by Horns were beeping and the rush hour traffic was chaotic. But, like any other worker, I went into the office day after day doing my job the best I could. Hours were spent on the computer doing data entry, phone calls, filing, and other secretarial duties. Working in the main offices of the Baltimore County Public School system was not a job for the faint of heart.
The result of such a stressful job, with a demanding boss, was that I developed a frozen shoulder in my left arm. Burning pains and very limited mobility plagued me for months. Months past, heaps of physical therapy, hours of exercise, and finally after a long time of doing all the above, I was able to lift my arm slightly above shoulder height. Finally, the full range of movement came back, but for the remainder of my life, I have had issues with my left shoulder.
Why did God have me go through all this? I never really pondered it actually. I was young, in my 20’s, and I made it through the best someone in their 20’s would. So on with life I have went.
Now, let’s fast forward in my life 25+ years and as most people know, I recently had breast cancer surgery on the left side. The incision was about 3 inches long and prior to the surgery, I was given a paper with exercises to do after the surgery. The nurse explained that as my incision would be healing, scar tissue would be forming and if I do not exercise, the scar tissue would be tight, and limit my mobility with that arm. I did not think twice about her instructions. I put the paper in my hospital folder and went through with the surgery.
After my surgery, I went to raise my arm. Ouch, I moaned in pain and agony. I realized my arm would not go above shoulder height and that this pain was not from the incision. This was that old friend of mine ‘the frozen shoulder.’ It had returned with a vengeance and seemed determined to completely limit my left arm movement. This had happened because my arm had been laid over my head during surgery.
After a few days of recovering, I started moving about the house. Praise the Lord. You know what I found? “My papers showing my exercises from 25+ years ago from my physical therapist for my frozen shoulder.”
Well, it has been a slow recovery, but I knew it would be. This is something that doesn’t go away in a couple weeks.
I am now about 2 ½ months out from the breast cancer surgery and I have to admit, “Thanks to God for giving me the frozen shoulder many years ago and thanks I could find my exercise papers.” Now that I have been doing those exercises to relieve the frozen shoulder, I have had no problems with the scar tissue from the incision from the surgery.
So, God had me go through something 25+ years ago to help me through something I would go through later in life so I would maintain mobility in my left arm. I have to wonder how limited I would have been if I was not doing the exercises for the frozen shoulder. The paper the nurse gave me in the beginning only had a few exercises on it and knowing what I know now, “I don’t think it would have been enough for me to regain all the motion in my arm from surgery.”
We may not always understand what all God is doing in our lives. Some day we will understand it when we see our Lord and Saviour. He has the master plan for our lives, and we cannot see it all yet until we get our glorified body. I have been thankful many times I did not see into the future what God had for my life. If I had, I may not have followed his plan.
God’s plans are not always bad sometimes they are good, but we still do not see his hand working in our lives.
Another brief example. When I was a child, I had no brothers or sisters, so I helped my father chop wood and keep a fireplace and wood burning stove going in our house. I still would love to chop wood today if I had the strength. When we had a temporary move to New Zealand (before our permanent move) to relieve another missionary for 6 months, we had a wood burning stove in the house we rented.
My husband usually kept the wood stove going but one morning I wanted to let him sleep in, so I decided to start the fire in the stove. My girls who were quite young at the time sat down in front of the stove. Looking up at me with their big, doubtful eyes they said, “Mommy, do you know how to start a fire in the stove?” Little did they know just how well I could start and maintain a fire. They quickly learned that I knew what I was doing, and it was all because of what I had learned from my father. Again, something I had learned years prior was a great benefit to us in our house where that wood burning stove was our only heat source since New Zealand homes do not have central heating.
Recently, I started pondering some of the past things God has had me encounter in my life, both good and bad, that have helped me in some future circumstance he has had me experience. Things we go through are for a purpose even if we do not understand the purpose. God understands. He is the Master Planner.
Recently, I also pondered, “What if the things we are going through today are for how the Lord will use us in the millennium reign?” The Bible tells us just enough to get our curiosity up about the millennium. There is so much we do not know, but some day God will show us his master plan for our lives. We will see where we obeyed and where we disobeyed. We will see our rewards or lack thereof. He holds the master plan for our lives in his hands and he knows what he is doing. Although at times, we may not like what he is doing, but I am glad he knows best. It would be best for me if I just let him do what he is trying to do in my life than if I kick against the pricks and try to go my own way.
So, the next time something happens that is hard, difficult, hurtful, painful, or maybe just tedious and hard. Try and think, “Maybe God is doing this to prepare me for something in the future and this event may make a future event go easier.”
Our God is awesome and magnificent in all that he does. I’m glad I do not have to manage this whole world and the 7 billion people that live herein. He is the Master Planner.
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Save yourself a lot of stress and worry and do not try to figure out God’s ways and reasons for things. Just follow his plan for your life and see where he is taking you both now, in the future, or even the millennium reign.
