Most people who have known me for any length of time will know that I have an awful back. It's the first place that seems to get hurt whenever I am doing anything. It's also where I carry my stress, so under high stress situations it's the first thing that seems to get hit. So needless to say, while helping to staff this first DTS in Florida my back has been put through the ringer.
On one of my last days in Florida, I was blessed by a free trip to the chiropractor. I had been praying for the chance to go to one because I REALLY needed an appointment. My last one had been about a year ago, and was thankful beyond words that I got a free one. It also came with a side of electroshock and heat therapy and massage afterwards. It was so amazing! I left feeling much better. My back was still feeling weak, but everything felt like it was put back into place; my muscles just had to get used to what my back was like now. I was over the moon!
And then I traveled...
I love to be prepared for anything when I go somewhere. People may refer to this unjustly as "Overpacking", but I see it more like "What if I really want this sweater... and it gets cold... and I hate all my other ones that day! AND I can't forget [insert anything really] either."
...alright, so I'm an over packer and my bags were overweight. Maintaining 2 checked bags and 2 carry-ons is hard enough when they weigh what they are supposed to let alone when you are going back to Germany and you really don't want to leave anything behind. It's also hard when you've become such an effective packer and seem to fit everything into the suitcase without any issues. It would be nice that if your bag was overweight nothing else fit inside it. It just makes me cross that I can fit everything in nice and neat, but I cant bring it because it weighs too much. The combination of these bags, my seat on my longest plane ride not reclining, and the previous state of my back meant that by the time I got back to Herrnhut, my back was doing more than complaining a little bit.
I arrived back to Herrnhut on Sunday, and by Tuesday it was really hard to manoeuvre. My lower back was super tense and painful and my upper back was littered with knots. As I was walking to the castle I managed to stay true to my clumsy character and tripped over a low chain. I jump over it almost every day I walk to the castle, but not successfully this time. I managed to catch myself with one hand on the cobblestones and the foot that was stuck on the chain. This position wasn't good for my cellphone which was in my hand and proceeded to get a cracked screen, nor my back which seemed to take the brunt of this fall. Yup... I was broken. I walked to the base, adrenaline pumping from embarrassment because I managed to fall in front of a bunch of German highschool kids (of course!). I didn't really realize how much it had hurt until we sat down for lecture. As soon as the first lecture was over, I went and got a massage from Maddie. Basically whenever she would touch my lower back I would cringe and flinch. My face was apparently pretty priceless to onlookers. It hadn't been this bad in a while. It felt like it did just before I threw out my back at Pines two years ago.
The rest of Tuesday was a struggle, and waking up Wednesday was awful. I couldn't bend over at all. I was tired, and fed up. How was I going to lead an outreach if I was in this much pain. I wouldn't last the airplane ride to Asia let alone be able to function for 2 months there! I walked to the base and into base worship in a great deal of discomfort. I decided to put all of that aside though and worship because God was still good. More than half way through the worship set it was getting pretty unbearable. It was really hard to even stand. Then I got a revolutionary idea... I've seen healing and I've prayed healing for others. Why shouldn't I be able to heal myself? So I started praying healing for my back while everyone was singing. I tried to bend over, but nothing was better. I still couldn't bend at all. I came to the conclusion that someone leading the worship set would just have to feel that they need a time of prayer for healing. It happens every once and a while where during worship we stop and pray for people with injuries or who are sick. I decided that if praying for myself wasn't working then we would just have to have a time where other people could pray because I knew that God knew that I needed to be better.
When the worship leader said that he felt like God wanted to heal people, I was still surprised. It's funny how God can still shock you even when you expect something to happen. He said that he felt that God really wanted to heal people and that we weren't even going to have to pray for them; that they would just be healed right then and there. I looked at him (I was within the first few rows) and I guess my face must have registered my surprise. He said that we should test whatever was hurting before and see if it got healed. And so I bent over! I didn't have any pain and I could get back up into an upright position without cringing or stifling a cry... And then I started crying. And smiling. Then he asked us all to raise our hands if we received healing. You had better believe that my hand shot up like a rocket!
Can I just say that my God is good. (Well I guess I can, this IS my blog after all...) I have never experienced healing so instantaneous before. The pain was there, and then it was gone. Like at the snap of my fingers gone. I know that God's really got my back, literally and figuratively. Outreach is coming, much faster than I can really mentally prepare for. I'm not entirely sure what to expect, other than this; God is going to come through and he will really hold us in the palm of His hand the entire time. We are going to see and do amazing things. I don't have to worry because He's got us. He has our backs.
