Isaiah 38:16-19
Your words and your deeds bring life to everyone, including me. Please make me healthy and strong again. It was for my own good that I had such hard times. But your love protected me from doom in the deep pit, and you turned your eyes none of those in the deep pit can hope for you to show them how faithful you are. Only the living can thank you, as I am doing today. Each generation tells the next about your faithfulness...
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
I started following the story of Job McCully from Bigelow, Arkansas, (his name is pronounced “JOBE” – like the man whose story is recorded in the Bible) in 2006. Job was diagnosed with leukemia and received a bone marrow transplant in 2002, at the age of four. He went into remission until the following year, but then he developed RSV pneumonia and other lung issues, and subsequently, his lungs deteriorated to the point that the only hope was a lung transplant. In 2006, Job was treated in children’s hospitals from Little Rock to Houston to St. Louis, logging more than 365 consecutive days in the hospital.
More than once during this time, doctors told Job’s parents, “He won’t make it. Sign papers to remove life support if needed. This is it.” Every time, Job’s parents walked away. Job’s mother would politely say something to the effect of, “When God tells me to sign, I will… but He has not told me to do so.” Job suffered so much and was so weary and weak… his little body was poked and prodded, and I have to tell you, I began to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to let him go to heaven and be with Jesus. The faith of this child never wavered, unlike mine.
On December 11, 2007, Job received new lungs. Truly, the “eleventh hour” had come, and this was his only hope of survival. Job’s mother Tina kept a journal throughout his ordeal on a website called CaringBridge, and she often wrote such notes as this: Dear Lord, please have mercy and compassion on Job and heal his little body. Restore him to perfect health. In Jesus’ name I ask. AMEN. I have to believe that every person who read Tina’s posts – and those of Job’s grandmother (who was enduring her own battle with breast cancer) – were lifted and given renewed hope and faith in God’s promises. And I know that I was humbled by their steadfast belief that God would heal this little boy.
Since the transplant, Job has survived Histoplasmosis (a lung disease the doctors didn’t know was in his transplanted organs), CMV, Adenovirus… and now he is diabetic. He is taking treatments for bone density… his bones are so weak that a knee gave out as he walked down the hall at school, and his foot broke in three places. The ABC Extreme Home Makeover team built Job’s family a new, safe, mold-free house in 2008.
Job is twelve now and in the seventh grade. His family is recovering from their ordeal, and they continue to be a source of inspiration to others as they share their story – and their faith. I am moved to tears as I read the journal entries and remember all that this family has endured… and how their faith remained steadfast. If you want to read this remarkable story for yourself, go to www.caringbridge.org/ar/job. And the next time you decide that your problems are too big, think of Job. Remember that the God who delivered this precious boy… gave him new lungs and new hopes and dreams… the God who pulled him from the pit of death and despair… can deliver you, too. Nothing is too big for God. Until He says it’s finished, there’s always hope and a fight worth continuing.
Think of Job this December… thank God for using a now-12-year-old boy to show us how to escape the deep pits of our lives…and for continuing to use him as he lives out his faithfulness and shares the message of hope in Jesus for generations to come.
©2010 Debbie Robus
No comments:
Post a Comment