PSALM 139 V 13 - 14
3 For You formed my inward parts;
You [f]covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for [g]I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvellous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
As a medical doctor I have frequently found myself in situations where I have seen how true and profound these words are: from my first days as a medical student discovering the anatomy of the human body to witnessing the birth of a new-born baby. God knows everything about me, and He created me.
And yet in my work with Vision for China and on medical mission in several African countries I have often seen the devastating affect of disability particularly in these countries where resources are so limited.
God creates us each individually and has made every human being with a purpose: no one is an accident or a mistake. This psalm tells us God has a plan for everyone’s life and He knew it before we were created. He makes each one special with a unique purpose.
PSALM 139 V15 – 16 THE MESSAGE
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
I have been blessed to know many incredibly special disabled children and young people who have enriched my life so much, but for them life is often very tough, and it can be hard for them to fully embrace the truths in these words.
Have you ever looked in the mirror and wished you were different?
When God created us, He made us exactly the way He planned. When He designed us, before we were even in our mother's womb, He planned everything about us!
We tend to look as those with disabilities negatively with phrases like “lacking, needing assistance, brokenness, weakness, disadvantaged”, but I believe that those with disabilities have so much to teach us.
In the Kingdom of God the weak are declared strong, the intellectually challenged are wise, the broken are whole in the Body of Christ. The outcasts are given seats of honour in His Kingdom, and the last become first. God created us all —those with disabilities and those who are typically abled. Each of us is a unique creation of His, filled with wonder and awe.
Joni Eareckson Tada, herself a quadriplegic, once observed: “Our Saviour chose to flash His credentials as Messiah through ministry to disabled people.… A disability magnifies God's grace.... We in our wheelchairs get to prove how great and how trustworthy God is.”
Prayer
Thank you, Lord, for making me just as I am. Thank you for the special plan that you have for my life. Thank you that I am indeed fearfully and wonderfully made. Amen
Written by Christine Sansom, MMN Trustee
