Braving the Pain

Fourth of July weekend I stubbed my toe. Now, this isn't a very uncommon accomplishment for me. I stub my toe at least once a week walking absently into something. But this stub was different. I'm still not sure if I sprained it, jammed it, or what exactly happened; I just know it hurt. Excruciatingly. At first, I just felt that draining rush of blood from my head to my foot. That should've been my first clue it was more than your average stub. I could walk on it fine initially until I took one wrong step and heard (and felt) a loud pop. From that point on I had to walk on the inside of my foot to alleviate the pressure on my toe (the one right next to the pinky toe). After sitting in evening service at my church, my toe had stiffened and swollen and the pain had settled. It was heavy and incredibly painful to try to lift. I was panicked trying to determine how I was going to walk up the stairs, to the main door, and across the parking lot to my car to make it home. I knew I had to make myself take a step, but I was terrified, knowing the terrible pain that was bound to come with that step. I eventually sucked it up and inched my way slowly to the door, wincing with every movement.

Once home, I spent that night, the following day, and part of Fourth of July hobbling, hopping, and crawling around my apartment to do my basic every day tasks. The pain was terrible. It was the kind of pain that brings you somewhere between puking and convulsing in tears. But I knew there were a few crucial things I needed to make myself do in order to get better: Rest, ice, compress, elevate (the RICE method). I also knew I had to force myself to put weight on it. So I did. Little by little the pain got more bearable and eventually, in a mere 4 days, I was completely better.

In retrospect, thinking about this incident reminds me a lot of life. We get wounded and instead of moving forward, we let the fear of pain and uncertain keep us where we are. We nurse the wound but never take the steps to move past the hurt. This leaves us at risk of atrophy or a festering infection. In order to heal from whatever hurt we have in our lives we must be willing to take steps forward, no matter how painful at first. Eventually it will get more bearable, and eventually we will heal. Sometime we have scars, but scars are reminders that God has brought us through the pain.

In Scripture, God is called the Great Physician . This is generally in terms of the physical, but I believe this is also true in the realm of spiritual healing. He leaves us the choice of taking that first step forward in faith and braving the pain, knowing that God will carry us to the other side.

"Sorrow may last for the night, the joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5