God, You reign majestic in macro galaxies,

You reign supreme in micro cells,

You are my God, because You have

Triumphed marvellously in my cause.

You, Lord, saw my potential

When I was a mere blob of dividing cells.

You sculpted my formless mass into limbs and organs,

Arteries and capillaries, nerves and hormones,

Even tiniest fingernails. 

Without Your intervention I was lost,

The experts breathed gloom and doom.

To them I was a nothing, a lost cause,

A regrettable accident of nature and human intervention,

Life's dice loaded against me.

But in my distress You graciously overshadowed me,

And saved me from an early fate,

They threw the dice for me,

But You determined the outcome.

When all was darkness for me

And I was confined in a tunnel so black,

Suffocating from lack of food and fluid,

When those, my supporters,

Were draped in black gowns of mourning,

Railing and groaning, 'Where is God?’,

You, Lord, inspired my tenacity,

You fired my determination to one day

Praise Your Name in the land of the living.

You gave me peace, and showed me light

At the end of that tunnel.

And now, Lord, my life has become a melody

Where once sounded a funeral dirge,

My face radiates joy and hope to all I meet,

My tiny body is perfectly formed,

Where once was a formless blob,

Unrecognisable, disposable.

No wonder I rejoice in You,

Because in my distress You did not abandon me,

You, lord, have nourished me,

You have called me by name,

And will direct my steps in paths of holiness

Until I'm back Home in Your House

When the course You have set for me is run.

Penned after reflecting on God's miracle of grace in the life of Sienna Sattler.

September 2005 witnessed the drawn out agonising over successive predictions by various obstetricians in Karratha and Perth that, due to cumulative complications in our daughter Jen's pregnancy, the embryo, and later foetus, would not survive. Only two possibilities presented - either miscarriage or still-birth. Consider abortion. Tense days of importunate prayer and obstinate faith in God's power to intervene left us all drained. Sienna was delivered 12 weeks premature, with collapsed lungs incapable of breathing. September 2006 a vivacious, perfectly proportioned little girl does all the things a normal baby should be doing, with captivating smiles, gurgles, and endless activity, a sheer joy to all.

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