Ecuador has ended and Peru has me rollin’ in the deep (Adele anyone?). In reality, God has brought me into a new season. I have listened to an abundance of testimonies about this season. In fact, I have even offered my advice to others who were going through this season. The scary thing is that this season has been sitting at my doorstep for a long time, but I have never invited it in.
This past month I have encountered several, stupid, self inflicted, painful injuries. Yes, get ready for the all so familiar accident-prone Sally stories. In Banos, Ecuador during debrief, my team and our squad leaders deciding to go canyoning (honestly, one of the most adrenaline rush experiences thus far in my life), and on our hike back there was this chain link stretching across the dirt pathway in which my team and I were walking. I looked at my teammate William and challenged him to jump over it. Challenge was accepted. He went first, and from my perspective it was a breeze for him. So, I start my jog and take my leap over the link, and my cursed awfully long toes caught the link. Everything happened so quickly that I found myself lying on the dirt path laughing in immense pain. My team was SO concerned that they joined in my laughter, while others stood their in shock. Quickly noticing that I was still lying immobile on the dirt path, they begin to ask if I was okay. Yes, for a hot second, I felt and thought I had broken my left elbow. Long story short, nothing was broken and I am still recovering from a deep bruised elbow. On the bright side, I received a street bath shortly after my fall, and I hope it is the last street bath I have to take.
A week, goes by and debrief finishes and my squad heads to Cuenca, Ecuador for a overnight stay on our way to Peru. My teammates and I decided we needed a girls night, just the four of us, to catch up and refresh from our travels. In the midst of walking around Cuenca, I full blown walk straight into a cinder block. My left shin instantly swells into softball size and begins to bruise. Let me just say, walking was slightly painful (not exaggerating). Praise God, that the next day the swelling was gone, but recovery is still in process – inch deep gash and bruising. I get asked at least once a day what happened to my leg, if that helps put it into perspective of how noticeable and nasty the gash is.
The following day my squad and I arrived in Peru and the next day we had an off day (score!). The beach was a twenty minute taxi drive away, so most of my squad, including me, went there. Braving the waves to body surf, I found myself soaking in the sun rays, eating mouths full of salt water, and admiring Gods incredible handy work all around me. Can I just say that our God is so rad! Swimming back to the shore line, I quickly approached the bed of rocks, in which all individuals must endure to return back to land. Switching from swimming I stand up to walk. While walking (I was wearing my chacos for foot protection) I slipped and cut the side of my foot. It hurt, but was bearable to walk on. I continue on with my day, with a irritating pain in my foot. That night, after I showered, I asked one of my squad mates to check my foot to make sure it was fully clean. Well, come to find out my foot was embedded with a sea urchin splinter during my journey back to the beach. If I didn’t remove the black poky thing out of foot I would experience headaches and extreme dehydration. So I quickly went into “surgery” and had three people pick, dig and cut into my foot for over an hour. There were moments were I felt as if they were getting payback at me for something, or either they really loved inflicting pain. Finally, the sea urchin was removed and I was able to go to bed with an aching foot, but peace knowing I would be healthy the next day.
As you can probably guess, I am quickly being label the accident prone individual of my squad, and rightfully so. So, how do all of these stories of physical injuries tie into the season God has brought me in? Well, just as my physical body is going through the process of healing, so is my spirit. God has brought me into a season of healing from emotional and spiritual pain in my life. It is hard and I’m not too fond of it. I’m terrified of free falling into it all and just allowing myself to “sit in the mud.” There are so many times where I feel completely alone and by myself, which is strange because I am constantly surrounded by 57 people all the time.
Allowing God to heal my wounds, has been a battle in itself. Learning to be completely dependent on Him, to tend to my wounds, and not allowing myself to “tough it up” and ignore the healing process has been a huge spiritual lesson for me. In 1 Peter 5:6-7 it writes, “humble yourselves, therefor, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because He cares for you.” Joyce Meyers puts it this way, “God wants to heal you everywhere you hurt. John 10:10 says that “Jesus came to give you abundant life, and part of that abundant life is making sure you are healthy and whole – physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally.”
Walking through the steps of healing has made me enter into the reality of how much I am loved and admired by my Abba. My faults and sins are not what God sees when He looks at me. Instead, He sees a beautiful, pure and righteous daughter, that He adores and is proud of. Psalms 103:8-12 states, ” the LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in faithful love. He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our offenses. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His faithful love towards those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
The sad thing is that I was always fall in my life from sin, and that sin will always create nasty wounds and tremendous pain. But, praise Christ because He will always be there to pick me up, clean my wounds and bandage me up. Our Father will never leave nor forsake us. He desires for us to be healthy and running full speed ahead into His arms. But in order for us to do that, we need to properly heal, and to properly heal, we need to let Him walk us through the tough and painful wounds of our lives. I do not know how long this season will last, or if it will become easier, but all I know is that my hope and faith is firm in the One who has given me freedom, life and endless love.
