Front Row Seat to a Miracle: Conclusion

    The ambulance arrived and the transport team was preparing to transfer the baby into a travelling incubator.  Before leaving the unit, the doctor sent me to get my sister-in-law.  As I turned to go, he said, “She must begin the grieving process.  The nurse will provide mom and dad with pictures of the baby to remember her by.” 

   What should have taken a few minutes, took over an hour as they moved her from one bed to the other.  Her condition continued to deteriorate as we watched.  Our mom and dad had arrived and looked on as the newest member of their family fought to live.  Daddy led the way straight into the throne room as he pulled us into a huddle in the hallway.  He reminded us that we had come to the end of what man could do for her, and now we must give her over to what God had for her.  And that we did.  He voiced the prayer that was probably the most difficult one he would ever have to pray.  Her mom and dad trusted her into God’s care, not knowing if they would see her alive again. 

   March 5 will mark the 22^nd anniversary of that night, a night that will not soon be forgotten.  Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”  Through this experience, that Scripture came alive.  From the ambulance ride to Houston, that she wasn’t supposed to survive, to a helicopter flight to Galveston-- God revealed things about Himself that none of us had known until then. 

   A mostly experimental treatment, that was almost unheard of at that point, was her last medical hope.  She would be only the 36^th baby to be placed on ECMO.  Her blood would be circulated from her body into a machine that oxygenated it and pumped it back into her body.  The work of the heart would be greatly reduced and her lungs would be given time to mature and heal.  

   She began her Student teaching a few weeks ago.  She is excited to break out and to make her mark in this world.  The silent witness to God’s unsearchable things is a faint scar from just under her ear and down her neck.  Through the years, she has been reminded of how God used her birth to show her family of what He is capable.   We were invited.  We gave Him our full attention and trust.  And we were given a front row seat to a miracle.