This past week my mother had major spinal surgery. She was diagnosed with scoliosis many years back. What was once sporadic pain here and there had progressed to constant pain, preventing her from accomplishing routine daily activities. Just on aesthetics alone, the curvature in her lower spine had taken away 2 inches in height. During these last couple of years, the nerves that were housed freely around the spine had become entangled, then compressed between the vertebrae, causing pain 24/7/365. At this point, there wasn’t any option other than this major surgery, or she would end up in a wheelchair.
The option of surgery was on the table as long as I could remember, but my mother chose other less invasive options. She tried several injections: cortisone and nerve blocks, as well as physical therapy, which worked temporarily, until they didn’t. She found herself with no other option than the surgery, which is probably where she should have started in the first place.
Thankfully, my mother is doing well. The pain is severe, but considering what the surgery consisted of, is to be expected. My mother is fiercely independent, and this is the first time in my life that I have known her to have to rely on others. (The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree😊) You see, the first group of doctors allowed my mother to barter with them. They knew surgery was the true answer, but listened to her pain speaking out that she didn’t want to go that route. She wanted to try everything she could possibly try instead of meeting it head-on with the surgery. What they should have said was “No. These are all temporary patches for your pain and the surgery is the only solution for you. If you were my mother, I would insist on the surgery.” But they didn’t. They weren’t invested like that. Now, she has an excellent team of doctors that I know God placed in her path for a reason. There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel as far as her recovering and living a pain-free lifeand I am eternally grateful.
God allows me to somehow see things through the prism of our walk with Him, and this situation is no different. So, like clockwork, this morning I woke up at 4:45am with all these words in my brain. I know how the Holy Spirit works in my life at this point, and I know they will not go away until I type them out. Looking back, this is something Christ revealed to me in snippets when I was younger, and I just flat out ignored it. I believed that because of who I am, nobody would believe or care to hear anything I had to say. I finally accepted that Christ has called (crazy, short-tempered, mouthy, imperfect) me. By not getting these words out is not honoring my part of the covenant I made back in 2011 to be ALL IN to anything He asks me to do (John 14:15- “If you love me, keep my commands). What happens now if I don’t pen them immediately, is they become watered down and not as easy to articulate on paper. So today, I met Him in the middle and took notes to type out when I made it home from work.
I was drawn to the book of John today. The book of John is said to be the most personal account of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. This book was written to show that through belief in Him, we will be given eternal life. John 14:6- “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Let’s think about our own walk with Christ. This is just an honest question, no judgement here…But how many of us began our walk with Christ because we had literally tried everything else? If this speaks to you, that is completely fine. God is more concerned with having a relationship with you, than trying to determine what got you here. If you are drowning, you will attach yourself to anything to keep from going under. And that’s what happens to so many people in this world who are drowning from being in a constant state of emotional pain and proverbial darkness. You are so exhausted from living in a constant state of despair that things you never imagined yourself being interested in, somehow seem like a good idea. The sad part is, it seems there are more people committed to doing the footwork for evil than the footwork for Christ. Almost 100K people died from Fentanyl overdoses in 2023. Imagine how many of those deaths might have been prevented if someone would have stepped in to show them the light that is only found in Jesus Christ. But someone else got ahold of them and said, “You feel bad?…I know a guy.” When it should be US telling them the exact same thing.
Pain will make you do some crazy things, whether it be physical or emotional. My mother was in so much pain that she settled for so many temporary patches to keep her numb for the moment. And there were so many medical professionals she encountered along the way who just sat back and allowed her to be temporarily numb, knowing surgery would have cured it. And just like we know the cure is Jesus and sometimes we sit back and watch others wreck their lives. I am taking into consideration that there are instances where we have simply done all we can do, but sometimes we do nothing. Me included. All of the rabbit holes people spiral into when they have lost hope, we need to be more conscientious of trying to show them the light.
Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the light”
After we have exhausted other options, we usually end up trying to connect with Jesus. And since that’s where we usually end up, we may as well just start there.
Single Sarcastic Superhero 