God Did It Again

"There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like Yours" (Psalm 86:8).

Yesterday was surgery day...and a day filled with numerous prayers directed upward to the throne of God. After a slight delay in surgery time, I finally laid Micah down on the operating table at about 10:00 AM. Then we waited. Dr. Sudan had prepared us that it could be as quick as 3 hours or as many as 6 hours depending on the amount of scar tissue and the difficulty of getting in to where they needed to work.

When it got to be about 4:00 PM and they were "still working," we were concerned. A phone call came shortly thereafter sharing with us that Dr. Sudan was having difficulty pinpointing the blockage. I admit it openly and honestly. In that moment I doubted that the blockage would be corrected. My prayer in that moment was heartfelt and honest.

"Jesus: I understand many things. I understand you are good. I understand you are in control. I understand that you care for my son more than I do. I understand that you know where the blockage is located and that you have the ability to guide doctors' hands to that place. What I don't understand is why you haven't. So I pray again for you to give wisdom to Dr. Sudan to know where the blockage is located and give her the skill to perform the necessary correction."

A number of individuals were gathered in the waiting room who joined hands to pray at that time. And all day there had been faithful friends and followers of God praying for Micah from early in the morning until late in the evening. About an hour after we had received the report that they were having difficulty, word came that they would be closing soon. We didn't know whether they were closing having succeeded or failed. I totally expected more bad news.

When Dr. Sudan came to share with us after surgery, she spoke of the great difficulty they had in cutting and reattaching the bile duct. She said they knew where the previous one had been. But they could not find out where it went inside the liver and they needed to cut into the liver to make the attachment. They tried many methods. She shared that just when it seemed as if they tried everything and they were out of options, Dr. Suhoki (a radiologist who has gotten to know Micah well through procedures and tests) suggested using a different catheter. She did. Believing she had found the direction the duct went in the liver, she cut at that site. And there it was.

Is it coincidence that in the same moment we called on God once again to do a miracle that those doctors who were skillfully working and seeking any option possible found an answer? Are we merely recounting the product of random chance where we pray for the very thing that gets supplied in the same time period? Only those who refuse to believe or cannot see God's great and mighty work would attribute such a miracle to nothing more than a natural event caused solely by the work of man's hands.

God did it again! I saw God at Duke Hospital yesterday. Maybe I didn't see His face. Maybe I didn't literally see His hand. But I saw Him. He was there. He was working. I praise God for faithfully doing what He has done over and over again. I give Him glory for doing only what He and He alone can accomplish. I thank Him for giving those well-educated and greatly skilled surgeons all they needed to enhance the life God created when He created Micah.

Don't get me wrong. I appreciate every doctor, nurse, technician and whoever else has a part and hand in the process of Micah's surgery. But I realize they were merely God's instruments and He deserves all the glory and honor and praise. Nevertheless, I say a great, sincere thank you to them. I also cannot fail to thank the multitudes who prayed yesterday, including some who prayed for a boy they have never even met.

Micah is doing well post-surgery. He has a good deal of pain that has been difficult to manage. Sarah was told that the amount of morphine Micah is receiving would be enough in her or my body to cause us to stop breathing. Wow! He is resting fairly well and still in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. We were told to prepare for about a 10 day hospital stay.

I will do my best to give a daily update. Thank you for reading, for praying and for your love for our family. Please offer a prayer of praise to God for their are no works like His, for there is no one like Him.