Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

This past weekend I was able to travel to Ohio with my fiancé to celebrate the first birthday of his niece. These kinds of celebrations are always exciting and joyful, but this one was especially so. Lily shouldn’t really be alive, according to many doctors and specialists. She was born last year on October first at only 25 weeks developed. She was barely a pound when she was born and comparable to the size of a Barbie doll. While Lily should have been snuggled safely in her mother’s womb to continue growing and developing normally, she was instead placed in an incubator with all kinds of wires and cords hooked up to her tiny body with machines monitoring her every breath and movement. It was incredible seeing Lily in such a helpless, fragile state, hanging on to life. However, there were many times then, and still now, that I thought of the verses in Psalms that state:

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (139:13-16).

Lily has continued to grow and astound her doctors. She was able to come home last January, right around the time of her due date, and she has continued growing like a champ; although still significantly behind the norm. Regardless, her first birthday was a celebration of God’s unending faithfulness and goodness. She is just one reminder to me of the God that loves us deeply and cares for each of us so intimately. I hope you are also reminded of that today.