07/22/2026
My Bible study this morning took me to Isaiah 53, which is a Messianic prophecy about the Suffering Servant. This whole passage was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus and His suffering and death on the cross for the sins of the world. I read it in the study book I am using, but then I turned to the passage in my Bible and found all of these notes. The bottom one written in green caused me to pause. It says:
“Zach said on 7/26/22 - Evan’s side was pierced like Jesus. Evan’s piercing healed him. In the same way, by Jesus’ wounds, we are healed.”
Four years ago today was Evan’s first brain surgery, which was actually two surgeries in one - a corpus callosotomy and a VNS placement. The VNS accounts for the wound on Evan’s side. This was the surgery that was supposed to heal Evan and change everything for him. It did not. The seizures came back in 3 weeks. The VNS has never done anything for him that we are aware of. Almost a year later, Evan had another corpus callosotomy in an emergency situation, and that one didn’t work either.
As I was reading through this passage, I noticed that it says that the Suffering Servant is a “man of suffering who knew what sickness was.” (Isaiah 53:3b) Later, it says, “Yet he himself bore our sickness and carried our pains.” (53:4a) Jesus gets it. He gets how we feel when we are sick. He knows what pain feels like. When Evan has a seizure, He knows what that feels like. He was fully man while still being fully God when He was walking this planet. So He gets it. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
I don’t know why I have been more hyper-aware that this anniversary was coming, but this year, I have been. And it was interesting to me that the Lord put me in this passage on this very day so I could see that note. But He did. Maybe it was to remind me that He is faithful, even when the outcome was not as we hoped. Maybe He just wants me to know that He gets it. He gets that we were disappointed to go through all that stress of that first surgery only for it not to work. I don’t know. I don’t have all the answers. But I remain confident that I will see His goodness. One day we will know why. For now, we keep praying for Evan’s healing.
