After the Fall

Just before Thanksgiving, my oldest son broke his elbow in a minor dirt bike accident. Now he is not into pain of any type so this was a tragic experience for him. So you can just imagine how worried he was going into surgery to reset his elbow. His procedure was completed at one of the top Children's Hospitals in the Atlanta area. They had all these things in place to accommodate children and their insecurities with surgery. A very peaceful place for anyone!! Prior to his surgery being scheduled, he had to see a specialist that ran tests to determine where the break was and what would be the best procedure to reset his elbow. Justin had a bucket of tears before an xray was taken!! I tried to comfort him and tell him that everything would be ok, he just needed to relax. On the day of his surgery, the surgeon, the intern, and a nurse social worker came in to talk to Justin, individually, about what their role was, what he could expect and to allow him to ask any questions he might have. They were all trained to comfort him before his experience. But Justin was so scared and nervous going in that he couldn't hear the peace that was being spoken over him. His thoughts of what could or might happen scared him so that he was worrying about something that was only in his mind. His anxiety made everything exaggerated and caused his pain tolerance level to decrease. After his very successful surgery, they returned him to his room drugged up and sleeping peacefully. The nurse explained to me that he had been given four different pain meds and had actually been given a double dose of one. She told me that his mental state made him think that he was still in pain. His body was pain free, but his mind would still desire to be free of the pain, but it didn't realize that everything was ok because it was psyched out. She explained that he might wake up and cry out that he was in extreme pain because of this. He did wake up a little groggy and cried of discomfort but quickly fell back off to sleep. Once he had slept off all his meds, he awaken to ask me when did he get back in the room. All he remembered was watching TV and the staff coming in to talk to him. He had lived through his experience with no idea of all that had really taken place to heal him and bring him through.

Did you see yourself in any of that? I saw me! I have panicked about things when God has sent people to speak peace into my life....He has even spoken to me directly and yet I still struggle with worrying. You have to learn to see things differently and to listen to and remember God's promises. He does keep his promises, they just don't always happen when and how you want them to. You have to trust that He won't hurt you, in a mean and vindictive way. But He has to examine you to find out what's wrong with you so He will know how to heal you. You must endure some pain during the process. His word says "be anxious for nothing" (Philippians 4:6 NKJ), so don't let anxiety trick you into believing that things in your life are worse than they really are. God has things already worked out for you!! Even when you think that you have messed up, you are still on track with God. Free your mind to see things with God's eyes and not your mind. "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is." ~Romans 12:2 (NLT) When we truly grasp hold to this simple concept, we will begin to experience God in a new and exciting way. 

Luv Ya!!
IB