Day 2: genesis and mercy

Last night I visited the page with all the 31 Dayers listed and, guess what?  There are over 1,000 topics to choose from!!  I look forward to pouring myself a fall-ish drink and sitting down for a nice long read through all that creativity!

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Here's my Day 2:
All scars tell a story.  Mine tell of an unexpected birth defect and of the miracle of medicine, even way back in 1973. 

And also, I believe, of the mercy of God.

Perhaps someone had thought it a great idea, let’s plan a baby shower on Veteran’s Day for my veteran Dad and his young bride.  The party happened, gifts were given, but instead of being surrounded by smiling faces and a mound of presents, my Mom was at Maryland General Hospital on the morning of her baby shower, giving birth to me. 

My parents were both very young when I came into their lives.  My Mom was 20, my Dad, 24.  They had no warning from an ultrasound to tell them that all would not be well with my birth.  I came into this world six weeks early, tiny, with half of my insides where they weren’t supposed to be. 

Born at Maryland General Hospital in Baltimore, I was promptly delivered into an ambulance and rushed across town to John’s Hopkins Medical Center and directly into surgery to fix my gastroschisis. My Mom was kept at the General Hospital for at least a few days.  My Dad wearily shuttled between two hospitals, between the two people he loved most in the world.  My Mom’s hair would turn gray with the intense stress of it all.

The surgery left me with a three inch vertical scar on my abdomen in place of a standard belly button, a funny round, bumpy scar on the middle left of my abdomen where there was a drainage tube for the surgery site and scars on my neck where the doctors placed the I.V.’s I needed.   Throughout my life, I have suffered much embarrassment from the funny scars on my neck.  And bikinis?  No way!

This year I am involved in a weekly, year-long study of the book of Genesis.  I am thinking about beginnings.  The story in Genesis 1tells of the beginning of our universe, our earth, ourselves, and it reveals much about the character God.  He is purposeful, orderly, creative, and powerful.  He sees both the big picture, and the smallest detail.  And when He wants something to happen, it does.

I see my scars as testimonies to God’s work in my life, from the very beginning.  He made no mistakes as he formed me in my mother’s womb.  He showered me with mercy, placing me in the right place, at just the right time.