Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

There was a very respected, highly skilled surgeon who was asked to perform a very delicate, life saving surgery on a baby . . . only this baby was still nestled snugly in the womb of its mother. Being a dedicated doctor who thrived on challenges, he agreed.

The day arrives, the mother, trusting herself into the hands of the surgeon, peacefully sleeps as he opens up the womb of the mother much like a cesarean delivery. Although he had never performed surgery quite like this, it was really no different from the thousands of surgeries he had done before. With confidence and steady hands, he cuts through to open the womb and as he reaches in, the babies hand pops up in full view of everyone around the table . . . and gently, softly grabs hold of the surgeon’s finger. As quickly as it had grabbed his finger, it let go . . . and shoots back down into its warm, familiar little sanctuary. No one moved, no one said anything . . . silence swirled all around as they all stood in awe of what they had just witnessed.

The surgeon, being highly professional, tucked his emotions away in a safe corner of his heart, quickly resumed and finished the job he was there to do.

When it was all over, he went to his office. There, alone, he marveled at the emotions that little grasping hand kindled in his heart and mind. He heart overflowed with the wonder and the awe of it all. That tiny hand . . . fragile and translucent not only grabbed his finger but, Oh, so grabbed his heart that day.

He knew that he would never forget that moment, he would never be the same, he would never again look at a pregnant woman without that awe welling up inside him.

The awe . . . so clearly described in scripture . . .

Ps 139:13 18
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.”

Jer 1:5
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.


Luke 1:44 gives us a peek into the womb that nestled John the Baptist...
When Mary the Mother of our Lord went and visited her old cousin Elisabeth and greeted her, Elisabeth said in an excited voice . . . “For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.”
John the Baptist, still in the womb, heard that highly favored voice of Mary and responded by leading for joy.

How awesome, this thing we call a pregnancy . . . not really knowing or understanding how truly awesome it is.

Just consider the wonder of the most active and discriminating organ in nature...The Placenta

Now I know most of you are thinking UGH!!!.....that ugly and bloody thing that no one cares about.

Dr. Paul Brand, in his book, In His Image says this.

“It is a most remarkable organ, belonging neither to the mother nor the child. This truly awesome organ forges a supreme bond of symbiotic intimacy.
Burrowing deep into the tissues of the mother, the placenta interlaces a web of vessels through membranes so fine that all the chemicals in the mother’s blood can diffuse into the child’s, and all the wastes from the child can be eliminated through the mother. Yet, no open passage joins one to the other. No cells cross the membrane, and the mother remains’ wholly mother and the child wholly child.

The placenta is an organ full of mysteries.

It develops soon after fertilization, and from the mother’s physical standpoint its tissue is foreign matter...yet her body welcomes it for nine months. Furthermore, its nucleate cells fuse together to form what is in effect a single cell, the largest single cell in all of nature. The placenta nourishes the baby and has a major role in directing the intricate proceedings of the entire pregnancy. The placenta does much much more and yet in the fullness of time exits anticlimactically shortly after the birth of a baby and is discarded ....without a whisper of thanks.”*

Oh, the wonder and miracle of conception, pregnancy, birth and life. No wonder so many people in the Bible praised God for being such a great Creator.

No wonder we praise Him as well.

My children…God’s creation, now adults and yet I still stand in awe of their strong bodies and minds, their love, friendship, courage, common sense, loyalty, and strong sense of justice.

My grandchildren…a miracle in more ways than I can ever express, because they were both adopted and what joy, what delight, what happiness they have bought into the lives of my daughter and her loving husband…and to all of us.

We must never lose that wonder, never lose that awe that we first felt; no matter how many children, no matter how big or small, no matter how good or bad, no matter how young or old, no matter how near or far, no matter biological or adopted.

Life is precious and we must always remember that it is God who knows us and who plans our days before we are even formed in the womb.

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is this coming Sunday, January 17, 2010. Prayer is greatly needed for the unborn….for the tiny person who has no voice. We are a nation so off track in so many ways…and we may not win many battles…some battles are not worth fighting…but this is a battle to fight…not with hate, or crime, or gun or sword…but with prayer, letters to our government representatives, donations of money, clothing, and time to pregnancy health centers.


I thank you dear Lord and I praise you because we are all fearfully and wonderfully made.


Amen and Amen


*(from the book,In His Image, by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey,1984, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, pgs. 201,203)