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“Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock.”  Isaiah 26:4 (ESV)

February 2020 we were all doing normal life – work, church, eating out and gathering with friends. My husband (Jay) and I celebrated Valentines and then he headed off for his annual skiing trip with the guys.  By the end of that week normal eclipsed us.  My sweet man broke a major bone in the back of his knee (tibial plateau) which required immediate surgery in Denver including plates and screws.  Less than twenty-four hours after leaving the hospital, he was on the plane headed back home – talk about uncomfortable, painful (ouch) moments.

Recovery was slow, agonizing and extremely painful even weeks after his surgery.  Confined to a hospital bed for weeks and unable to drive was definitely challenging for my extrovert husband. And then came the adventure of maneuvering on crutches – not fun – and enduring physical therapy. Many weeks later, the day he had long anticipated finally arrived – Jay was free to lay those crutches down.  While he assumed his legs would be flying down the sidewalk to our front door at rapid pace, the reality was his leg was used to that crutch – the limp and sway was still there even though the crutch was gone.

Reality check here haven’t we all been there when our “crutch” propped us up – someone or something gave us the support or assistance we needed at a critical point in our life.  We leaned heavily on a dear friend or maybe we resorted to shopping, drinking, overeating, etc. to drown out the pain. Simply to get us through what we couldn’t face.  Note to self:  Not all things are good crutches.  And when the time came to release our crutch – well I think you get the picture, we were still limping and swaying as if the crutch were still there.

The effects of our choices in these pivotal moments are crucial. Eventually, we have to release those crutches – after all they are only temporary props.  Assistance to help us until we are strengthened to move forward. If my husband had remained on his crutch then his leg would have weakened, the rest of his body would have been affected by his inappropriate stride and he would have missed out on a lot of things he loves to do.  Key point release offers us the opportunity to truly heal.

The only permanent crutch which strategically positions us to be strengthened, to grow and move forward in freedom is leaning on our Lord Jesus Christ.  His wisdom, guidance, comfort, peace, grace and love sustain us even in the most painful circumstances.  Guiding us each step of the way, Jesus is our constant companion, our Rock, our steady ground we can stand on and not lose hope.  We can fully place our trust in Him knowing He will navigate us through and even carry us until we can stand firmly in His truth.

“Father, You are the One who holds us up and enables us to walk in the freedom found only in trusting Your name.  Help us to release crutches that don’t serve us well and lean into You – our everlasting Rock.”

For His Glory

Janet Martin
TRBC Women’s Life