20.5 weeks: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

I recently read about this guy Nick Vujicic, a 29 year old man who was born without arms or legs. His parents had no idea that he was going to come out like that, so when the nurse laid him beside his mother, she said, "Take him away." She didn't hold him until he was four months old. His father had to leave the delivery room to vomit. It was a huge test to his parents' faith, who were both Christians. Now Nick is a motivational speaker, who travels the world preaching the gospel and the goodness of God, above your circumstances. People are so touched by his story and his attitude about his life, and it's just the most inspiring thing to see him testify about Jesus and never let anything hold him back from living a full life.

When I heard his story, my thoughts went instantly to his parents. In the difficulties of having a son with such a handicap, how could they have possibly known what God would do with Nick's life and how He would use Nick to inspire millions of people? They didn't know. They could have given him up for adoption. They could have told him he couldn't do anything due to his handicap. But they didn't. They raised their son the best way they could, focusing on the things that he could do instead of what he couldn't, and they trusted God with the rest.

Nick's story is a reminder of Psalm 139, which has been really striking me these days as I think of my own son. "You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." God is knitting together my son right now in my womb. My son is fearfully and wonderfully made. It's scary to bring a child into this world when there are so many challenges that could arise, but if God is knitting my son together, then there's no way to go wrong. Now I have seen my son's arms and legs, so we won't have that particular struggle, but who knows whether our son will develop autism. Who knows whether he will get cancer. Only the Lord knows.

His promise isn't that we will have a good looking son, who is intelligent, athletic, and will become a dentist someday (as per his mother's request). His promise is that He, personally, has knit together my son. My son is fearfully and wonderfully made by our Father God. I only know my son in a very limited manner right now. But God knows everything about my son. And in that truth, I can rest knowing that my sovereign God is knitting together something Good (yes, with a capital G).