Nothing Like the Hymns
I have a hymnal I found as I went through some of the things at my grandparent’s home after they had both passed away. Most of my family sang in the choir at the small church we attend when I was a child. My parents sang all the time and I can still hear their voices when I think of a familiar hymn. Today as I read my daily reading through Isaiah (35:5–6)I heard those voices as an old hymn came to mind. This time, however, I heard my grandmother.
“Victory In Jesus” was one of my grandmother’s favorite songs. She sang it often even as dementia began to remove memories, she never forgot whose she was as she worshiped God daily! She passed away in the fall of 2014. At her service, we sang this hymn, but before lifting our voices, Brother Sauder shared the story of why this song meant so much to her through the years. My dad, Darwin, was the second of 3 boys and born prematurely. His eyes had not fully developed when he was born. After many visits to the doctor, they were told he would never gain his eyesight. He was blind. My grandmother was as faith-filled as she was stubborn and she had a phrase I will always remember, “you don’t know my God!” Now, I’m not quite sure how old he was, maybe a few months old, at the time, but 6 weeks after the doctor stated he was blind, she took him back. As she argued a bit with the nurse my dad began to reach for items on the counter. They took him back to see the doctor and sure enough he was regaining his eyesight. God can cause the blind to see.
The medical industry has come a long way since the ’50s and in 2016 my dad was able to have corrective surgery setting him to have 20/20 vision for the first time in his entire life. He’s had glasses and contacts, but your vision is never really as clear as 20/20. God’s timeline is not known to us, but we trust His plans. Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us that His plans are greater than ours and His timing is perfect. So as the second verse in that old hymn goes, “He makes the lame to walk… and caused the blind to see.” God gave way to the healing of my father’s eyes when he was just a baby and as plans would have it a surgery that had originally been discounted as possible for the condition of his eyes things changes and he was able to see the true colors of the masterpiece God has painted.
Speaking through the verse how “He makes the lame to walk…” I am again reminded of the unshakable faith of my grandmother. My dad’s younger brother, Gordon, was in a devastating motorcycle accident when he was in college. Sadly, it was an accident that took the life of his best friend and almost took his, however, God had other plans. Gordon has several injuries that lead to him being into a body cast for, I believe, 6 months. Of course, the doctors were skeptical about his future abilities to walk. Honestly, he was lucky to be alive at all. Once more, my grandmother would remain steadfast in her belief, “you don’t know my God!” When you spend any extended amount of time not walking getting back to it takes a lot of hard work and time. When broken bones and torn muscles are part of the cause for non-movement it increases the difficulty level. No matter though, Gordon walks just fine these days and dances when he gets the chance.
It was a blessing to see both come out of challenging experiences. The bigger blessing was that my grandmother’s faith passed down through her family. We all needed such faith as the years went on and we faced other challenges. Some God took away, others He took us through, in the end, God will always be my rock. I needed the kind of faith she showed me while I was growing up; I just didn’t always know how much I would need it later in life or how it would impact my life today.
In August of 2014 my husband, Steven, suffered a brain stem stroke. As he lay in an ICU bed the doctor informed me, “if, and that’s a big if, he survives, he will likely be in a vegetative state.” All I could remember at that moment was, “you don’t know my God!” I remember the stories of what God has done and what He could do again. Shortly after the doctor left the room Steven began to respond to the sound of my voice. He wasn’t waking up fully, but he would squeeze my hand when I asked him too. Eventually, Steven woke up and 6 months later he was fully cognizant, although his coordination and motor skills left him fully dependant on a wheelchair. Steven spent 1 year in rehabilitation facilities before coming home and a little more than 2 years working toward a goal of walking again.
Steven spent a little over 2 years working hard in therapy to build his coordination and motor planning skills back up. He had gotten pretty good at helping me with things, standing, and oh how I loved that his personality never changed. Steven struggled with his faith, but in 2016 he had a massive change of heart. He took a posture of even if I never walk again I’ll be okay, God has a plan. He still worked hard, but in the end, he was not bothered by his lack of independence should that be the plan for his life. We talked about my grandmother often and the things she taught me about faith. I shared her song of faith with him and he remembered the stories I had told of my dad and uncle. We sang that hymn in church so many times that it too became Steven’s favorite song. He knew that someday God would heal him, even if it was on the other side of Heaven. In February of 2017, two days before his 36th birthday, Steven joined my grandmother in Heaven to sing that song of victory in the presence of the God they love so much.
My dad and uncle are stories of recovery and healing. God brought them through their journey on this side of Heaven. Steven’s story is one of redemption and recovery; his full healing was in Heaven. However, his story carries on proclaiming, our God is not a God of ‘ifs’; He is a God of miracles. The miracle doesn’t always look the way you expect it, but God is on your side. He is not against you. When you mourn, He mourns. When you rejoice, He rejoices. When you hurt, He hurts.
