She who limps still walks.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nThose were words I read on a Facebook meme last week. I saved the meme to my phone, because they remind me my limp isn\u2019t keeping me from walking \u2013 or even standing. It\u2019s keeping me from doing a lot of things I want and need to do, but hey, I\u2019m still upright. Still walking. Still striving \u2026 even if I\u2019m not thriving.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had a slight limp, off and on, for about four and a half years. For the past three and a half months, it\u2019s been more than slight, very painful, and mysterious. I\u2019ve been to chiropractors, physical therapists, a neurologist, and my primary care physician. None have told me what\u2019s wrong, for certain.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps a pinched nerve\u201d, one said.<\/p>\n
The others have said nerve tension, muscle weakness, misalignment of the spine, muscle tightness, spasticity, hip flexor issues, rotated pelvis \u2026<\/p>\n
I go to physical therapy, but I don\u2019t know why. The therapists are attempting to treat a condition they haven\u2019t yet identified. It\u2019s a guessing game and I\u2019m their guinea pig. They try one thing \u2013 maybe stretching, then another \u2013 maybe strengthening. And I\u2019m always going home with a compression brace, resistance band, or some other PT tool that has the potential to get me running like Forrest Gump, or better yet, Michael Johnson.<\/p>\n
Life isn\u2019t actually<\/em> like a box of chocolates (unpredictable, yes, delicious, no).<\/p>\nIt\u2019s more akin to a bunch of sour grapes, at times.<\/p>\n
In the first few chapters of Mark, Jesus ministers to many by healing them of their sicknesses and casting out their demons. Then He forgives someone of their sins without healing their physical troubles. The crowd cheered loudly at each healing, but when He jumped from healing to saying presumably crazy things like \u201cyour sins are forgiven\u201d, some whispered in their hearts \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cWho does He think He is telling people their sins are forgiven? Blasphemy!\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s always been acceptable to make a limping person run again, but as soon as sin is brought up and dealt with, the complaints come. Human nature doesn\u2019t change much over time. For instance, in today\u2019s world, it\u2019s common to cry for \u201cfree\u201d healthcare all around, but also common to push for the acceptance of almost any sexual deviation known to mankind.<\/p>\n
Heal us, but don\u2019t correct us, Lord.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nMake us walk again. But don\u2019t touch our sin. Leave it be. We don\u2019t need forgiving. We need health and wealth in the here and now. These are the attitudes we put out, and yet Jesus refuses to leave us there. Sometimes, He leaves our need for physical healing alone, yet heals us spiritually. Many times, He uses our physical ailments to draw us to Himself, as a tool for us to sense that we are indeed immortal, slowly dying, human beings whose bodies will one day perish, which often leads to questions about our spiritual state. Interestingly enough, in Mark, Jesus healed the paralytic after<\/em> He forgave his sins so that those watching had no question as to whether the Son of Man had authority on earth to forgive sins.<\/p>\nJesus has already forgiven my sins, but I\u2019ve been chronically ill for most of my life. There has been some healing along the way, but the last seventeen years have especially been a slow but steady decline. Five years ago, I was walking like a champ. Seventeen years ago, I ate a normal diet. Way, way back \u2026 forty years ago, my heart beat with a steady thump, thump, thump.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nWe are fearfully and wonderfully made, says the Psalmist. Also complex, if I may add a thought. And though scientists have made great strides in knowing and treating the human body, much of the machine that envelops our spirits is still a mystery.<\/p>\n
I<\/em> am a mystery.<\/p>\nMost of my health issues have taken years to diagnose. I typically suffer for a long, long while before doctors even take note, let alone diagnose me, probably because I\u2019ve contracted serious, debilitating, yet invisible diseases as a young person. \u201cYou look so healthy\u201d is a phrase I often hear.<\/p>\n
Where physical suffering is concerned, there isn\u2019t always an explanation, and healing doesn\u2019t always come. But our main need \u2013 our main sickness \u2013 isn\u2019t physical anyway. It\u2019s spiritual. And the Good News is that there is always a cure for our spiritual sickness, all for the humbling of ourselves and asking.\u00a0Like the paralytic sinner, we cannot heal ourselves. It takes a miracle to heal us physically, however that may come, and it takes an already-performed miracle to heal us spiritually, the only Way that could possibly come: through the death, burial, and resurrection of God\u2019s Son, Jesus. Believing in those events, and trusting in Jesus to cleanse us from our unrighteousness spiritually heals us.<\/p>\n
Whether I\u2019m physically standing is an issue, but it is not my biggest issue. Whether I\u2019m spiritually standing is everything. Ephesians 6 talks about putting on the whole armor of God, so that we may stand. Here are a few phrases from that passage:<\/p>\n
Be strong in the Lord.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nPut on the whole armor that you may be able to stand.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nTake up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand<\/em> in the evil day.<\/p>\nStand<\/em> therefore \u2026<\/p>\nThough I strive every day to stand physically, my deeper need is to stand spiritually. That\u2019s hard when your heart is weak, your stomach is paralyzed, your bones hurt, your muscles don\u2019t always work correctly. Your emotional and mental state suffer right along with your physical state, and it can all lead to spiritual weakness \u2026 faltering \u2026 falling.<\/p>\n
Pray that it not be so with me. I pray that it not be so with you. As Christians, we must stand. But we should take heart. For His Word tells us He will hold us fast (Ps. 139:10). That it is God who works in us, both to will and to work\u00a0for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).<\/p>\n
And my favorite \u2026<\/p>\n
That He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6).<\/p>\n
Thank God standing spiritually doesn\u2019t solely depend on me. I must stand. But He will hold me fast.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 She who limps still walks.\u00a0 Those were words I read on a Facebook meme last week. I saved the meme to my phone, because they remind me my limp isn\u2019t keeping me from walking \u2013 or even standing. It\u2019s keeping me from doing a lot of things I want and need to do, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2920,"featured_media":596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,122,148,206,18],"class_list":["post-2769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chronic-illness","tag-forgiveness","tag-healing","tag-sickness","tag-sin"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n