Measuring “better” in stages…
I went for my one year post-op appointment yesterday and pretty much gushed my thank you’s up and down the halls of the building.
One year after having my bunion removed or corrected or obliterated or whatever the medical term is, I walk pain free and have just the shadow of a scar remaining.
I think back to a year ago and the six weeks of progressing through casts and walking in a shoe…of the inconveniences of that time.
And then the shock of trying to squeeze that swollen foot into shoes.
While none of it ever hurt as much as the actual bunion had, it was a long process.
But a process marked by degrees of healing…percentages.
Each three month check, I could stop and evaluate that I was gradually experiencing more and more “normal” and less and less discomfort.
I think back to events like trying to manage the awkwardness of that shoe across the park to watch the fireworks or the way my slip on shoes pinched when we tried to enjoy our vacation with the kiddo’s on the beach and the negative parts of that are starting to fade as the benefits of health and healing return.
Healing is gradual.
It takes time.
It is slow.
But if we can just lean into the process…glean from it what those seasons offer…allow our busy selves to be side-lined as we struggle with our inner frustration, we learn some great lessons about yielding…about how temporal we really are…and how precious our God is to save us for not only now but for eternity.
We can begin to understand that there is so much more than this life and how we “feel”.
I told you about a month ago about my finally breaking down and going to the doctor for those plugged-up-since-February-ears.
I have been following the regime he prescribed and as Russ asks me how I am doing week by week, I have begun to measure it in percentages.
40% improved…50%….slowly I am up to about 70%…better than I was.
While 100% wholeness and healing is the ultimate goal, whether it is physical, or emotional or spiritual; we have to celebrate the markers of the gradual restoration as we make progress.
We can raise our hands in praise, even before we are completed, and thank our God for baby steps <3
In your current struggles, I pray today for the LORD to give you a picture of your progress…a clear glimpse of where He is brought you thus far.
Thus far He has brought us and He will see us safely to completion.
We can all celebrate that together!
