I have never broken a bone, but I think a lot of that is due to my graciously loose joints. My right hip is one of the ones that is especially loose. And lately, it has been more sore than normal. Aggravated by weather, a strain, a pull, a lengthy car ride, sitting too long at a desk... I honestly don’t remember the recent trigger, and it is likely a combination of those things.
My physical therapist sister has encouraged me with some specific exercises that can help keep it in line and strengthen neighboring muscles. Yet my primary purpose today is not to regale you with my physical ailments.
Rather, I want to draw some parallels between our physical and spiritual state because literally and figuratively, or even spiritually speaking, my hip hurts.
Remember when Jacob and God wrestled all night and the next morning, as a part of his blessing, the angel wrenched Jacob’s hip? What an awesome war story Jacob got for his hip injury! Glorious story or not, the truth hurt. And every time his hip bothered him, it was a gentle reminder of his time of wrestling with God.
I am learning to treat the physical pain in my hip as a spiritual reminder of God’s patient wrestling with me through the watches of the night. He is faithful. And He has a plan. My pain is minimal in relation to His mighty working to mold me into His image and lead me in His way everlasting.
I will spare you the enumeration of my detailed wrestlings with God in this context, but I know that you have them too. What are you wrestling over right now? What is God teaching you through this time?
As we conclude our emphasis on women’s spiritual health this month, I encourage you to share the battles and the lessons with a Christian sister and friend, an Iron Rose Sister. Just as God Himself works in us using the firmness of iron, sharpening us to be His best instrument possible, He gives us Christian sisters that can serve as iron sharpening iron. And as God, the Divine Gardener, treats us with the tender delicacy of a rose, He places others in our lives to encourage us in the areas we are striving to grow and bloom.
Take a moment today to share your wrestlings with an Iron Rose Sister. Pray together through the Common Threads and you walk together on the journey toward healing and fullness in Christ.
#IronRoseSister #spiritualhealth #CommonThreads #wrestlingwithGod