“I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.” Jeremiah 33:6
They Say, it takes “twenty-one days a habit to make.” Well this my twentieth day of practicing the “toes-above-the-nose” lifestyle. I’m almost to the mark. Yippy! But now that I am those twenty days in, I’ve decided that maybe joining my hubby at his 6 am boot camp classes, with the trainer from hell would be easier than dealing with this broken-in-multiple-places-ankle. At least twenty-one days of that torture would possibly have produced some stronger tighter abs and thigh muscles! All I have now is multiple scars, misaligned hips (from driving my knee scooter from the bed or couch to the bathroom) and one very saggy calf muscle:(
Truth be told this is actually day twenty-two in the books, but I don’t really count the first two days of this, my latest trauma, because sleeping was about the only thing I did those first hours.
And then on day three, I met the most amazing doctor I’ve ever come to know. Dr. Peng. Doctor-toes-above-the-nose-Peng!
It wasn’t until this day that I actually saw the damage I’d done in the fall; saw and heard how long the healing would take; and saw THE cast. Dr Peng’s “Magic Cast!” Large isn’t a descriptive enough word for the size of this thing. Everyone I’d talked to during the course of discovering this godsend of a man kept talking about his “Magic Cast.” Now seeing it on my foot, all I could say was, Wow!!!
The next thing I learned was what a godly and prayerful man Dr. Peng is. I saw that first day that He was going to be the perfect doc for me! He is a man who speaks right to my heart through his firm, yet kind and gentle ways.
His fatherly methods and true concern for me remind me of my Father God. The Lord of my life that always knows what’s best for me. It doesn’t matter if I don’t want it or like it; God my Father always has the bigger-and-better-down-the-road-picture in His sights. And He’s patient with me even when I’m bucking His methods.
He simply repeats over and over till I believe Him, “Be still, trust me. Be still and know that I am God.”
From that first day, when Dr. Peng chose to begin his day earlier than he had to, to fit me in, I knew there was something special and different about this doctor. As we shook hands “Hello,” it was as if he was saying in that moment that he cared about me. Gently squeezing my hand as he consoled the distraught mess that I was. He then, while holding both of my hands, looked me directly in the eyes and said:
“Trut in the Looord. Do you trut in the Looord?”
He continued to stare into my tear filled eyes as if waiting for an answer. So I said through sobs, that “Yes, yes I did.” He then stood up tall and said, “then trust me!”
And so began my treatment with Dr. Peng, even praying with Skip and I right before they wheeled me away for surgery!
So far his methods have been spot on with his “Magic Cast!” Just like he told me, I have had no real pain to speak of since about day three after the surgery. He also informed me that I would only need to use ibuprofen and acetaphetamine for whatever pain I did have. He told us that if he had his way, he’d never write another script for narcotics. Rather, prescribing lots of rest and prayer!
I often hear in my head, with that obviously Chinese inflection, Dr. Peng repeating his favorite combo statement/question: “Trut in the Looord. Do you trut in the Looord?”
Hearing him in my head on a regular basis, has come in handy, as I am a recovering alcoholic/addict. And with my additional lower back pain issues, pain medication could be an issue for me. So I listen to that voice and say a quick prayer to the Lord to help get me through whatever discomfort I am in. The Lord has me covered even in these little details. He knew I’d be better off with an orthopedic physician that wasn’t heavy-handed with the drugs:))
Just like God my Father is always there for me, Dr. Peng, seems to be there very often as well, with personal calls to both Skip and I the night before the surgery, to make sure we were ok and ready for the big day. Mentioning at the end of the conversation to, “Trut in the Looord and all will be fine.” He called again the evening after my surgery as he was driving home. “Just checking to make sure everything is going good. That you are keeping your foot up right?” I give him an update and tell him thanks for calling. He says “get some sleep and keep truting the Looord!”
How many doctors do that?! I have been and will continue to be truly blessed in having Dr. Peng as my physician. I do trust him and his thirty-five years of working on feet and ankles to care for me, to teach me new habits, to bring the healing to my ankle that there needs to be. No matter the several screws and plates that hold it together. No matter the number of days I have to keep my “toes-above-my-nose.” I trust him.
Another thing the good doc reminded me of, is that now I have lots of precious time to spend with Jesus. Time to rest in His loving arms, letting Him sooth me, teach me and love me.
But, I can’t seem to relax. I’ve been pretty antsy much of these last days trying to figure out all of those, “Why did this happen” questions. Anxious to know, “So now what Lord? What’s this time for? what do you want me to do? what can I accomplish? Etc etc.”
Well after only about fifteen of these last twenty-two days of whining to Him, I think I know! After all these days of developing the physical disciplines that need to be in place in order for my ankle to be renewed, I think I now know what God has whispered in His always gentle voice to me about how He wants me to spend the rest of my recovery months.
But not wanting to run ahead of God and declare to the world my new resolution or anything, I cautiously yet confidently after hearing the Lord’s leading to do so, went back over the last days journal entries since my accident. I did so carefully knowing what had happened in my past when I thought I knew what God was telling me to do, and it ended up not even being close! I slowly and prayerfully looked for a pattern in all I had written in my journal. In all the points and scriptures that had jumped out at me. Not wanting to assume anything or hand-pick my will and not God’s, I spent a few days going back to those scriptures and spent more time praying about what it all could mean.
As I did so, I also heard Dr. Peng’s recognizable voice in my head saying, “Trut in the Looord.” I then circled all the words and phrases that I’d noted multiple times. It turned out there weren’t any patterns that spelled out to do anything. No get busy kind of phrases. But there seemed to be a prescription to “Be still and know that I am God.” To wait quietly before Him. That my hope and my peace were in Him alone. Over and over were the words: WAIT, BE STILL, PEACE.
I recognize this method of recovery. I’d done it before. I think in all the drama and trauma of these last weeks, I kind of lost that stillness and peace. That trust in Gods will.
I don’t know what my Father, my God will teach me during these next weeks of continued healing, but I know it will be exciting to be still. To wait and watch what He does. I’m sure on the other side of all this I will undoubtedly be impressed with what ever ‘it’ is that He’s taught me; that what ever we’ve come through together will have been life changing!
I know my ankle will heal, but the rest of these next few months I have no idea about all that will occur. But I do know one thing for sure. I will, “Trut in the Looord!!”
“And it is VERY well with my soul!!”
