"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish and strengthen you."
I Peter 5:10
That verse came up on my daily Bible app during the early part of Henry's Health Scare. I posted it then, shared it with him when Pastor Chris Thomas from First Presbyterian Church came by (Henry nodded and gave me the 'thumbs up' when he heard it) and I've reflected on it often in the past several weeks. I did not, at first, truly come to terms with it.
When you're looking down on your stricken child, 'a little while' is an eternity. I wasn't ready to think about restoration. I was too wrapped up in the suffering. There were plenty of moments during those early days of helpless fear and anger and worry when I gave the chapel at Mott Children's Hospital a wide berth--certain that if I had gone inside, I would have tried to pick a fight with God.
I put on a brave face. I stayed positive. I prayed. I reassured. I asked you all for help. Inside? I questioned. I wondered why it would happen, how it could happen to him--he is a good kid, blameless and strong, kind and goofy. I didn't feel strong, at all.
But the key to that verse is actually in the one ahead of it, which speaks to the fact that the experience of suffering is required of everyone throughout the world. Nobody can dodge that particular bullet forever.
So if suffering is universal so, then, is restoration and growth. We're not quite there yet. Tomorrow (almost today, as I write this) will mark our second week home after 34 days in the hospital. I wonder what we've learned, how we've grown.
His health has improved. The dressing changes are not a two-person job any more. We had a follow up visit today (yesterday) with the surgeons and learned that even those kinds of bandages aren't needed any more. He could be stitch-free in a two weeks. He's getting caught up on school work, too.
His spirits? Fortunately, they are more up than down, but there are times when I sit with him as he tries to drift off to sleep and he asks me some of those same questions I asked. What did I do to deserve this? Why did this happen? 'Nothing,' I answer to the first and 'I don't know.' or 'We'll see one day' to the others.
That's where faith comes in. It's about being thankful for the restoration before it comes, or being grateful for the answers before you know what they are.
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