The Healing

Who says God doesn't do miracles these days?

Monday morning, around 10 am, I dropped by the church between appointments to drop off my shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. The parking lot was full and rather than have to carry stacks of boxes a long distance, I thought since I'd just be a minute, I would just pull up to the door and off the road a bit into the grass.

Fabulous idea, until after all shoeboxes were delivered and I was on my way back to the car door, my foot hit an unlevel patch of ground and slid in the snow, turning with a sharp twist. OUCH, I yelled, and hopped in the car to assess the damage. I sat there for a moment wondering... okay, did I REALLY hurt it, or was it just one of those momentary ouches that quickly goes away?

The pain began to subside almost immediately, and I deduced that the latter was the case. I drove off thanking God that I didn't seriously injure it because I still had not only a full day but a full week of work ahead of me, and an injury was not conducive to accomplishing all the things I need to get done this week!

Well, it certainly appeared that I was correct in that it wasn't truly injured. I walked on it all day with no problem except an occasional extremely mild twinge only if it turned a certain way -- but for the most part, it was 100% fine.

Until about 6 pm, as on my way home it began to ache a bit. The closer I got to home, the more it hurt, and I thought to myself, "That's strange, but oh well, at least now I can just go home and rest it or wrap it up or something and it will be fine." After all, it had now been eight hours -- 8!! -- since I twisted it and it'd been totally fine, so it never occurred to me that this was going to be anything more than an ache.

Within the hour I was a complete cripple. I have no explanation for what happened, other than that I sprained it that morning and God stayed the pain so I could work all day so I didn't feel the effects of it until I got home.

When I say a complete cripple, that's exactly what I mean. Not a single step could I take. I couldn't even hop around on my good foot, because one little hop was so jarring that it caused pain so excruciating that I nearly blacked out. Yeah, not looking good...

All evening and well into the night I was in unbelievable pain from this ankle. I just could not believe it had been fine all day, and now despite wrapping it in ice and keeping it up all evening, the pain was nearly unbearable. I could only get around by crawling on my knees with that ankle stuck up in the air. It was really ridiculous. Ever tried to carry a glass of tea down a hallway while crawling? I'm quite good at it. :)

Well, I pretty much figured there was no way I was going to be able to work the next day, especially considering the 3 inches of snow we were supposed to get overnight, and the 2-4 more that was supposed to come during the day. I thought I could manage to get around if I had crutches, but I did not, and I had no way to get any, because there was no way I could walk into a store or even go to urgent care or anything. And it was totally not serious enough to merit an ambulance call, especially considering I have no health insurance. :)

Well, as I thought things through trying to figure out just what I was going to do, because a sprain could easily render me unable to work for several days and I really really didn't want to do that, seeing as how if I don't work, I don't get paid, I remembered that a friend's teenage daughter had sprained her ankle this fall and had been on crutches for awhile.

So that was my plan. I would call her up and ask if I could borrow those crutches, drive by her place on the way to my first appointment and ask her to bring them out to the car (fortunately it was my left ankle, so it didn't hinder my ability to drive) and then I'd be set. Oh. Except for that snow thing. Yeah, first time ever using crutches, an ankle in agonizing pain, and slick hilly snow-covered yards and steps and such -- not really a great combination.

And so I prayed really really hard, and when I got up the next morning, I was amazed to discover that I could walk. And even more amazed to discover that there was no snow!! So, I wrapped the ankle and went off to work. There was a limp and a small bit of pain walking on it, but not bad enough to keep me home, so I went through the day taking only the steps absolutely necessary to get to people's houses, and once in, I just sat on the floor without moving or getting up until it was time to go, so I was able to function all day, and by evening, the pain seemed gone.

I fully intended to wrap it again today to protect it, but there was no need. Because today, you would never know anything had happened to it. It is 100% good as new. I can move it in all directions, run, jump, anything I want, and it's fine.

It's incredible to me to think that just the night before last I wasn't able to take even one step, and now I'm completely fine. That can only be a miracle of God.

Hooray! :)