Paul T Reynolds

10 days in bed with a badly sprained lower back does a bunch of things and one of them is preventing you from doing anything on a computer. Hence the crashing silence after the supposedly weekly ‘Reasons for Prayer’ started three weeks ago.

It wasn’t just the back pain either. After three days I had to call the doctor out as the pain belonged to a different universe than the over-the-counter anti-inflammatories and painkillers I was taking. Unfortunately the codeine I was given produced symptoms (severe chest pain and shortness of breath) that looked remarkably like an angina/heart attack.

An ambulance trip and several tests later it was determined there was no angina/heart attack, but that I had some calcified plaque in my heart unrelated to the symptoms. I was referred to a cardiologist who will do more tests in 6 months before coming to any conclusions about my cardiac health. Meantime the chiropractor referred me to a dermatologist and she took a little chunk of mole real estate today for a biopsy.

Probably the overriding lesson in all of this for me so far has been what Paul the Apostle was learning in dramatically more unpleasant circumstances:

“But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:9)

What has been surprising and humbling is how the Lord has helped me to realise a little more how many things I have to thank him for and how much I can enjoy gratitude for his mercies to me.

17 things I thanked God for today due to what’s happened over the last couple of weeks:

1. The ability to sit…

2. …and stand up…

3. …and walk.

4. A good chiropractor

5. Health insurance

6. Early detection of plaque in the heart

7. My biological family

8. My spiritual family

9. The usefulness of pain in preventing further damage

10. Access to God through prayer

11. A heightened sense of God’s sovereign power…

12. …and His grace and love to me in countless ways…

13. …and my complete dependence on Him in everything.

14. Painkillers (not withstanding point 9!)

15. A good measure of cardiac health

15b. Very early warning of a problem if the news isn’t so good

16. Modern medicine and medical services (including the CT scanner, ambulance, hospital, medical staff, ECG, a skin biopsy…etc., etc.)

17. Time to read and pray

“But [God] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is
made perfect in weakness’.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)