Hello ,
Her right leg hung limply in the therapy department's leg sling (a device to monitor and encourage muscle movement). The spring that held the wide canvas strap cradling my wife's leg was so loose that it seemed I could have breathed on it and made the contraption move.
After my wife's tragic accident, the therapy was a grueling uphill battle, and the paralysis that gripped her right leg seemed as though it would never let go. After weeks of intensive therapy we were told that I could bring her home. "It doesn't look like she will get anything else back," we were told by the hospital therapists.
There was only one problem. We had been living in an apartment that was situated on the second and third floor. The apartment was undeniably inaccessible, and I was faced with the daunting task of finding a new place for us to live that was on a ground floor, and moving our possessions to it before I brought her home.
Everyday after work I looked at properties but everything that I viewed was inaccessible. Weeks passed, and desperation began to set in. Finally one night, after another exhausting day of searching, I came home and slumped to my knees beside my bed. "Oh Lord," I prayed, "all I want is to bring my wife home, can't you just help me find a place for us to live?" God seemed strangely silent.
Meanwhile, when I visited my wife, the hospital staff would put the pressure on me about our potential home. "Do you have a place yet?" they would ask. I was embarrassed, and I could feel their unbelieving glances.
All Things Work Together
Finally, about two months after I had begun to look, I was successful. The apartment was everything that we needed. It was on a ground floor, spacious, and very accessible. And then, something even more miraculous happened. My wife began to show traces of muscle movement in her right leg. That same leg that had hung so limply in the sling was now showing improvement. Fifteen years later, my wife is now able to ambulate and use that leg to walk with assistance.
We believe she would have never had that opportunity had I found a suitable place to live when I first began looking. She had needed to stay in therapy, and our God knew that fact even when we couldn't see it.
Since then, I have come to treasure a verse about this reality that we all sometimes face; that our timing is not necessarily God's timing. "But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, 'You are my God.' My times are in your hands..." (Psalm 31:14,15).
We don't always understand God's ways, but we are challenged to rely on God's, loving knowledge of the future and to place our lives confidently in the hands of the One who loves us most.
Have a great day and God bless!
