Healing?

So, I'm laid up. This is my second week of chiropractic treatment for two bulging discs in my lower back - ouchie. Twice a week I ride the Fairfax Bronco to extend and reposition my discs. In-between I'm only allowed to stand or lie down - I'm forbidden to sit for more than 15 minutes. I now envy you sitting people - on the metro, in cars, in coffee shops and restaurants. Typing and writing lying down are my new skills; I must remember to update my CV.

This is an age old back story - years of bending over a field hockey stick, a fall on the stairs in 2000 and a near-death experience car accident in 2008. Dear knows how long these discs have been bulging, putting pressure on my sciatic nerve. Certainly since the accident in '08 I have only been able to sleep on my left side. Now it's early 2012 - how come it has taken me 3 and a bit years to do anything about it?

I blame sensory adaption. Or maybe a pessimistic resignation that I was always going to be that way. It's just how it is.

Yet, if 2012 is the year when I must decrease and He, Jesus, must increase, then all of me is up for grabs to be changed. The bent things will be straightened out; the pain and numbness will be replaced with freedom and sensitivity; the wounded bits that press on the raw nerves in my life will be bound-up and healed. He will make ALL things new.

When we say "increase in me Lord", He takes us at our word. Often the circumstances that come our way after uttering such wild desires take us to the end of ourselves. And it is there He stands and calls us by name to get out of the boat and walk on the water, imploring us to trust that He is faithful and good.

What pain and numbness have you in your life that you've adapted to accept as a done deal? Psalm 147 v3 tells us that God "heals the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds". The healing process isn't pleasant and He's often in no rush, but the end result will be beautiful.