One step forward, two steps....

Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. I Thessalonians 4:1

Good morning, my dear friends,

Photo: greyerbaby pixabay

Many of you are aware of my knee problems that occured in April. My knee ached from time to time, and I thought it was my age who was catching up with me a little. Then, walking downtown one day, I made a wrong step, and I found myself on the ground. A few phone calls and a visit to the doctor later, the verdict was in: sprained right knee, and I was off to the pharmacy to get myself a leg brace.

For three weeks I kept my leg stiff, trapped in its steel and velcro cocoon, until its transformation into a healed knee was complete. For two weeks, it worked, and I walked, my injury an afterthought, almost forgotten. But gradually, the knee problem returned, and now I find myself again in my brace with other appointments and medical visits in sight.

This has literally been a one-step-forward-and-two-steps-back kind of month...

(Sigh)

What discourages me most about this story is that I was very careful to take my time before resuming walking. Oftentimes when I am sick and I have to stay in bed for several days, as soon as I feel better, I jump out of bed and try to make up for "lost time." Often I end up back to bed for a couple more days. I was determined this time, having heard all the advice of friends who have had knee problems,to be wise, and to not force my recovery.

Finding myself in the same situation now that I was two months is frustrating.

This makes me think about the number of times I do exactly the same thing, spiritually, regarding my walk with the Lord. There are moments in life where I enjoy a close relationship with God. I spend a lot of time praying, reading God's Word, training up my children in the way they should go, and sharing my faith with people around me. For other times, I seem to have no momentum in my spiritual life. I lack strength, and the efforts to live a full life for God become impossible.

With a life that looks so much like a roller coaster, it is not difficult to understand why I do not always lead a victorious life in Jesus. If only I exercized the same precautions in my spiritual life, as I do with my health.

In thinking about the two, here were some ideas that came to my mind this morning:

I must follow the instructions. My doctor gave me precise instructions for my knee: keep the brace on during the day, sit down with the leg elevated as much as possible, and to move as little as possible for three weeks. I could not hope to see my knee heal if I neglected the doctor's instructions. If I think I know better than the doctor and ignore his advice, it will not help me either. Spiritually speaking, I can not neglect my time of Bible reading, nor follow my own wisdom, and hope to have a healthy walk with God. Jeremiah 7:24 reminds me, "But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward."

I must stay consistent.  Hearing and reading  the instructions from my doctor, will not help me either if I do not follow these instructions in a consistent manner. I can not for example, keep my leg elevated one day and go jogging the next. I can not say one day that I'm tired of following those instructions, and drop everything because I'm tired of sitting all the time. Spiritually speaking, it is the same thing. I can not say "no" to sin one day, and allow the same sin in my life the next day, just because I feel like it, or that I am "tired" from the "constraints" of a holy life . I Corinthians 15.58 tells me that there is only one direction in my walk with the Lord:  forward.  "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abouding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

I must keep my eyes on the goal. My goal for my knee should not be simply to be finished with medical visits or to get rid of my brace. My goal is to walk as well as before, and perhaps even better than before. I Thessalonians 4:1 also sets for me the goal of my walk with God:  to ressemble the image of His Son: "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more."

This week, I still have some tests at the doctor's, X rays and MRIs, to find out what's really going on with my knee. I hope that by the end of this week, I will have more information and more treatment options. And it will get better, if I take the time to listen and follow the instructions the doctors give me.

In time, I hope to regain the ability to walk as before, and, perhaps even walk better than before.

May God help me today to have this same desire in my walk for Him.