My God

A few years ago some good friends of mine got married, and as a part of their wedding reception they had a new family Bible displayed on a large table with the intent of their wedding guests highlighting a few of their favorite verses.

Resisting the urge to highlight Exodus 16:36 (look it up), I turned to Jeremiah 32:27 which reads:

I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything to hard for me?

I remember as a child learning the song, "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there's nothing my God cannot do." (Clap clap)

Sometimes we can become so accustomed to God, so... used to him, that we take Him for granted. We forget how big He is.

I'm here to tell you today, just exactly how BIG my God is.

Over three months ago doctors found, on my spine, a fungal infection that had penetrated the bone. After almost 12 weeks of IV anti-fungal treatment every night I went back for a follow-up MRI. Not only had the medicine not killed the infection, but the infected area was growing larger, expanding to the surrounding muscle and additional vertebrae. Immediately discussions began about surgery and gene therapy and the ball began moving in many different directions. In the mean time, I was to return home to continue IV treatments and wait for the doctors in Maryland to make up their minds about my future treatment.

Finally, the medical team decided that one more MRI was needed before surgery was scheduled to remove the infected tissue from my back. This morning, at some ungodly hour when I'm not even a Christian, I rolled out of bed and drove to the airport hopping a flight to Maryland. Once there I would have a CT scan AND an MRI (I figure if I'm already having some radiation, I might as well have a little more). Our prayer was that God would show up in a big way and that the infected area on my back would show such improvement in the MRI that surgery and gene therapy would cease to be considerations for treatment.

It is funny when you ask God to show up... because He does.

I have to be honest with you. Although I had prayed that God would heal my back, I didn't really expect it to happen. Shame on me. If only I had remembered Jeremiah 32:27 I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

After my MRI, I was ushered into a room where I was to sit and wait for consultation from my Dr.
First my nurse practitioner comes in and tells me that it seems the MRI is slightly improved. This still shouldn't change our course of treatment, however, and we still wanted to hear from my main Doc, Dr. Malech.
Then my Case Worker (Tyra) prints me out a copy of my radiology report that read the MRI showed "Marked Improvement" over previous films. Tyra was elated with this news and gave me a hihg-five.
Then finally Dr. Malech comes into my room, looks at me and tells me that the MRI showed major improvement. The spot on my back was shrinking remarkably and that surgery is not a consideration at this point. He stated that we would continue on current treatment protocol and that it could still take months to knock out the infection, but my back is getting better. He said that I should come back for a follow-up in 4-6 weeks whenever it is convenient for me.

Now, for those of you that started daydreaming about your fantasy baseball team at somepoint in the last paragraph, here is the Cliff's Notes version. I have a fungal infection in my back. For three months it doesn't respond to medicine leaving surgery and/or gene therapy as my only options. We start praying specifically for God to shrink and remove the spot. Now surgery is no longer a consideration and it appears that the medicine "magically" started working over the last 3 weeks.

Some might call it a coincidence. Some may call it the magic of modern medicine. I call it an awesome God that still works miracles and heals His people from all kinds of diseases.

My God is the Lord of all mankind. Nothing is too difficult for him. There is no infection that He can't remove. He forgives our sins and heals our diseases. My God is SO BIG, SO STRONG, and SO MIGHTY there's NOTHING MY GOD cannot do!

I wonder if you know my God?



You can find this video at Igniter Media. It apparently is taken from a sermon preached by the late SM Lockridge at his church in San Diego, California.