Pain, More Pain, Rage....Exuberance!

This month, my pinkie finger gave me some spiritual reminders. I broke it while tossing a football at Youth. I tried my best to ignore it the next day, but it kept throbbing and dangling in a weird way, forcing me to the Emergency Room. There, doctors and nurses seemed unperturbed by it, X-rayed it, declared it broken indeed, slapped a splint on it, and slapped a $100 charge on us -- increasing my fiscal pain while doing nothing to decrease my physical pain. The Lord made His comforting presence known in an incredible way when our church sent a totally unexpected check to cover the ER costs. But every day, I became more aware of my pinkie as the throbbing intensified. "When one part of the body suffers, the entire body suffers." Finally it so pervaded my thoughts that I made an appointment with an orthopedist. (Just as suffering drives us to the Great Physician, makes us aware of our desperate need.) This very human physician (whose greatness I sincerely doubted) looked at my pinkie, grabbed a hold of it without warning and twisted it violently toward my other fingers. Two loud snaps filled him with great glee: "Did you hear that? Did you hear that?" he asked me. I could barely hear HIM as the room started to go black. Later, I lay in the examining room, furious, crying, wondering whether this man even had a license to practice medicine. While that thought is fresh in my mind, he comes BACK in and forces the very top of my pinkie over "just to see," he says. This fills my soul with black rage, but I'm too weak and beaten to do what I want to: punch him. Instead I say, "Well, I guess I'm glad you didn't tell me ahead of time that you were going to do that." "You're welcome," he says, speaking as though from on high. I am speechless with indignation. I was NOT thanking him. I thought I was being gracious not to have kicked him. I leave with my whole hand feeling limp and useless. I go home and go right to sleep, totally exhausted -- but when I wake up-- my hand feels great! Suddenly I like the doctor very much. Doubt and rage became brokenness and submission ... bringing healing and glory to the healer.