Day 53 - August 7 - Turn and see

I've mentioned over the past few days how Connor is struggling with depression. To date we have not had to resort to medication for that, thankfully. One of the things I was doing with Connor yesterday morning was what I've decided to call "turn and see". Here's the idea -

The moment in time is right after the Lord had crushed the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. The water is swirling back into place, and every Israelite in the nation is facing - which way? Back the way they had come. At that point in time, they looked back over the ground they had covered, and could see all the things God had done for them to bring them safely this far:

1. He released them from slavery (Exodus 12:30-32)
2. He gave them the wealth of Egypt (Exodus 12:35-36)
3. He gave them His very presence night and day (Exodus 13:21-22)
4. He made a way for them through the sea on dry ground (Exodus 14:21-22)
5. He delayed the Egyptian army long enough for all of Israel to cross (Exodus 14:24-25)
6. He rescued them by destroying the Egyptian army (Exodus 14:26-29)

Then they turned around to look forward, and do you know what they saw? Desert, as far as they could see. No water. No food. Somewhere around a million Israelites needed to eat and drink on the way to the Promised Land, and that's what they saw. For three days. No water, and when they did find some, it wasn't fit to drink. No wonder they grumbled.

But, in addition to what they saw, what did they know? They knew two things:

1. God is with us - see that big pillar of fire and pillar of cloud?
2. God tells us that there's a really great place we're going to get to, one of these days.

I believe God wants us to learn the lesson the Israelites had a hard time with, so I play "turn and see" with my kids, and we turn and see what the Lord has done to bring us to this place:

1. A friend big enough to manhandle Connor out of the water is in the water with him at the time of the accident.
2. Two ER nurses that know how to stabilize a neck injury are on the beach.
3. A trauma surgeon is the camp doctor that week.
4. In the 1930s, a man named Igor Sikorsky perfected a practical helicopter, 70 years later allowing a 2+ hour drive down twisty mountain roads to be shrunk to 17 minutes of flying time and get Connor to the ER during the most critical first hours.
5. God straightened the boy's vertebrae when the doctors could not (see "I guess miracles do happen!" Day 8 - June 23).
6. God miraculously healed his arteries when the doctors thought they couldn't fix it (see "Surgery Part 2" Day 9 - June 24 and "Results are in" Day 10 - June 25).
7. God answered repeated prayers to clear up pneumonia, to get him off the rotating beds, and to clear him up from the superbugs.
8. God answered prayer to give Connor a full pass on the swallowing test, something few people can do.
9. God has allowed us glimpses of hope - sweating, pain sensations, some occasional feeling in his feet, spasming reflexes.
10. God has met absolutely every one of our physical, emotional, financial and spiritual needs every single day for the last 53 days. Praise the Lord! Much thanks is due to you all for that major blessing!

Once we're done looking at what God has wrought, we turn around and face forward - and see the desert. It's dry. It's dusty. We can't see the other side, but it sure looks desolate.

But we know two things - there's a great promise awaiting us at the end of this journey.

And God is with us.