Submitted by Jody Malm of the Sheridan Lk. housechurch.
Twisted Ankle!
Time to rest, put your foot up, ice, heat, and stay off of it. Stay off of it, stay off of it…..
I have to work, I don’t have time for this, I see the plants need watering, garden needs weeding, I see the berries need picking, I see the clothes need washing, put on the line, folded, put away, the dishes need washing, I see, I see, I see.
Sit, put your foot up, ice……sit.
Read a book, so I get up and stack some books beside me. I’m thirsty, a bottle of water, hmm a pot of coffee, I get up and make one. Bring out a tray of snacks, what else could I possibly need. Oh, my lap top, could email, get the cemetery paper work done, yeah, get caught up. Off I go….hobble, hobble, hobble.
I hear the voice in my head say, I want you to rest, do you want this to re-occur, you need to listen to me. DO YOU HEAR ME?
Sometimes people think bad things happen because the devil is playing havoc in our lives. I choose not to think that way. I guess I try to find the good in most areas of my life and believe that things happen for a good reason. I may not know, now or ever, what the reason was, but it helps me to be in a better place.
Example; ankle twisted, not the greatest of timing, out on a jog, good distance from home, plus a paddle. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to be with me, my husband, encouraging and offering lots of help. Not that I took much, I’m stubborn, stupid….
Now I am resting, just as God wants me too, and the good of the twisted ankle is coming thru, I have seen a friend, I have had another friend bring me a support boot, I have stopped moving and caught up on bank books, emails, wrote a couple of cards, relaxed and slept. I read and read my bible; it has been a while since I have stopped.
I don’t do stopped and rest very well. I like to think too much. For me, if I don’t stop and listen I don’t hear God’s plans for me. So now I have to stop. Was the twisted ankle a bad thing or a good thing? It could have been so much worse, so I like to think this is a good thing.
So now I pray that the stuff in my life is set aside, so that I can hear God’s voice, listen to the words that are spoken to me. Be open to God’s plans for me. I think at times that the only time I listen or call out to God is if it is a major decision I have to make or an important step of faith that I want to take. It’s not in the daily tasks that I hear or ask for his guidance. Yet why not, if I start each day off in prayer I know from past experience it makes a huge difference to the outcome of my day, not because it was perfect. I handled each situation better, I had a kind and gentle heart, and I didn’t anger right away and most of all I was slow to speak. All the things we are taught again and again by God to do.
And He said, “My presence will go with you and I will give you rest.” (Ex.33.14)
Interesting. When God is with us, we have the rest that we need. I had forgotten this, truly forgotten. Rest doesn’t come from stopping work or a twisted ankle, it comes from God. It comes from us listening to him, hearing his voice, anywhere at any time, remembering that he is with us. I am so excited by this very thought. It feels like I have just heard it for the first time. Yet it is not. It’s just been a while since I have listened and heard God’s voice. How silly of me …. how rested I feel, Thank you Jesus, Thank you.
By Jody Malm
pic courtesy of www.dreamstime.com
