Patiently Waiting!!
These past months have required that I in many ways “be patient”. I am not fond of being 'a patient' and not being able to do for myself, and I am certainly not patient by nature!! Having gotten through the months of pain, casts and airboots, I somehow figured that after a couple of weeks of physio, things would be close to normal and I could do all the usual activities. But that is not what I was taught as a nurse or what I had conveyed to others in similar situations, so why did I expect it to happen like that?
One thing I have realized is that it is not getting through an experience which makes it a valuable life lesson, but it is how you come through it and what you learn from it. I don”t personally think I have learned to be patient through this experience, but I have realized a few things. I can empathize much better with those who have to be in wheelchairs. It is so unbelievably hard to reach up to shelves and worktops etc from a wheelchair. So often you need the help of someone else to get things.
I realize that there is “no gain without pain” in the area of physiotherapy and rehabilitation. A definite amount of determination and stamina is required to be able to continually hurt yourself with the goal of getting healthier! This is where I am at the moment in this process, and believe me, I am still impatient to see quicker results!
In our Spiritual lives, every experience we go through can be seen in this way! Sometimes we go through an experience and come no better out the other end, while at other times depending on our reaction we can learn from it. If we are willing to take each day as it comes, trusting the Lord to use us because of what has happened we can be sure He will. If we firmly believe that nothing can happen to us which is not according to His divine and Perfect Will, then He can use us in every situation He allows us to be in!
Why do some people who are very sincere believers go through periods of doubt or depression? Could it be to help those who suffer from these ailments? If that is the experience you are in at the moment, hang on in there, He has allowed it for a purpose and will use you in the lives of others for His glory if you allow Him to. How much easier it is to accept advice from a person who has been through the same experience as you and knows exactly how you feel.
If you are not in any situation you would rather not be in at the moment, don”t judge those who are or their reaction. Chances are you will go through some stuff someday and be called upon to come through not somehow but triumphantly. Dr, Harold Willmington often said, “Believers are either in trouble, coming out of trouble or about to get into trouble!” How do folks manage, without Christ to lead them through?
As I grit my teeth each day to the pain of trying to mobilize this ankle joint, or at the fact that it takes so long to do what I used to be able to do in a half the time, I have to remind myself continually that it has been allowed for a purpose in my helping others along the way, and in that case, it is worth it.
I have had more time to read and pray for people who need it, more time to concentrate on the needs of so many of our friends. I have time to reflect on the events which have passed and recognize why they happened as they did. How important it is to pray for those struggling to come to terms with health issues, who need that special touch of our Heavenly Father, and not only that they will be made healthy, but made whole, having learned that no experience is wasted if God allows it to happen to you.
And maybe also, just maybe, I could become a little more patient after all!