“The strong among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol, ‘They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword,’” (Ezekiel 32.21 NAS).
When our youngest child was a baby, she exhibited involuntary tongue tremors. Our family doctor sent us to a specialist who said these tremors were known as “fasciculations” and diagnosed Rachel with SMA (spinal muscular atrophy).[1] We were told she would soon be unable to lift her head or even swallow. She would eat by use of feeding tubes and, if we were lucky, she could live to her early teens. Her mother and I were crushed. We wept and prayed hard. So did many others.
After three months of learning to accept our baby’s condition, we obtained an appointment with a nationally recognized authority on SMA who was visiting the Pacific Northwest. He quickly analyzed her tongue and reversed the earlier diagnosis with words I shall never forget: “I’m not sure what it is, but its not SMA.” My wife and I wept again, hard.
Today, at nineteen, Rachel is a whirlwind of activity. She’s always on the go. Her every moving part is in constant locomotion. The tremor disappeared long ago and her tongue works well and often. Rachel has talked unceasingly for nearly two decades. If no one was listening, when she was a little girl, Rachel would speak to herself or the dogs and cats or her stuffed animals.
I LOVE this girl! She is just like her mother (whom I adored before she went to be with Jesus.)
