It's amazing what our bodies can do and accomplish considering that there are only 4 basic tissue types from which all our organs are made.  As I watch the Olympic Games with a severely sprained ankle, I marvel what these athletes can accomplish and I wasn't even able to step off a short wall without injuring myself.  So I watch the games and play with my microscope....and I wonder.  Can you identify where this tissue came from (what part of the body) and what tissues are present?

I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

"I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  These were the first words uttered in my Gross Anatomy lecture during my first year of graduate school.  I was so excited to finally be studying human anatomy! And then to have a professor stand at the front of a lecture hall before over 100 medical students and  3 graduate students and profess his faith with these simple words from Psalm 139:14 was icing on the cake.  He held a small bible and read these words, "I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  And to be honest, I don't remember any thing else about the lecture that first day.

But it was a dream come true.  Ever since 7th grade science, I wanted to study Biology.  I missed dissecting a frog because I was sick, but my teacher let me take it home to dissect.  There I sat - at our kitchen table, exploring the internal anatomy of a frog.  Most of my friends were disgusted by dissecting.  And maybe that's why I liked it  - I was a girl and I wasn't afraid of science.  Just an ordinary, contrary, teenager.  But that decision to like science set me on a journey that still continues today.

I enjoyed college and I was immersed in Biology at UNCW but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with a degree in Biology.  I explored lots of different careers and was blessed to be part of a Pre-Med Club that brought in speakers - physicians, physical therapists, physicians assistants, teachers, scientists.  But it was a single class again that changed the course of my life - Anatomy and Physiology.  Up until this point, I was pretty certain that I was going to become a Physical Therapist.  I had volunteered at a hospital for a couple of summers.  I even talked with the PT Department at UNC.  But I couldn't let go of how much I enjoyed Anatomy and Physiology.  On top of that, I took a histology class that ultimately sealed the deal.  I walked by a display of post-graduate opportunities and chose a pamphlet randomly - Bowman Gray School of Medicine - because they had an Anatomy Department.  I could take Gross Anatomy!  I later found out that the professor that taught my Anatomy class at UNCW was a graduate of Bowman Gray and I am sure I was accepted in part because of his recommendation.

And so there I sat, in complete awe as my graduate career began with "I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  God works in amazing ways - ways that we don't always understand.  My journey to graduate school was not a straight path but I knew at that moment that I was exactly where God wanted me to be.  And as I sat there, I thought I knew where I would end up...but again God had other plans.  Even when life changed unexpectedly I found that I could, along with that beloved professor, say "I praise God, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."