May 12, 2005 started out like any other day. I woke up. I went to school. When I got home I ate my cereal and turned on my cartoons. Everything seemed normal until my parents pulled into our driveway. Right when they stepped inside, it was clear that something was wrong. Their eyes were red and swollen. I was only nine years old, and struggled to understand as they explained that my mother had just had a miscarriage. The baby was sick. The doctor had to take it away from her. So many thoughts and emotions flooded my mind. How could God do this? He knew how much we all wanted this baby. Why us? Time passed as it always does, and we slowly began to adjust to this heartbreaking loss.
In late September of that year, four months later, the air was full of excitement. The Friday night lights brightened the field as we cheered on our high school football team. But something was different on this particular night. The usual excitement was somehow diminished. My mother, who always kept me close to her during the games, sent me to sit with my friends while she carried on what appeared to be serious conversations with her own.
For the next few weeks, this pattern continued. I found myself imagining the worst. What was she not telling me, and why? I finally built up enough courage to confront her. I was curious, but more than anything, scared. After hearing what she had to say, I had a good reason to be. My young mother, only 32 years old, had been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.
An employee of the Eureka Springs Hospital, my mom hesitantly agreed to be a test patient for the hospital's new Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine. Was it a coincidence that the hospital needed a volunteer at that particular time? Or was it God sending an answer to our question, "Why?"
My mother insisted the MRI be done on her head, although the hospital wanted to train the staff on scanning patients' backs. Reluctantly, and without any other options, they agreed to scan my mother's head. And that's when they found out my mom's life was in danger.
Another coincidence, or was it a lifeline sent to save my mom?
Dr. Osama Al-Mefty, Chief Neurosurgeon at University of Arkansas Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock, was going to perform the intensive surgery. The only problem: his schedule was booked until March of the next year.
Two and a half months later, in mid December, a nurse at UAMS, crying, gave us the news. A patient had just cancelled their scheduled surgery for December 20th. Miraculously, my mom now had the chance to have brain surgery... three days later. And you better believe we took it. Coincidence again? Or was it God doing what he does best?
It was only after we returned for the post-operative check-up that we learned how severe Mom's condition had been. The aneurysm had already began to bleed. Dr. Al-Mefty explained that she could have taken her last breath at any given moment preceding the surgery
"You could have bent over to tie your shoe, and boom," Dr. Al-Mefty said. "Gone. Just like that."
Now, remember that miscarriage my mom had almost eight months prior? MRIs cannot be done while a patient is pregnant. She wouldn't have even been considered as a test patient. That time bomb ticking away in my mom's head would have never been discovered.
That sweet baby was due in the beginning of January. If Mom would have gone through the pressure of labor... Boom. Gone. Just like that.
The Psalmist, Asaph, writes, "You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples." My miracle is my beautiful mother.
Through a God-given chain of events, she is still by my side today, through thick and thin. Without her, I honestly have no idea where, or who, I would be today. God has a way of knowing exactly what each of us needs in life. He knew that I would not grow up to be the woman that He wants me to be without the guidance and love of my mother.
At times, what seems to be a tragedy, turns out to be the answer to many earnest prayers. We may not understand at first, but what kind of faith would we have if our prayers were always answered right away? Faith is having the patience to believe, even when things seem to be going against us. In Second Timothy, chapter two, verse four, Paul wrote, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
Our faith in God is the only true stability that we have. He is everlasting, unchangeable, and never failing. God is the truth that our minds yearn for. He is the light that turns any darkened path into a ray of hope. He is the love in which we all wished to be filled. During 2005, my family faced once of the toughest years of our lives, though more would soon come. But during those tumultuous times, God proved to my family that He is always on time. He is always with us. And He will never let us go.
