I lay on the table as she gently pulled on my left arm and then stretched it over my head and out to the side, pushing it a little further... a little further...
I could feel the tightness, followed by the tinge of pain as my arm was pushed and stretched more and more. Just when I thought my arm would break and the surgery would be rendered useless, she released and gently brought my arm back down. This has been repeated numerous times, 3 days a week, as my left shoulder is worked to gradually regain mobility.
One day while going through this routine I realized that it was a physical representation to visualize what God was doing in my life! Each week I was being spiritually stretched, required to abandon my thinking and break away from mental habits to focus instead on His Word. He was stretching me, over and over again, each to the point of discomfort and pain. Spiritual bones were being broken so they could be reset and healed. Just when I thought God would take me over my breaking point He released and gently returned me to a place of peace, joy, and rest before He would repeat the process with a new "bone". Each time I would find myself more spiritually stretched, mobile, flexible, and closer to the person and image He has intended for me. Just a little closer...
This has been happening ever since after my surgery. I realized it one day when I asked a friend for prayer and she said that she thought I was under a really bad spiritual attack. I knew it was attack, but something didn't sit right with me about that conclusion. It suddenly occurred to me that I wasn't being attacked, I was being taught. At the time I was reading through Genesis the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, and Joseph. The story of Joseph particularly stood out to me because of all of the difficulties he went through. His brothers sold him into slavery, and then he was unjustly thrown in jail for 10+ years. What he later realized, after he was released and saving the country of Egypt and many others from intense famine, was that God was preparing him for how he would use him, for the purpose He had intended for him. So each of these battles, each bone that God is breaking and resetting, I know is preparing me for the purpose He has for me, and it fills me with hope! As painful as it may be, I am happy to replace my flawed thinking and patterns with His! Trust Him, He's the best Spiritual Therapist there is!
