The plantar fascia is a ligament that connects your heel to your toes. Straining the plantar fascia is a common cause of foot pain, a condition known as Plantar Fasciitis.
I’m not totally unfamiliar with Plantar Fasciitis. Until recently, I thought it was a common cause of foot pain in old people (sorry mom and dad). Apparently, it’s a lot more common than I thought. It didn’t really catch my attention until it happened to me. That’s right, me. I’ll be the first to admit that it sucks, like really really bad. It makes every aspect of your day miserable. Many people experience pain in the heel of their foot, mine was in my arch. It felt like my arch just wanted to collapse.
So how did I get it?
I think it started three months ago in Honduras. It’s not every day that you find a good gym on the World Race, so when I stumbled upon one that would rival many american gyms I couldn’t resist taking full advantage of the opportunity. Even though I knew it was a bad idea to do full body workouts everyday without a break, I didn’t know when I would find another good gym so I ignored all common sense. I lifted heavy five days a week. At the end of the month, I felt a hint of irritation in my left arch. Then Malaysia came, and I found another gym, and I repeated the process once again. It continued to get progressively worse, and I continued to ignore it.
In Thailand I would run periodically, but I was constantly deterred by the pain in my foot. It bothered me with every step that I would take; I didn’t even have to be exercising. At night I would try to massage the arch of my foot. It felt good, but it didn’t actually bring me any relief. What the heck? I’m 25 and I’ve got the foot of an old man!
As a part of my personality, I don’t like to be a burden to anyone. For the most part, I think it’s very positive aspect of my character. However, for that very reason, it’s hard for me to find the humility to ask others for help. After a long day, my foot was really giving me trouble. Even after I lied down in bed it was bothering me. All that was needed was a slight tap from my other foot, and the sensation would instantly return. So finally I rolled over in my bed and explained to my roommates, Tommy and Ronny, that my foot was hurting badly. I asked them if they would please pray for it.
They were more than happy to jump out of bed a pray for me. It was very simple, they placed their hands on my foot and each of them prayed for about 30 seconds. I don’t think I really knew what to expect. In my mind I didn’t have this decisive idea that God was going to heal me, or not. I was just reaching out for relief, and if nothing else at least my teammates would know that my foot is not doing so hot. So, the result came as quite unexpected…
Before the prayer my foot was in pain. A minute later, it just wasn’t. I didn’t feel shocked, or overwhelmed, or anything like that. I was just confused. I casually stood up and starting pacing the room. With each step I tried to tweak my foot into a different position. It felt great. I looked at Tommy and Ronny and simply said that it ‘feels better’. I was hesitant to say anymore than that because I was sure I was just experiencing some weird placebo effect. I thought to myself, “if my foot was actually just healed it will still be that way in the morning.” So it was settled, I would hold out judgement for the morning. Morning came and went. I forgot that I was supposed to be monitoring my foot at all. My foot is HEALED. I ran on it that same afternoon with zero pain and zero problems. In fact, it has been two weeks since that night, and it is still feeling fantastic.
When I first sat down to write this update I considered all of the things I ought to say about what this experience means for me now. I thought about describing my thoughts, emotions, the questions that it raises like “Why me? Why now? Why not this other person? Why not every time?”, and all of those sorts of things. But honestly, all of that seems pretty unimportant when I think about the One who gave me this gift.
There is a God. Seriously, take that in for a minute. Like, right now, there is a God. Two weeks ago He decided to answer my prayers and heal my foot, instantly. None of this “God is healing me over the course of 3-4 weeks kind business”. No, in a single instance He restored me. Why? Because he is the Creator. He formed the whole universe and everything in it, including my foot. He knows exactly how to fix it. Why else? Because He loves me, plain and simple. When Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins, he didn’t do it so that he could subsequently lord all of my inadequacies over my head. He didn’t go to the cross to grudging finish a job that we didn’t complete, as if we were the lazy partner in a group project. He did it because he loves us, and he never wanted to be separated from us. Likewise, when he healed my foot, he didn’t do it because I was annoying him and he finally got fed up enough to pay attention to me so that he could get back to bigger and better things. We are the bigger and better things. His affection for us is uncontainable. That is our God. It’s not just what he is like, it’s his very nature! He’s not just loving, He is Love.
As I sit and type I imagine all of the different reactions that people will have to this post. Some people will be reading this and saying to themselves, “Duh, Brad. He is God. He heals people all of the time.” They may even downplay it to the point of completely missing the incredible nature of the miracle. Others, will read this and think “Gee, that’s great you’re feeling better, but I’m sure there’s some perfectly acceptable scientific reason why your foot is better, even if our current understanding of science doesn’t explain it adequately yet.” I wish there was a better way for me to communicate my experience to everyone. Unfortunately, my testimony is only good for me. I wish I could answer all of the questions we all have, but I can’t. When the blind man from birth was interrogated by the Pharisees after receiving his sight “He replied, ‘Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know [talking about Jesus]. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!’” I feel like I completely understand what he meant. He didn’t have all of the answers. All he knew is that after his encounter with Jesus he was healed. It’s a great story; you can find the whole thing in John 9. I won’t be able to give my experience to you, but I do believe that the God I love is waiting for you to find even greater ones in Him. Why not ask Him for that impossible thing that you’ve been longing for? He may be longing even more to demonstrate his love by giving it to you.
