It's been one month today since I posted my last blog. I hope you'll forgive me for taking so long. As you know, I've tried to post about every two weeks or so. But on June 5, I had reconstructive surgery on my left foot. Also, one of the two perineal tendons in the same leg had ruptured. They repaired it at the same time.
Going into the surgery, I knew that I would be down for about two months (or even a little longer) without being able to put weight on my foot, thus being out of work. So I determined within myself that I would not waste that time, but would do a couple of things that I've dreamed of doing.
First, I've wanted to write a book for a long time. Years ago, I thought that my first book would be a devotional book. I even started writing it. But about a week into a four week series of devotions, other things seemed to capture my attention more than writing. So I laid the computer down and never finished the book. However, this time, I have completed my very first book! The initial first draft is under review as I write this and I will follow up with some editing, I'm sure, before shopping it to publishers. To top that off, I actually started my second book just yesterday!
Second, I had determined that I would start learning to play guitar. I had started beck in 2008 when in IL serving a church there, but had walked away from it almost entirely since then. There were very few times when I had even picked it up to see if I remembered the two or three chords I'd learned. I'm now a week into practicing again and am taking lessons on my computer, which is VERY COOL!!!
What I have learned, or maybe learned again, is the importance of process. In reality, process isn't bound to just physical healing, there is process in every single facet of life! But the importance of the process is what has really been driven home. It is the process that will prepare and prosper us and make us ready for our promise.
I love sports! Football and baseball are my favorite two to watch, but I also love tennis, volleyball, and ping pong (or table tennis). I wonder what would happen if, in football, a team could just skip the season and go straight to the Super Bowl? I've not done a poll of NFL players to see, but it would be my guess that there probably wouldn't be a single team that would take that opportunity. Why? They wouldn't have had the chance to prove themselves worthy of the Lombardi Trophy!
There is a testing of wills that happens on the playing field, especially between two equally matched teams, that determines who wants the championship more. When an athlete stands having won, or helped the team win, the championship, he or she stands with flashbacks of every hard knock, every victory that it took, every extra hour of practice put in to taste the taste of victory in this moment! Being the champion is the reward for the faithfulness and determination of the athlete. It's commonly referred to as "playing with heart."
For months prior to my surgery, I had been praying for healing so that I wouldn't have to go through the surgery at all. Healing never came. Even though God has come through for Michelle and I in so many ways, I still wondered why not healing too. Why was God withholding something for which I prayed so diligently? But my actions didn't back up my prayers. I asked for healing, but as a diabetic, I never checked my sugar levels as a diabetic should. Going back through the years, I'd never exercised correctly, eaten anything I wanted, and expected God to just leave me alive and ticking in a healthy state.
But we, especially my generation and younger (I'm 43), have grown up in an extremely "entitled" attitude toward life. Technology has fueled this feeling of entitlement delivering what we want when we want it. But technology's blame would need to be lumped in with so many other conditions that have shaped us and molded our minds into thinking we "deserve" the American Dream to which we hear so many references. Yet that would be like never playing the season and going straight to the Super Bowl. There would be no process involved.
I prayed for healing and even told God that I "wanted" it. But did I really? I wasn't taking care of my body. So what if God had provided healing? Chances are that I would have ended up right back in the same boat from which I'd come. No time would have passed until yet more problems would have surfaced due to the fact I'd never "played the season." My only claim would have been the trophy with no faithfulness or determination exhibited. No process.
As it is, I've checked my sugar levels an average of six times daily and have maintained a 137 average, which is extremely good for a diabetic! My levels prior to surgery were averaging over 250. I'm able to keep them better under control just because I have developed a discipline of checking. I also have a plan of exercise that will start as soon as I'm able. I've been introduced to the Beachbody Company and have been on their Shakeology product daily since my surgery. This has fed my body every vitamin and nutrient I need for a single day. My healing has gone much faster than was originally anticipated all because I'm "playing the season." I'm remaining diligent. I'm embracing the process.
Think back to scripture as people were healed. Some were healed on the spot before Jesus was well known in the region. But as His fame grew, people would "play the season" and determine to get to Jesus for healing. The woman with the issue of blood fought distance and a crowd to get to Jesus and just stretch out to touch his garment. The young paralytic man was carried by his friends and let down through a hole in the roof that they had torn away just to be laid at the Savior's feet. Even going back to the Old Testament in accounts like that of Naaman, the leper, who was told to go wash in the dirty Jordan River seven times to receive his healing.
There is a common thread here. The healing was a gift. But there was an action asked of each, that was perfectly doable by each one - nothing even remotely physically impossible, before the gift would be handed over. God wanted to see if there was indeed desire behind the request for healing, or if healing would turn out to be a momentary convenience.
What have you asked from God? If you're like me, when you've asked, He's shown you what it is you are to do in order to receive that which you ask. It's never much. He just wants you to show faithfulness and determination - to play the season, embrace the process - before he hands you the trophy you desire. Teams never have to buy the trophy of the rings. They are given. Your healing, or other blessing for which you've asked, can't be bought from God. It is a gift. It is our reward.
God created you in such a way as sickness was never intended! Scripture even says that the stripes Jesus took leading up to His crucifixion were for our healing ("by His stripes we are healed" - Isaiah 53). God does not desire to have anything withheld from you at all. You're His child! Jesus said, "Whatever you ask in My name will be given to you." God's not dangling something in front of you that He never intended for you to have. He's just waiting on you - on us - to embrace the process. He's waiting on us to understand that there is a season that must be played before the trophy is given.
What can you do before your healing that would ensure sustainable health after your healing? Exercise more, or even start exercising? Eat healthier? Check your sugar levels? :-) What is your Jordan River? What is your house with a roof that must be torn away? Your healing - your blessing - waits just on the other side. Don't miss out on it because the water looks dirty or the way in seems blocked. There's healing in the muddy water. There's a way to make a hole. Embrace the process. Start now!
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