Or I’m just getting old. Not quite sure.
I know I’m not the most athletic, but the biggest injury I’ve had in my 23 years of life is stitches on my chin when I was 7 years old. I’ve rolled my ankles countless times, fell on my wrist (purposefully), tumbled down the stairs, and played various torture games with my siblings, but alas, I was ALWAYS better the very next day.
Then it became June 2017, the summer of The World Race, the begging of pain. June is when my parents drove me down to Gainesville, Georgia for training camp. The day before they dropped me off, my parents and I went on a hike on The Appalachian Trail. Probably wasn’t the best idea, but I’m usually a quick recover so I wasn’t too worried about it. I was wrong. I guess rolling my ankle 25 times on the way down was a few too many because I continued too be in pain for all of training camp and for about 2 weeks after I got home.
Over the remainder of the summer I proceeded to need and get surgery on my nose and get a cavity filled.
Month one, El Salvador, my team and I got sick. A lot. The month was probably split half and half between ministry and the bathroom.
Month two, Guatemala, all of you already know about that. Volcan Acatenango is and will probably continue to be the hardest thing I have ever done. After, I was on an inhaler for a few days and my right hip is still super sore.
Month three, Honduras, I can’t even give you a story about what happened. We walked down the hill from our ministry to explore the town and I noticed my left knee hurting. I’ve never had knee problems before so I brushed it off and decided I had probably just bumped it. Well, it’s confined to hurt every time I walk down the hill and now even the stairs. This past weekend we went hiking and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it down the mountain. Stupidly, I tried to hike again the next day (I lasted 10 minutes), because now my knee hurts going up hill or if I even bend it to ya know… move forward.
Coincidence that this is all happening at this time in my life? I think not. I see you, devil!!! I know what you’re trying to do. But guess what? You won’t stop me.
Since we’ve gotten to Honduras, my team and I take a few minutes everyday to say a few things we are thankful for. The list goes from Jesus continuously providing what we need all the way to the invention of hot sauce. The idea is to look for good things even amongst the bad. So, here it goes.
- I’m thankful for the ability to walk AT ALL
- I’m thankful for the the alone time I’ll get when my team ventures down the hill
- I’m thankful for teammates who will stop in the middle of the forest to pray for my knee with the hope of healing
- I’m thankful I have accessible options to make my knee feel better
- I’m thankful I have shoes that give me support
- I’m thankful for water so cold it could numb my knee
- I’m thankful ministry and home are in the same building
- I’m thankful we have comfy beds to sleep in!!!
- I’m thankful for our daily view
- I’m thankful for the chilly air on top of the mountain
- I’m thankful for the sound of rain on a tin roof
- And of course, I’m thankful for hot sauce.
The devil and sin are in this world so there is still going to be pain and suffering. But Jesus and the children with huge smiles on their faces while shining shoes, selling bracelets, or eating beans for the 10th time this month have showed that joy is everywhere and that it is so, so easy to be thankful when you truly know the love of Christ.
Love,
Banana
