The Journey 206: If You Don't Believe In Miracles....

Read: Psalms 139

The nations mourns and grieves over people who were killed at Colorado. But behind the news of death and tragedy comes a news of grace and hope. This is the story of Petra Anderson, a gifted musician and a member of the Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church, Englewood, Colorado, who is now living to tell a miraculous story of survival. It is believed that according to doctors who treated her, a birth defect saved Petra’s life. How did this happen?. Petra Anderson, was shot in the head four times with shotgun pellets, during The Dark Knight massacre last week. One of the pellets went through her nose and was lodged near the back of her skull, when suspected gunman James Holmes opened fire on a crowd of moviegoers. According to the New York Daily News, as the surgery was performed to save Petra by removing the pellet, doctors found what they term as a “miracle.” According to the medical bulletin the pellet reportedly entered her brain at the exact point of a barely-detectable defect - a tiny vein of fluid extending through her skull that only a CAT scan could detect. Doctors said the bullet traveled through the vein, just missing the vital parts of Anderson's brain. Thus because of this small birth defect, Anderson is alive today. But there is more news about this family. Both Petra Anderson and her mom Kim, has been recently diagnosed with terminal cancer and has been given only months to live. Strange isn't it? A miracle taking place and that too in the life of lady who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has only months to live. How do we decipher this news from the perspective of faith and the plan and purpose of God?

We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living”. The portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Psalms 139. This is one of the most beautiful psalms that describes the awesome power of God both in this world and in our life. One of the most striking words in this Psalms is in verse 14 which states that “ I am fearfully and wonderfully made”. Before this truth, the psalmist also states that “ For you created my innermost being and you knit together in my mother’s womb [ Psalms 139:13]. What a powerful truth is God telling us. Every part of my body is created in most wonderful way, knit together in perfect harmony to reveal God’s plan and purpose. Moreover one of the thing that we need to understand that human life is the most wonderful miracle that we see here on this earth. But to this wonder, the psalmist adds the words “fearfully made”. I think it is this word that should create a sense of awe and reverence to the Lord. Today when people tend to be very selective in planning of one family there are certain issues that we need to think. Parents who goes through scanning procedures during pregnancy, so that they are sure that their child does not have any birth defect or any other physical or mental defects. This is done so that only perfect and so called healthy children are only born in this world. In a country like India, where mother abort the unborn child, just because the child was a girl! These are the realities of the world. This raises a question does not a child with some defect or irreparable damages due to some strange genetical factors, or a girl child have the right to live honorably in this world?. It is here that the Psalmist teaches us that each life is wonderfully and fearfully made. Every person is different and diverse, some may be perfectly normal, some may not, but God has a plan and purpose for the normal and the so called abnormal people. But who are we to judge and say that we are normal and others are abnormal?. Life of Petra Anderson teaches us to trust in the goodness of our Lord for even in ones weakness and defects we see the grace of our Lord. So let us praise God for the abnormalities of life.

Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla

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