This is the 23rd of 25 special reflections based on lessons I learned from my mother. These will run from my birthday on October 27 until her birthday on November 20.
Read
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 139:16
Reflect
Mom lived quite a remarkable life, but that started on the very day she was born. In fact, it’s a miracle that I’m even here writing this reflection because it was a miracle that Mom survived the birthing process.
My mother was born in the tiny town of Carthage, Texas. Today, Carthage has a thriving population of about 6,500 residents, but in November 1939, there were about 2,000 people living there. That’s not to say that Carthage wasn’t a bustling place. It had some stores, a historic old jail, a diner and even a doctor. Just one.
I can’t remember his name, and it’s just as well. Mom said that years later, he put his own health at risk by doing surgery on himself. Thankfully, to the people of Panola County, he was more or less just a country doctor, which meant he was a jack-of-all-trades who tended to the many needs of the people of his community. He saw them from the cradle to the grave, but for Mom, the two almost came at the same time.
Mom was born breech, which means that her feet were coming out first. A well-trained doctor would know that he needed to try to turn the baby to ensure that its head was toward the front of the birth canal. A less well-trained doctor would probably go ahead and deliver feet-first. This doctor did something else entirely. He tried pulling Mom out by the feet – not a good idea. In the process, he broke one of her legs. Now just minutes old, my mother was in jeopardy of not living through her first day.
My grandfather jumped into action and gathered my grandmother and his newborn doctor into their car and raced toward the closest town with a decent hospital – Shreveport, La., which was about 50 miles away. Today that’s about a 50-minute trip on modern highways. In 1939, with less modern highways and backroads, it was probably closer to two hours. By the time they got to Shreveport, Mom was turning blue, but the doctors were able to correct the damage and set the leg.
The whole process of childbirth is so miraculous. It’s amazing that we start as a couple of tiny organisms that unite and form into a human being, but even then, we have to travel out of our mother and into the world. For the average baby, it’s a beautiful miracle, but my Mom had the elements of incompetence, danger, risk and adventure added to her first 24 hours. But along with the peril, Mom had something else – the Lord. He was there to ensure that she was able to live through that day.
I can’t say why the Lord who saved her on day one didn’t do the same when she faced breast cancer more than 60 years later. All I know is that He has a plan. He knew that she was needed in this world for those 60 years, and she did, indeed, touch countless lives in ways that no one else could. Just as He had plans for my mother, the Lord has amazing plans for each of us. You might feel like your life is accidental, meaningless or insignificant, but no one is insignificant when it comes to the plans of God. You can probably think about a moment when your time on this planet almost ran out, but didn’t. You’re here for a reason, so make the most of the time that God has in store for you by living each moment for Him.
Reflection copyright © 2025 Doug DeBolt.
