I was thinking about our knees, thinking back to my initial anatomy class when I learned that it's held together by four ligaments. Two on the sides, and two that cross in the middle. If any one of those ligaments is injured, the knee can still function! You can still walk, bend it, and even run around, but it's just a tad unstable and it's even easier to injure it further in strenuous activities.
Those other three ligaments will take on more weight until the hurt one heals. BUT. You can't run around forever with only 3 out of 4 working ligaments. If you don't let the one heal properly, the additional strain on those healthy ligaments will wear them down a LOT sooner. They weren't designed to take that extra weight. On top of this, they will become extra tense on the working side, meaning they can rub harder on the bone, they will begin to fray like an old rope. Once they start fraying, they too can snap.
Instead of your knee finally starting to give out at ~80/in old age, you might not make it another 5 years. Oftentimes I see that patients will begin to have pain in the healthy ligaments within one year of one getting injured, if they don't fix the initial injury. It's that rubbing/fraying! Once all the ligaments in the knee hurt, then the hip starts trying to carry all the weight. Then it hurts too. Once they begin to hurt all the time, all over, they quit running. They quit doing favorite outdoor activities. One little ligament injury can cause an avalanche of problems and pain down the road.
5 years...That might sound far away but let me tell you a fact, ligaments aren't very elastic like skin or muscle. Once it's torn or injured beyond a certain point, it's not bouncing back/healing on its own. You WILL need surgery. Meaning if you don't fix it, oftentimes you'll go down that painful road I just mentioned, causing more and more destruction as you go.
Without those four ligaments holding your knee together properly, you wouldn't be able to put weight on it, much less walk or run. And thank God we don't live in the wild anymore because you'd be target number one for a hungry mountain lion or bear. They wouldn't even have to run, they'd just walk right up to you and devour you.
If you've read this far in this book, you already know where I'm going. Time to draw parallels!
Spiritually speaking, if you can't even walk/run away from the enemy, Satans gonna eat you for an easy picnic lunch.
Now about those "spiritual knee ligaments" holding everything together (not your actual knee now. But your spirit, emotions, heart, your thoughts, your mind...) when they get wounded, we need to STOP and recover. If we get one area damaged spiritually, it's gonna drag the whooole rest of us down given time.
It can be anything that causes damage. Broken trust. Depression. An accident that makes you doubt. Broken hearts. Loneliness. Illness. Anxiety. Death. Grief. A failed marriage. Addiction. Job loss. Anger. Not having God as #1. Feeling inadequate. Feeling tired spiritually/emotionally, overwhelmed, over burdened, over worked, under loved, under appreciated, stretched thin, being stabbed in the back, being distracted, not having solid roots in God, not having a Christian community to help come alongside you...need I go on?
ANYTHING can damage you. And if you don't stop and acknowledge that pain, that injury, that place that needs healing...man it's gonna put strain on everything from your energy spiritually/physically to how you deal with people and behave at school/work. It's gonna affect your line of thinking and drag everything into a negative spiral.
I'm here today to remind you that we ALL get hurt. All the time. Sometimes by others, sometimes by ourselves. It can happen daily. It's ok! What's important is how we deal with those injuries. God is the great physician, the greatest healer of all.
Some verses on healing, physical and spiritual:
Matthew 11:28-30
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Jeremiah 17:14
Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise."
James 5:14-15
Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
Proverbs 4:20-22
My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one's whole body."
Proverbs 17:22
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Psalms 34:17-22
The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. The LORD will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned."
Psalms 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Psalms 73:26
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Did you notice in psalms 34, it says you will have troubles even if you're righteous? But God is here and will help.
Today I pray that no matter what hurts our hearts, no matter what burdens we have, we can lay it at the foot of the cross and find joy in the Lord. I pray we can take time to rest spiritually and let our injuries heal. I pray for total healing and a spiritual refreshing. I pray that negative attitudes melt away and positive ones grow in their pace. I pray that broken hearts find happy things and rejoice in them. I pray we have patience in times of healing because it definitely takes some time. I pray that if there's anything causing us to continually injure ourselves, that we get rid of it. I pray that we find stability in our spiritual knee by putting on a spiritual knee brace (surrounding ourselves with people after God and being with God dally.) amen.
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Longer one today...thanks for sticking around this far!
YOU ARE READING
Volume 2
Spiritual*completed* Here we go with round 2...me writing down my personal revelations and "aha!" moments to help encourage and hopefully help or uplift you. All comments, questions, prayer requests, topic suggestions, and constructive criticism are welcome!
