A friend of mine recently had a traumatic experience. While at work, a dog bite took off part of her finger. Weeks of pain, surgeries, casts, pills, anesthesia … and it still wasn’t the end of the story. Her finger had gone into “shock mode”—any touch brought on fresh pain. It seemed almost paralyzed.
Two months later, I accompanied her to the physiotherapy clinic for one of her weekly sessions. By then, her finger had “petrified” from the trauma, and it would take many more weeks of gentle flexing and motion exercises until it would be normal again.
As I sat there, I watched the other patients in the therapy room, stretching, weightlifting, exercising. They were all different ages and had sustained varied injuries, so the physiotherapists were coaching each through their own personal program.
We all suffer blows at some stage in our lives—physical, mental, spiritual … sometimes all three. When a crisis hits, our faith takes a blow, and we can go into “shock mode,” where moving, let alone moving forward, feels impossible.
The therapy room reminded me how fragile we are. We depend on professionals to help and guide us. We trust that they know what they’re doing, they know what our body needs, and we surrender to the healing process.
In the same way, God wants to fortify our faith, mend our wounds, and soothe our spirits, if we’ll let Him. “The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.” 1 And He promised, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2
We can’t always prevent the faith shakers from coming our way. That’s just life. But it’s nothing to be afraid of. As long as we keep coming back to the therapy room to God’s welcoming arms and the strength of His Word, we will find the comfort we need, along with the power to heal and move again.
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Dear Jesus,
Sometimes I feel broken, even shattered, stunned by life’s events and challenges. I’m so glad You came into this world to save us. 3 I receive You as God’s Son, my Savior, and ask You to make me whole again.