Monday, August 27, 2012

Casting Care, Moving Forward


About 4 weeks ago, in a moment of having fun with her Dad, my daughter got a button fracture on her growth plate in her knee. In order to prevent further or worse injury, the pediatrician encouraged us to have her casted in a full leg cast.

For these weeks since, she learned how to operate as near normal as possible with the cast on her straightened leg, as it healed. It was amazing to see her overcome and make use of what could have been an enormous obstacle. She could run, even jump, and play with the cast on, and it didn’t even phase her after awhile.

Then came the day, when the Dr said she was healed enough for us to remove the cast. She was sore physically, and she was sad emotionally. The ordeal to remove the cast was scary for her. There was a loud tool that caused vibration and concern for her, and then came the removal of the hard exterior cast. Then the Dr cut off the inner cast material and the feel of the trimming scissors against her skin was cold and foreign. The Dr encouraged us to not use any ace bandages or other assistance device to help her in the healing process.  He advised no physical therapy was necessary.

Despite having been healed, it’s been a number of days before our daughter has put weight on her leg, and now she is just beginning to walk, but limping, and walking similar to when she had the cast on, casting her leg out to the side. She is growing more and more sure as the days go on regarding walking and her strength, but most of all, I can see in this whole process, the adversity she’s shown, the confidence she’s gained in processes of healing and the patience these experiences have taught her. Most of all, I can see how God is using these circumstances to strengthen her resolve and resiliency for future challenges and tests. The cast was temporary as a precaution, but not forever.

Much the same way this story of physical growth has unfolded for our blessed daughter, I can “see” how God gives us similar circumstances spiritually speaking.

Just as our daughter unexpectedly and unwantingly got injured while enjoying time and life with her dad, we too have come across situations, circumstances and people whom we’ve cared about that have hurt us and wounded us. Just like with my sweet daughter, God has allowed us not to come into that situation not because He doesn’t care, but because He has the knowledge, the tools, the ultimate care and the love to help us heal, and most of the time, to even better than we were before.  After all we are His. He’s created us and formed us, even knew us before we were formed in our mother’s wombs (He reminds us in Jer 1:5)

Our tests will always lend themselves to being our testimonies. Our trials will always be what instill in us the spirit and strength for overcoming all the other nonsense that might come against us in life. Most of all the “casts” that sustain us in the healing processes, no longer serve us well after those healing processes are coming to an end. God removes that thing, and in turn He becomes our ultimate protection. After all, He is who we were are ultimately searching for and needing to begin with, He provides the rivers of living water that are the only quenchable source of wholeness for our souls and “dry bones”. Therefore, He is ever removing the defense mechanism, crutch, thing or person that holds place above or beside Him.  When that temporary comfort is removed it will feel foreign and scary, but without it removed, we will be handicapped ultimately, and never complete, walking in our utmost capacity. What’s become our safety precaution to prevent further injury, will never serve us well, and God, our ultimate physician will see to it, to help you continue on your road to healing without any “cast”.  Is God speaking to you through this today? Is there a “cast” that He’s removed from you that you’ve been fighting to have back? Have you been stagnant waiting for Him to put it back on, so you can move forward? Or will you trust that He is there to see you through to healing and in turn making the move forward with Him?

See, God often allows things to happen to us, where He asks us to cast our care. (Psalm 55:22 (AMP) Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved). He sustains us in growth and strength from and through Himself, while we heal. He gives us circumstances and situations, from which are safe places, and protective things for us to heal from hurts and pains. But when it comes time for Him to remove those things so that we can fly again, we must not fight the process of change and newness. After all, those things were only provided for us as an interim safe precaution as we grow in Him and through Him.  Remember in 2 Corinthians 5:17, it is promised, “anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

The Lord will never allow anything to come upon us that’s more than we can bear. (1 Corinthians 10:13) He will never allow anything to happen to us that He can’t work for good because He loves us and our very life He’s given us is a gift, yes. But not for ourselves. He chose us! (John 15:16) We are put here on this earth to be the hands and feet of our awesome Father God. He’s not promised that life wouldn’t be hard or have its ups and downs, but He’s promised He will always be with us, giving us casts, blessings, help and hope in times of hurt and healing. He’s there, the great physician, the great helper, casting, caring, cutting away the unnecessary molds when we’ve healed enough to have them removed. He’s trusting you to put weight on that wound now. He’s trusting you to move forward, knowing that while you may not have seen it actually happen, the healing has occurred, and you can trust that now, moving forward, you’ll get to remake and remold those muscles, using gifts of spirit, hope, faith and patience, long suffering and gentleness, as you be gentle with yourself in the course hereafter of rebirth and remaking a strong leg in this spirit journey. You do have a leg to stand on. You do have muscles in this limb. They simply need to be tested again. Tried again. Believed in again, to be strengthened and honed for this race. A race to which He reminds us there is a prize of a crown that will last forever… to be in relationship and Kingdom come with His blessed, able, faithful and radiant Son. (1 Corinthians 9: 24-25)

There was this quote that hung, coincidentally, on my ex-therapists wall. I always admired it, but never really did I think about it until recently, how very true it was. From Anais Nin “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud, was far greater than the risk it took to blossom”. I propose today…what if those rough things happened so that you could blossom? What if God needed to allow those things happen with His protective covering over you, so that you can become all you are meant to be in Him? What if your sad story is actually your freedom song? What if we actually believed Him when He says, I am working all things for the good of those who love Me and who have been called according to My purpose. (Romans 8:28). Because really? What higher honor or blessing do we have than to be the son or daughter of The King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Our lives truly aren’t our own, and they are apart of a tapestry of Kingdom calling. Without the thread of your life in this tapestry, God’s greater plan would not take shape for His love of humanity and the world, which He so loves. Have you ever seen the back of a beautiful trapestry? (funny how I just typed tapestry accidentally, right? Because that’s what the devil would have us think! That it’s a trap where we can’t be ourselves or break free and this unfeeling, enormous, uncaring God just wants to use and abuse us-but that is a lie from the father of lies-Satan!) The back of a tapestry is a beautiful mess. It’s threads all over the place, but the front, what you cannot see from the back, is a gorgeous masterpiece. So what if your thread is manipulated and intertwined a thousand ways and times for the good of the whole. You are apart of it nevertheless, and in a big way!  Trust God and His plan for the threadwork of your beautiful life, your blessed life. That you woke up today, and have a heartbeat and pulse. That is a blessing. That means that He is not done with you, He’s just getting started. That’s hope. That’s blessing. That’s meaning and definition to it’s fullest. Keep moving forward in God. He’s healing the wounds and restoring them to even better than before. But you have to give Him something to work with!

Father God, I pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ now Lord. I thank You for them. For your love in them. Your light. Most of all Lord I thank you that even before they were formed in their mother’s womb You knew them and set them apart and declared them prophets unto the nations. Thank You that You’ve always protected us Lord and you always will. That you never allow more than what we can bear to come upon us, but helping us to keep our eyes on what You have for us, and in turn for Your Kingdom! We want to bless You and Your Kingdom God. We want to bless your people, and we want to not just have but enjoy the lives that Your Precious Son died to give us. Jesus be the Lord of our lives. Have all the authority and power. Take Control. We give it to you. Make us more like ourselves in You. Show us Your way, Your truth and Your life. In Jesus Name. Thank you for always giving us what we need, not what we want. We trust You Lord. All our hope is in You, and You alone. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Many Blessings and In His Love,
Amy O