bigger plan
17 August 2010“God works in mysterious ways.” I’ve heard that many times throughout my life, taking it as a cliché if anything. I knew God existed and loved us, but how he acted in our lives? He gave us free will. Him “working in mysterious ways” was… grey area that I decided to ignore and neglect.
That changed this summer.
I posted earlier about how summer’s plans was rudily changed yet goodness seeped through nevertheless. I have another story.
There was a woman named Jamie Renfrow who attended Point Loma Nazarene University. Throughout her whole life, she dealt with Cystic Fibrosis, which causes lung infections and other negative symptoms that affect the entire body. I never knew her until a few weeks ago, when she was attacked by an extreme case of pneumonia, placing her on life support.
Family and friends prayed constantly. Friends asked friends who didn’t even know her to pray. She was scheduled to be pulled off life support, but miraculously, the doctors received a donated pair of lungs. Late Saturday night, Jamie underwent an extensive surgery and it ended in a success. When hearing the news, I was overjoyed. I thought all was well.
Monday morning, I woke up and I read the most disturbing news: Jamie passed away. Apparently, she developed blood clots to the brain due to a ridiculous amount of CO2 in her blood.
I don’t get it. Not the science, but the justice. Why did this happen? Jamie just graduated from PLNU and was newly wed for a few years. I don’t understand why this case had to happen. What’s wrong with this picture here? Is God a cynic—toying with our minds with hopes that she’ll recover?
I don’t think so and neither did her husband Rony.
As Foreman and Lewis put it, it’s these tragic things that help us understand that there is something better beyond this broken world. She is in a better place where her lungs will no longer fail her. More than that, we are reminded that there is a better place.
I don’t know what God’s purpose was to take her home. I’m not sure if I will ever conciously know, but I’m sure there’s a reason. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from television shows, it’s that there are so many choices that one can take that will lead to a seperate road and a seperate future. Jamie’s death is a part of the road that we’re all interconnectedly on. Possibly some miracle will happen because of the organs she donated. Possibly some miracle will happen to Rony. We don’t know at this moment and maybe we will never know conciously. All I know is that before this summer, I never knew who Jamie or Rony Renfrow was. Today, I know two fellow brothers and sisters.
We may not desire God’s actions. We may not understand them immediately. But I do know this: God doesn’t just plan for the short term and the now; He has something for us all in the grand plan.
[To read Rony's story and remarks of Jamie's journey home]
