Some of you may be wondering about the story behind the photo - well you'll have to continue wondering. I'm not a doctor and have no inclination to be one - an episode of Casualty a week is about as far as I go on that front. But my daughters are trying their best to ensure a better than average knowledge of the workings of paediatric intensive care departments within the best hospitals in the UK.
This last week we've been at the Royal Brompton for heart surgery on our youngest daughter who is only 11 weeks old. She is recovering extremely well, and we give God thanks. The doctors have commented on how well she is doing so soon after such a major operation. But then we should not be surprised because so many people have been praying for her and for us. We know of people in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America - and if you've been one of them 'Thank you so much!' But thankfully the answers to our prayers are not dependant on the numbers of people praying (just as they're not dependant on the length of our prayers etc.) but on the God to whom we pray. He is the Almighty One.
I guess many of us experience times in our lives when we ask the 'Why?' question of God. Certainly when our daughter was diagnosed we asked 'why?' We know that God is able to heal, so why have to go through an operation?
We praise God that our daughter is doing so well, but acknowledge that some of you may have prayed for family members who were ill and they died. And for you I guess the 'why?' question is that much more pressing and answers much harder to come by.
I have been reading the Old Testament book of Ruth this last week, especially chapter 1 where Naomi loses her husband, her sons don't produce grandchildren, and then her two sons die: leaving her with nothing in a foreign land. And yet her faith in the God who provides is so strong that Ruth wants to leave her home to commit herself to Naomi's God - to trust herself into His care and to trust Him for His provision. Which is remarkable when you consider Naomi's testimony to this point (famine, death and loss).
Someone has described life as a tapestry - with a beautiful picture being created on one side, but knots and tangled threads on the other. At times all we see is the underside, the back of the picture. Faith is not necessarily seeing the 'right' side. Faith is believing that there is a right side even though I can't see it.
No doubt Naomi asked the why question. But more of that another time...
