We Got Our Miracle

Many friends, including many of you, have adopted the “Miracle for Mike” slogan to brand this battle. At the same time, I’ve been reading trough Timothy Keller’s book “Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering.” Recently, I’ve come to a section of that book on miracles, which was the subject of Dr. Keller’s Ph.D. dssertation…so, he’s likely the foremost theologian on the planet when it comes to the topic of miracles. 

His point was, you may get one — just not the one you want or expect. We’ve been praying for months for a miracle, but very specifically for healing. What if that’s not the miracle God has in store?  Maybe it’s a more powerful miraculous testimony, maybe its a thousand little miracles we hardly notice, maybe it’s a stronger faith, maybe it’s the touched lives of hunreds of others. God works in mysterious and miraculous ways, and we can’t constrain Him to just the miracle WE want. Here is what our miracle(s) look like:

1. We were worried we wouldn’t get back to Cedars or Dr. Chu. God provided a way. 

2. The day of my consult, my fabulous TriCare Case Manager Jane — who had arranged everything — resigned. God provided a new case manager, Anna, the same day. 

3. Hours prior to the consult and MRI, the referral was still not approved. No appproval means no consult, no scan, and no surgery. God stepped in with minutes to spare. 

4. In that consult, as you know from the prior blog, the primary concern was metastasis, temporal tumor, and increase in grade to a Grade III or Grade IV (glioblastoma) tumor. In the long discussion with Dr. Chu, it became immediately apparent that there was no metastasis, and no temporal tumor. It wasn’t until surgery and pathology the following week, but we also learned that there was no increase in grade. 

5. The day prior to surgery, I received a call from the scheduler with a showtime of 2:00pm for a 4:00pm surgery. The details are boring, but this is miserable for me, Angie, Ellie, and all involved. Even for Dr. Chu, who has to perform TWO 8-hour surgeries in the same day. Again, God stepped in with a cancellation, and our surgery was moved up to 10AM — just perfect. 

6. Another great concern was my cranioplasty (skull reconstruction) in 2010. That procedure had left much of my skull replaced with acrylic prosthetics, which would also have to be replaced if they were damaged during this surgery. In short, every damaged prosthetic is another surgery — making this one-time Cedars event potentially a two- or three-time affair, each with its own list of risks and potential neurological deficits.  God’s hand of preservation reached in, and Dr. Chu’s nurse called Angie from the OR during surgery to report that our own “miracle worker” (Dr. Chu) was able to remove all prosthetics without damaging them, store them in betadyne, and reuse them. 

7. Okay, call me petty. Go back to my last blog on being grumpy. Those dreaded leg-massager things that make sleep impossible…I’m reprieved!  All day today the nurse has told me that “I’m on the list” but there aren’t enough machines available so I’ll just have to wait. Don’t tell ME God doesn’t care about the little things!

This is only a short list. Quite literally, Angie and I have lost count of the various ways God has clearly, obviously, and supernaturally stepped in during this entire event. He even providentially adjusted the Duke basketball schedule so that I wouldn’t miss a game while in the hospital!  Now THERE is a God who cares about the smallest sparrow. 

We didn’t get healing, but in hindsight, there can be no question. We got our miracle. 

~ by MichaelMoyles on December 14, 2016.