God's Will

Each Wednesday morning, Steve attends a -- um -- Is it a prayer group? Men's group? Study group? Maybe it defies categorization, but it is called Andrew's Brothers. Sometimes the group chooses to read a book together and discuss it in the meetings. This is great, because it adds wonderful sources to Steve's bookshelf that I then go pick up to read.

His group just finished a book by Leslie D. Weatherhead called The Will of God. From the first week they started reading it, it was on my list of books to read. I was anxiously awaiting its arrival on the bookshelf. It never made it; Steve just handed it to me when he was done with it -- fastrack. If I had known how quickly I would go through it, I would just have grabbed it from him the first week -- I read it in one day. Really good book -- go get it and read it.

The book is actually the publication of five of Weatherhead's sermons, delivered in London in 1944. You can imagine -- or maybe we can't imagine -- the congregation to which he delivered them. War weary and wondering how God fit into the devastation around them. He considered the subject of God's will to be "specially relevant to these days of loss and sorrow." I think it is just as relevant today.

It is written so well that I won't attempt to re-explain it here. Go read the book. To try to understand the will of God, Weatherhead divides the subject into three parts:

1. The intentional will of God -- What is God's intention? What is his original plan or hope? If sin and circumstances did not interfere, what would God will for us? This is God's ideal plan for us -- and we can rest assured that it is good.
2. The circumstantial will of God -- We live in a world, though, where circumstances and evil -- sin -- interfere with the original intention of God. God doesn't leave us alone in these circumstances. His will works in particular circumstances, as well.
3. The ultimate will of God -- "God's final realization of his purposes" -- God will not be defeated, and his ultimate will for us -- redemption and reunification with God -- will happen. No circumstance can defeat his ultimate will.

As I read this, I thought about our younger son, J. When J was born, he suffered an injury to his right shoulder -- a brachial plexus injury. There is a bundle of nerves in the shoulder which includes those nerves which feed into the arm. During a brachial plexus birth injury, those nerves are stretched. If you try to touch your left ear to your left shoulder, you can feel the stretching in your right shoulder. This is how it happens. Either the casing around the nerves or the nerves themselves are torn. In addition, in J's case, one of the heads of a section of bicep in his arm was torn loose from it attachment to the shoulder. Luckily, infants -- tiny little cell factories -- have the capacity to repair some of this damage, and much of the damage done by J's injury did heal. Some did not, and he is left with limited mobility above his head and outward from his right side.

Was this the will of God? I don't need Weatherhead's book to tell me that it was not.

What was God's intentional will for J? I believe that it was that he would be a healthy, happy child, loved by his family and friends. I believe that God's intentional will is that J will grow into his faith, into his future, knowing the love of God. I believe that God wants J to be whole, in body, mind and spirit.

What was God's circumstantial will for J? The injury happened. It wasn't God's will, but it did happen. How does God fit into that occurrence?

• It takes only 5 minutes for a baby's brain to go from healthy to permanently damaged during birth. Five minutes. J was on a countdown. This was not a child that cried at birth -- he wasn't breathing -- he was purple. His at birth APGAR score was 3 (out of 10). God put people in that room that were well trained and able to respond to this emergency, and J suffered no brain injury at all.
• After his birth, his arm didn't move for six weeks. Nothing. When he was seven weeks old, we celebrated that he could shrug his shoulder -- just a little. God sent us to an occupational therapist who fell in love with our child. She worked with him, helping him to heal. She was a blessing.

What is God's ultimate will for J? It is the same as his intentional will, and it is coming to pass. J is whole, in body, mind and spirit. His arm does have limited movement, but it in no way defines who he is. He is a healthy, happy child, who is loved by his family and friends. He is growing in his faith and into his future. Challenges have presented themselves because of the birth injury, but they have been met. If J wants to do something, even if it is a challenge, he finds a way to do it. I often have to stop myself from expressing doubt or from trying to help. He doesn't need my help -- he does it on his own. God has given him a deep well of stubbornness which is serving him well in his circumstances. At times, he may feel the limitation, but, ultimately, the limitation has not shaped him.

God is good. All the time.

Tennis: G/M 8 : Fatima 6 --> This match was a testament to G's determination. I am so proud of him for not giving up. G and M were behind throughout much of the match. At one point, he looked at me sitting in the bleachers, and mouthed, "We're going to win this match." They came from behind, only through determination, and won. Go, G and M!