What Difference Do It Make? by Ron Hall Page A

wanted know. “What possible purpose could this serve?”
    The risk of death loomed like a phantom. But there was another risk: even if doctors could repair the AVM, they said, the surgery could leave the left side of Carina’s body paralyzed for life.
    After weeks of painstaking research, Carina selected Don Woodson, a renowned Phoenix neurosurgeon, to perform her operation. And she continued to battle her fear with prayer. “I asked that the Lord’s hands be on the surgeon’s hands as he operated on me.”
    When the time for the procedure neared, Carina flew to Arizona and checked into the ICU of the hospital where the surgery would be performed. The day before the procedure, a nurse came to check on her. Still gripped with anxiety and looking for comfort, Carina asked her, “What kind of surgeon is Dr. Woodson? What’s his reputation here?”
    The nurse offered a reassuring smile. “When Dr. Woodson is in surgery, it’s as if God is using his hands.”
    Carina’s heart soared! It was as if the nurse had spoken aloud the answer to her prayer.
    The next day, Carina emerged from surgery with full mobility and her AVM successfully repaired. Back at home, members of her church beat a steady path to the Delacanals’ home, bearing meals and offering babysitting. One close friend also brought a stack of books.
    â€œAs a mother of four boys, I have very little time for myself, so just reading my devotion for the day was a huge accomplishment for me,” Carina says. “I was about to give the books back when my friend pulled one from the stack and held it out.”
    â€œThis book was very special to me,” she said.
    Carina glanced at the title: Same Kind of Different as Me. She was unimpressed. Still, to be gracious, she thanked her friend and took the book. That day, with little to do but sit still and let her brain heal, she lay in bed and turned to page 1. And before too many pages had gone by, she says, “It was as if God gave me new eyes to see and new ears to hear!”
    Reading the story of Denver’s slavelike upbringing and his eighteen years spent homeless on the streets of Fort Worth, of Deborah’s cancer diagnosis and her battle against all odds, and of our crazily unlikely friendship gave Carina a new perspective on the terrible trial she’d just been through.
    â€œI began to laugh to myself, wondering if I went through all that I did just to get me to sit down and read this amazing true testimony,” she told us. “It went to my hands, through my eyes, and straight to my heart!”
    With her new eyes, Carina could see with crystalline clarity God’s shepherding kindness in her own life. The trial by fire of illness had drawn her and her husband closer, like two lovers huddled together before a campfire on a bitterly cold night. In fact, their season of fear had drawn her whole family closer to each other and closer to God.
    In addition, knowing she could have lost forever the ability to use the left side of her body gave her new appreciation for what she was able to do. “I would never again take for granted the gift of serving,” she says. Now the simple ability to change her baby’s diaper by herself seemed a miracle.
    That she had children at all was a miracle too. During consultations leading up to her surgery, doctors had told her that if they’d found the AVM before she had children, they would have advised her to avoid getting pregnant at all costs. Each of her pregnancies could easily have caused the AVM to burst.
    But that hadn’t happened. Suddenly Carina could see that God had protected her every day of her life, only revealing the AVM after she had four beautiful, healthy sons.
    â€œOur pastor had an explanation for why I didn’t realize until later how God had held my hand every step of the way,” Carina says. “He says sometimes you can only understand why things happen