A promise (or two)

Joni Eareckson Tada said that God's children don't live on explanations but on His promises. *

This week during my bible reading two passages have jumped off the page shouting 'Alice' at me. 

        'My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.'
(Psalm 139)

This, and in fact the whole psalm, brings a lot of comfort to me as the mum to a child with a genetic disorder. We often read a children's version of this psalm. As we read ' I am wonderfully made, I jump for joy for what you have done', Alice jumps for joy around the room. Good, I want her to know this to be true with all of her heart, body and soul. 

The second passage is from Isaiah. I discovered it when Alice was ill; I read it every day and clung to it. So when it appeared on my kindle today, naturally my thoughts turned to Alice.

Even to your old age and grey hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
(Isaiah 46:4) 

I walked home today from a meeting with Alice's teacher, turning to God in my mind and wanting to talk to him about her. Then I realised that God had initiated a conversation with me about Alice days ago! And I realised the significance of these two promises together: He was there at the very start of her life, and he will sustain, rescue and carry her till the very end. 

*Diamonds in the dust by Joni Eareckson Tada