engraved ...i'm afraid it won't be the same

 Nov 6, 2012 , Election day first time voting.The day was fun. Picture of thumb holding ballot.

The call came unexpectedly and she said I need to get my thumb checked and then broke down. My daughter was working on a metal sculpture project and had an accident with the metal grinder. She was brave and strong but in pain and shaken.

I quickly got to the location and picked her up and started to travel to the ER. She was stoic and quietly, and with tears said, "I'm afraid, it may never be the same!"

The thumbnail and thumb were ground down and nerve endings exposed. A painful, cleaning and  repair followed. We were grateful that a worse injury did not occur. 

I thought of the scripture about God "engraving or carving us" in the palm of his hand.

Isaiah 49: 15-16

^16 15 15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16  Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;(ESV)

15 [ And the Lord answered] Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will not forget you.

16 Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands; (Amplified)

I thought about how it is so hard to see those you love in pain and uncertainty.

"How Do You Handle Bitter Providences?

So the question is: How do you handle the setbacks, the disappointments, the abuses, the heartaches, the calamities, the bitter providences of your life?

"God is doing a thousand things in every one thing we see, that we know nothing about" (John Piper)

"God’s gracious purposefulness in our lives: God is sovereign, God is purposeful, God is gracious and it really matters.

Since He is so purposeful…  any time He does anything in your life; anytime he bumps you, He’s doing a million things! Every time God does one thing to you, he’s doing a million things. He knows the trajectory of every molecule He bumps another and another forever. And He knows them all. Millions of ages into the future. What happens now, makes a difference there… because everything relates to everything… when God’s in charge of everything. He’s always doing a million things in your life, when you see Him doing one thing, and you see two reasons and neither of them explain it and you’re mad at Him.

And I just said to my folks, “It’s not wise to get mad at God because you can’t see enough reasons as to why this just happened to you because there are a million… So, I regard it as gloriously significant that we have an infinitely, purposeful, sovereign, gracious, good, Savior who pursues us thousands of years before.."
(John Piper)

So  we will take heart and trust in the painful circumstance, knowing we only see in part.

Someday we will see clearly all that was being done in the background of our carving trials.