Hands of the Surgeon

Today, I am waiting on some news.  Someone I love is having surgery today.  It wasn't entirely unexpected as she hasn't been feeling well the past few weeks.  But a hospital is rarely anyone's happy place...with the obvious exception of new mothers.

I've been praying for her this morning and thinking to myself about being where she is right now.  I've had numerous surgeries over my lifetime...most of them outpatient.  I know the routine...the bright lights, ridiculously non-fitting gowns, and the stream of angels that monitor this or prepare that.  I know the taste of the stuff they put in the back of your throat that is awful tasting when you wake up and that horrible process of actually waking up that is something like part bad hangover and part paralysis with a touch of unreality mixed in. 

But I've gone through these surgeries because I needed something fixed.  I needed the pain to stop.  I wanted to be able to walk easily.  I had to be able to hear.  And today, I suppose, that is most assuredly the case as well.  So there she is.

Nobody likes to have the big words thrown out...major surgery...rehabilitation...cancer.  But sometimes those words are true...and they are our reality.  So, we pray, we have faith, and we hope for deliverance, and we put our trust in the hands of the surgeon.

I know that surgeons are ordinary people with extraordinary skills.  I recognize that they worked hard for the privilege of being able to heal others.  They were attracted to the art of medicine, and were able to possess the exact skill set to be successful in that endeavor...a rare sliver of the population.  Their schooling and training took years and more determination and grit than most people possess.  They gave up some freedom when they were young because the competition was so fierce that they couldn't risk it.  They excelled for years for even the remote possibility of being in that operating room today.  They endured rigorous programs, extreme competition, and the constant updating of their skills and methods.  And I for one and glad that they do...and that they even wanted to in the first place.

Because later today, someone wonderful is going to be in the hands of the surgeon.  But I also know that she will be in the hands of the Great Physician.  The former gives me confidence that she is getting the best care humanly possible and the latter gives me peace.  I hope and pray for an excellent prognosis.  After all, I honestly cannot imagine anything else, nor will I entertain it right now. 

So, my prayers go out that she will have peace through this process, that she will do well during the surgery, and that the news will be favorable.  I rest in the knowledge that it is in God's hands...and in the skillful hands of the surgeon. I am currently grateful for both.