second prescription since the first was WAY too expensive), and a prescription for the steroid just in case we decide to take the Doc's advice and over-medicate our son. Don't get me wrong - I liked the doctor we saw yesterday... he was friendly and knowledgeable and great with Andrew, and I'm all for a steroid if the child can't breathe. But for milder symptoms than I'm currently having and a baby who still laughs, smiles, and wants to play... Andrew seriously doesn't need a steroid. Seriously.



I am thankful for this experience because in it I see a picture of our need for a savior and the perfection of God's salvation:

We are like Andrew. We have symptoms we don't understand, don't know the cause, don't know the extent, don't know how to fix, and can't communicate. Actually, we're not like Andrew... Andrew is clearly alive and scripture specifically states that we are DEAD in our sin. But stay with me anyway for the purpose of my illustration. Andrew cannot help himself and neither can we.

Praise God he is nothing like our earthly doctors! Andrew has several symptoms but we still really don't know what the cause is and don't know what the actual cure will be. Thankfully this isn't an episode of "House"... I'm betting his body will fight off whatever it is and the nebulizer will be used sparingly just to open up those airways occasionally to give him some relief.

Our spiritual death has many symptoms but it only has ONE cause and ONE remedy. Either we receive that remedy and are brought to LIFE or we do not receive that remedy and continue in DEATH. Those are our options. No half-way healing here.

PRAISE GOD he knows (inside and out, fully, completely, seriously knows without a doubt) our cause of death. And PRAISE GOD he knows the treatment (he devised this remedy, after all, and it was planned PERFECTLY for our benefit and his glory!)

(And we don't even have to spend hours on the phone with the insurance company convincing them to cover the medicine.)

PRAISE GOD he planned, before the foundation of the world no less, to reveal our sin with the Law and then perfectly fulfill it himself. And then sacrificially die a sinner's death anyway so that he could be our substitute and allow us to live again. And then transfer his own righteousness to us so we can live with him FOREVER.

Praise God he doesn't have to make educated guesses like the doctor we saw yesterday.

Thank you, Jesus, for being obedient, even to the point of death on a cross.

And thank you, Lord, for creating our bodies with the ability to fight infection. You truly are the Great Physician, Creator of life, Almighty God.

5 months old!

Friday was Andrew's 5 Month birthday. I can't believe how fast time goes after the baby's born! It felt like FOREVER to get to 5 months pregnant and I swear Andrew went from 1 month to 5 months in about 6 weeks :-p

Shout Out to Kathy - the photo captions are all centered for you ;)

(Note: I've started loading smaller photos... it takes way less time. I want to go to bed before tomorrow, so small photos it is.)Here are a few things we've been up to in the past week or so...

First time hanging out in the back yard. After realizing the loud sound wasn't scary, he loved watching the planes fly over :)

This is one of the smaller airplanes flying over our house en route to land at IAH (I don't think you can see it in this photo, but the wheels are out and ready for landing!) It's actually much higher than some of the other planes! British Airways lands trans-Atlantic flights (HUGE planes!) on this runway and they come in REALLY LOW. You can see the wires in the belly of the plane through the wheel holes in the really low ones!



"Daddy time" after James gets home from school - usually includes lying on the couch after walking to the mailbox to get the mail :) And today's entertainment is George the Moose!



James' Stat class from last year gave us this shirt. Every two or three weeks since Andrew was born, James comes home and asks whether the shirt fits yet :) It's still too big - I had to scrunch it up under him to take this photo.



Our friend Joshua gave us this ball. Andrew can't pick it up with his hands yet (he's a pro at grasping things with his fingers, but using both hands together for something big still needs practice). But using his feet was a FUN game! Yay for a baby ab workout!

He now tolerates the Bumbo for about 7 minutes. As long as he has a toy. And provided he doesn't drop said toy (since he can't reach it once it falls). Too bad the knock-off brand seat doesn't have a tray like the real one...
Here he is reading the French Animals book that Lamia gave us.
I think he looks like he's sitting on the potty reading the newspaper :-p



Aunt Cathi and Uncle Nathan drove down from Tyler for lunch last Friday and brought me their old kitchen table (YAY I have a real table and chairs now!!!). It was a LOT of driving for them to do in one day, but it was so good to see them and just precious to watch them with Andrew :)


First walk in the "big boy stroller." The "little baby stroller" uses his infant car seat... he looks so old in this one!
My view during our walks :-D


I broke out the 12 month pants a week ago. The onesie is still 6-9 months. I love that these sizes include styles that look like real clothes instead of the super babyish things for newborns (which are cute, but I like these better). All the little jeans, khakkis, and polo shirts just make me grin!
I tried to do a cool pixel thing with this photo and it kind of worked but
not exactly the way I wanted. It turned out ok.



Today he had tummy time on my belly while I lay on the floor on my
back. This is my view while he looked back and forth between me
and James (who was making funny sounds to get Andrew's attention).
Notice the giant string of drool in the one photo - it was about almost
a foot long, going from his mouth to my shirt.

Peek-A-Boo!

Andrew loves tummy-tummy time :)



This was the second night of this game... the first night Andrew moved his head faster and laughed when James reacted. Both boys are a little camera shy so knowing the video camera was on them made it a little less authentic :-p