Hello, Brain Surgery
Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
What difference does the word of God make in the midst of fear? A huge difference. Don’t take my word for it now. I wrote the following post after the very first biopsy of the brain stem ever performed at Children’s National hospital. Josiah was their first patient.
As Josiah’s father, God’s right hand steadied me. Knowing God was not just aware of Josiah, but holding my son in His sovereign, powerful grip, eased my mind and comforted my soul. Josiah was where he needed to be.
April 26, 2015
Post-Successful Surgery
What a wonderful title! I thank God for pulling him through... hello, brain surgery.
Thank you for all your prayers and support. I know many more are praying then I know or realize. May God continue to bless Josiah and shock the medical team with a quick recovery.
Please pray that there is no bleeding overnight. They will be waking him every hour to talk to him making sure he is alright. He will have a routine post-op CAT scan tomorrow around 4 AM to double check there is no bleeding.
The Right Hand of God
Today I pulled out the first of our poster board verses from Sunday’s time with the cousins. Eleanor’s is first: Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
I reminded Josiah that God is helping Him. He is the one who will give him strength to recover and continue on. We want to help him. We want to do anything we can for him. But we know that God Himself is holding Josiah in His right hand (signifying His sovereign power).
The NET Bible states that the “right hand” is a symbol of the Lord’s power to deliver Exodus 15:6, 12 and protect Ps 63:9 HT. Here צֶדֶק tsedeq has its well-attested nuance of “vindicated righteousness,” i.e., “victory, deliverance” (see 45:8; 51:5).
We are praying for victory over this disease and deliverance from the tumor. There is no better place for Josiah to be than where he is right now, in the right hand of the Father.
Josiah is being extremely courageous. He is super sweet to all the doctors and nurses that are helping him. I cannot begin to imagine what this all must be like for a nine-year-old boy who was just skating at the skate park 10 days ago. Yet he shows no malice or bitterness.
For he is not fearful or dismayed. God has given him strength. He is helping him right now. We choose to trust in His righteous right hand.
Thank you for walking this journey along with us.
