I really don't know if you have ever been in a position to pray for a miracle or not. I have. And I have seen God work in ways that most people wouldn't believe. But a week ago, our family was praying for a miracle for our little fur-baby, Briget. Were we wasting GOD's time asking for a miracle for her?  

For Backstory, Briget had an extremely rough early life. At only a few months old, her owner's vehicle caught fire with her trapped inside. She was rescued by Louisville Fire Department's Chief, James Davis, but was left severely burned, and still can't grow hair through the scar tissue that mars a large portion of her body. Her owner took this baby home, and without pain meds or sufficient treatment, left her to recover.

 Within just a few weeks, deputies with the county called my wife to say this poor baby was tied to a cinder block in a backyard. Her lead she was tied to was less than 2' long.  There was no shelter, food, or water nearby.                                                           So Briget was confiscated, and charges of neglect and animal cruelty were drafted. The charges were later dropped on the condition that the owner would allow Briget to go into foster care, and get the treatment she needed.

That is how Briget came to us to foster. One look at her though, and I knew she wasn't a foster. Her burns spoke to my heart as a firefighter, her calm, gentle demeanor belied the trauma she'd endured. How could I ever let someone else take her?  For whatever reason, as much as she needed us, I just knew we also needed her. Briget was a Weathers now.

That was 4 years ago. Yesterday, we found out our baby has endocarditis, and CHF. We left our Vet's office in the early morning, drove her to see a cardiologist, and then to an animal hospital in Athens, Ga. The prognosis was a 20% chance of recovery. We prayed for her and left her there in a tiny oxygen tent, under the watchful eye of the best care possible. 

Funny how when the time to trust God comes how difficult it can be. I wonder if he sees us, if he gets involved in situations that might seem irrelevant to ourselves and others, and sometimes if my own failures and mistrust has created too much distance for him to get involved. I sometimes wonder if across time, he reaches into our "Now" and still does miracles. 

This morning I was reading Mark chapter 1. At the very end of the chapter, Mark recounts the miracle of Jesus healing the leper. A healing from Leprosy wasn't like a healing from being lame though- Leprosy was such a serious and highly transmittable disease that your "cure" had to be proven to the priests before you could return to society. Jesus instructed the leper to "go, show yourself to the priests" and "tell no one." Apparently, being healed of leprosy is a lot like taking CrossFit though... cause dude told everybody. Out of curiosity, I looked up what he was required to do when he met the priests, and it is pretty extensive, lasting more than a week, and involving multiple acts and sacrifices. (Leviticus 14) 

The whole "show yourself to the priests" thing also got me wondering; "How many people in the bible were actually healed of leprosy?" The bible only speaks of one, and he was an Assyrian- his name was Naaman. (Luke 4:27, 2 Kings 5) He wouldn't subscribe to Judaic beliefs, so he definitely wouldn't need to do the cleansing ritual. And if NO OTHER lepers were cleansed in the entirety of the word, then who was this ritual for? 

When one ponders this, then the immensity of the miracle of the leper comes into view. There is really only one explanation: Even before there was time, GOD knew he was going to heal that man. He knew people would doubt the healing and need context from the law before they accepted it. And so, long before this leper was born, GOD detailed that ritual to Moses. And long before he detailed it to Moses, he looked through time, saw a loud mouthed leper, the vilest of the unclean, and his heart was moved with compassion. He created that ritual specifically for him.

I wonder how many times the leprous man, isolated from his family, cast out of the nation, unable to work or get medical attention wondered: "Does God even see me? Are my problems important to him?" I would wager that he felt hopeless, alone, and afraid. More often than not, he felt abandoned by God, and totally irrelevant.

How could he possibly know that GOD had seen him before he was born, and that his story would be immortalized forever, inshrined in the very story of the Messiah's ministry? How encouraging it is to know that regardless of our perspective, his perspective is unchanging, and He sees all. He loves all, He feels for us all.

Briget gettin all the pats

Do you ever feel irrelevant? Do you wonder if GOD sees you, or if your problems aren't big enough to be HIS problems? Rest assured HE sees. HE knows. and HE is intimately concerned with the things that concern YOU. 

Briget is home now. She is in good health and spirits, but will have lingering effects and take meds for the rest of her life. Her hospital stay was less than half the time they anticipated though, and her recovery has been in fact, miraculous. I look at this picture of her resting on my lap, with a smile on her face, and I know--- As assuredly as the fact that NOTHING is too big for my God, by that same token; NOTHING is too small for him either.