As a mom, I am going to take a moment to write to you about how great my God is. Recently I received an email about my youngest daughter’s placement on the upcoming season for gymnastics. Under “normal” circumstances this email would not have been anything to cause the reaction in me that it did. But you see my daughter is anything but “normal”.

My daughter Jordan weighed only 4lbs. 2oz. when she was born. I had to be induced because of preeclampsia. I was 36 ½ weeks along and there was no concern about Jordan being born at that time. At the moment she was born I saw my doctor’s reaction. His reaction to her size has been permanently etched into my brain. It was a face of disbelief. She was so incredibly small. I could see the “logical” side of him with his wheels turning, surely going over everything to see why on earth Jordan was so small.

It was at this moment that everything started to go in slow motion- much like what you see in a movie. I remember hearing the word “nicku”. I came to learn very quickly that it wasn’t a word, but an acronym for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit- NICU. I looked down at Jordan as she was being passed from person to person and put in this glass looking shell with all these lamps. Some man in scrubs came rushing into the room. Jordan never cried. Why didn’t she cry? All newborns cry, don’t they? I felt so helpless lying there on the hospital bed and just watching what unfolded. It felt like the ticks on the clock were going so loudly, yet so slowly. I prayed, “God, if you are going to take her, take her now before I fall even more in love with her than I am at this very moment. God, I’m just not strong enough, take her if that is your plan.”

“Waaa-waaaa!” It was the most glorious sound I had ever heard. It was small, yet it was bold. It was a newborn cry that said, “Watch out world!” I remember seeing the guy from NICU turn around towards me and put his stethoscope around his neck. He looked at me and said, “She’s ok. She’s small, but she’s healthy.” He smiled and then left the room. After what finally seemed like hours (which in reality was probably just minutes), they brought Jordan over to me to hold. I felt like I was holding a baby made of fine china.

Over the next few weeks, everything that I thought I knew about being a mom was challenged by this adorable little bundle. I felt like a new mom, only worse, because I felt like I should have just known what to do for her in every situation. As time went on, Jordan never met even one of her milestones as a baby “on time”. It took her months to hold up her head, more months after that before she could sit up (propped up), more months still to crawl. Finally Jordan was one year old. I felt like we reached such a milestone with her. Her first year had been marked with multiple doctor’s visits, tests at the hospitals, and a few overnight visits at the hospital. I remember looking at her on her birthday and thinking that this next year was going to be much, much better.

You know that part in a movie when people say, “What could go wrong?” Yea, that was the equivalent of what happened during Jordan’s second year.

One day when Jordan was 16 months old while holding on to my index fingers, she took her first step. I was standing behind her. She took a step with her right foot and then she tried to take a step with her left foot. Her left foot didn’t lift off of the ground. Instead the top of the foot dragged along the floor. It dragged the “length” of the top of her foot including to her toes. Then it came flopping down on the floor. At first, I thought this was just her getting her “land legs”, but over and over again, she repeated this type of walking; step, flop, step, flop. At her next doctor’s appointment I mentioned it to the doctor. I helped Jordan show him how she walked. I saw that look again that I saw the evening Jordan was born.

After an MRI and an appointment with a pediatric neurologist Jordan was diagnosed with periventricular leukomalacia. It is commonly called PVL, which is a branch in the cerebral palsy tree. At the time of the diagnosis I learned that 75% of premature babies born with it do not live. I also learned that this particular brain disorder has a very short “window” of time in which it can happen. It can happen right before delivery, during delivery, or right after. I will probably never know when Jordan developed this.

Almost immediately Jordan was put in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. Jordan’s left side was extremely weak. If she had a toy on her left side and she wanted it, she would reach around with her right hand to take it. Her speech was mostly grunts. She couldn’t seem to control her tongue and her mouth very much. We all learned sign language in order to communicate with her. There was a lot of food that she couldn’t eat like most 1-2 year-olds could.

Finally, her second birthday came around. I did NOT even think anything about what the next year would bring; I just enjoyed celebrating her life. During that year, Jordan eventually graduated from occupational therapy and speech. (Her speech was not so much a graduation as it was that other children needed the speech more than her.) Then the time came when Jordan graduated from physical therapy. It was a time of celebration and sadness. Jordan’s physical therapist was Miss Dawn. In the past year and half Dawn became a part of our family. She was so encouraging and positive and was a rock during a hard time.

Upon graduation, it was as if Jordan just took off. Much like a child who has the training wheels removed. She was NOT afraid to take flight! She has always been very active and full of energy. Fearless is a word that I used to describe Jordan for years. If she falls down, she doesn’t let that stop her. She just keeps going. It’s actually very inspiring.

Fast forward to the present- Jordan is 11 years old. She is currently in gymnastics on her first competitive team. Her coaches say that her strongest side is her left side. One coach calls her “Muscles” and another coach says that Jordan has more strength than most athletes that he’s worked with. So, why is this? Is it because Jordan had all that therapy and Miss Dawn worked her so hard in the “therapy gym”? Is it because of her incredibly talented coaches who know exactly how to train an athlete? Perhaps it’s just Jordan; she’s just that strong of a person. I chuckle at the last sentence. As Jordan leans on my shoulder as I type this (reading along because it’s “interesting Mom”), we know why her body has been healed like this.

This is the God we serve. He takes all sorts of “impossible” situations and delights in turning them around. He is the reason that Jordan does gymnastics. He put that desire in her. He has healed such a broken body and we delight ourselves in His healing.

So, as I see where the coaches have placed Jordan for the next season, I couldn’t help but marvel at how awesome my God is! Only He can take a small infant that started out the way Jordan did and heal her to be the wonderful, young girl that she is today.

How great is our God? I answer that question with Scripture. Our God “is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20, NLT)