She finally got her hard cast last Tuesday. Bright pink and reaching nearly to her shoulder. Hard as rock. Her brother and her friends have been knocking on the pink, amazed at how hard it actually is. They've been grabbing markers, scribbling their names on the pink in permanent ink.
In some ways, that hard cast has made things easier. She's not afraid to sleep in her bed now - not afraid that if she rolls, she'll reinjure her arm, move the bones that aren't quite "sticky" enough to hold in place on their own. She's confident that the hard cast will protect her arm when she picks up her toddler cousin and the sweet boys she babysits.
And it's waterproof. She can shower now without a towel inside a plastic bag wrapped with duct tape to seal out the water. Now the water can wash right through the pink, right under the white, cleansing the skin beneath, washing away the salty sweat and grime of the day.
It's a hard thing. It's uncomfortable. It fully restricts the movement of that arm. It's hot. It makes some things impossible and some things harder than they used to be. But it's a blessing. It's the hard thing that provides the platform for healing. It the hard thing that holds the broken things in place for now - because without the hard thing, they'd move in opposite directions. It's the hard thing that makes it possible for the broken things to become one again.
And isn't that it? Isn't that the beautiful part of this uncomfortable, inconvenient, frustratingly hard hard thing? Isn't it this . . . that sometimes God uses the hard things? The uncomfortable things. The inconvenient things. Sometimes that's what it takes. Sometimes it's the only way. It's hard, uncomfortable, even painful in the midst of it. But sometimes it's the only way to mend what's been splintered and shattered and torn.
Sometimes God uses the hard things to make the broken things whole.
Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces;
now He will heal us.
He has injured us;
now He will bandage our wounds.
In just a short time He will restore us,
So that we may live in His presence.
Oh, that we might know the LORD!
Let us press on to know Him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
or the coming of the rains in early spring.
Hosea 6:1-3, NLT
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In some ways, that hard cast has made things easier. She's not afraid to sleep in her bed now - not afraid that if she rolls, she'll reinjure her arm, move the bones that aren't quite "sticky" enough to hold in place on their own. She's confident that the hard cast will protect her arm when she picks up her toddler cousin and the sweet boys she babysits.
And it's waterproof. She can shower now without a towel inside a plastic bag wrapped with duct tape to seal out the water. Now the water can wash right through the pink, right under the white, cleansing the skin beneath, washing away the salty sweat and grime of the day.
It's a hard thing. It's uncomfortable. It fully restricts the movement of that arm. It's hot. It makes some things impossible and some things harder than they used to be. But it's a blessing. It's the hard thing that provides the platform for healing. It the hard thing that holds the broken things in place for now - because without the hard thing, they'd move in opposite directions. It's the hard thing that makes it possible for the broken things to become one again.
And isn't that it? Isn't that the beautiful part of this uncomfortable, inconvenient, frustratingly hard hard thing? Isn't it this . . . that sometimes God uses the hard things? The uncomfortable things. The inconvenient things. Sometimes that's what it takes. Sometimes it's the only way. It's hard, uncomfortable, even painful in the midst of it. But sometimes it's the only way to mend what's been splintered and shattered and torn.
Sometimes God uses the hard things to make the broken things whole.
Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces;
now He will heal us.
He has injured us;
now He will bandage our wounds.
In just a short time He will restore us,
So that we may live in His presence.
Oh, that we might know the LORD!
Let us press on to know Him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
or the coming of the rains in early spring.
Hosea 6:1-3, NLT
