Hello ,
My apologies for not getting this e-Devotional to you sooner. It's been a crazy day in my world, today.
About 17 months ago, my wife Roberta began having difficulties with her left foot. As many of you know, Roberta is an incomplete paraplegic, and has been in a wheelchair for 29 years. The situation with her foot began as a pressure sore on her heal, and moved into 3 bouts of cellulitis over the past year. She has been to wound care specialists, doctors, and podiatrists, in hopes that she could find some answers as to why her foot
doesn't seem to heal.
Yesterday we visited her podiatrist because Roberta takes her vitals everyday, and she noticed that her pulse was more rapid, her blood pressure was elevated, and her foot had a dull sort of ache in the heel. she can only feel partially in her foot, but she decided to call the podiatrist and (at least) have him check the situation out.
We arrived at our appointment, she took her sock off, and the doctor began to examine her foot. Roberta shared with him, the vital signs that she had been keeping track on. He told us, "This foot looks normal and good to me, but there's a callous on here that I could shave down if you would like me to. That may be the source of your discomfort." Roberta decided to let him do that, and as the podiatrist was shaving down the
callous, clear indications of infection manifested through her heel.
The doctor was very surprised by what he discovered, and was even able to take cultures of the festering wound that was underneath the tissue that looked so normal. Her foot had looked completely normal, but under the skin it was a mess. She is now back on another round of antibiotics, and she has been told that healing time on this particular wound will be at least 2 months. Please keep her in your prayers.
After getting in our vehicle, we both talked about how awful it might have been, had the doctor not opened up the foot during our office visit. With most things that I encounter in life, I try to find a spiritual application, if I can. My wife's foot, and her situation gave me pause to consider the spiritual realm.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. John 4:7-8
If it's been a while since you have read the beautiful and amazing account of this encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well, I encourage you to go read it again when you have a free moment. Just like Roberta's foot at the podiatrist's yesterday, the woman in this story might have appeared normal, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Jesus (The Great Physician) began to ask questions, to probe, and to uncover
some of the challenges that this poor woman was experiencing. There, festering beneath the surface of her so-called "normal" life, was a hurting, emotionally bleeding human being that truly needed a Redeemer.
Almost every person that you meet has challenges, hurts, struggles, and pain that may not be readily visible in the moment. Our job as Christians is to be loving, kind, and understanding. We never know just what excruciating the circumstances are, that they might be going through. Let's be the loving, kind people that God created us to be.
Have a great day and God bless!
