God and My Cracked Ribs

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.”* (Psalm 34:19)

“There hath no temptation taken you but such is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”* (1 Corinthians 10:13)

It was late last April when I fell against the top of our tub wall, causing great injury to my ribs. Oh, how thankful I am for the Lord measuring out this trial to me. Even at that moment I was thankful. First, I was refreshed from a good night’s rest. Secondly, I had just completed my shower, and so I was clean. Next, I called in my heart upon the Lord to help me out of the tub—and He did! I made my way to where my feeble cries could be heard by the family, as I wanted them to be able to pray for me. We called our pastor for agreement in prayer. We also notified the saints we had come to know in other places to be in agreement of prayer as well. I knew the Lord had heard our prayer and would heal me.

At first I was eager to trust the Lord by getting up and walking about, but that made matters worse. Soon the Lord made known to me that it was needful for me to lay on my back on a firm surface as much as possible. I had done contrary for a couple of days with terrible muscle spasms and great pain, so I was more than willing to obey. It was not an easy time, but no true affliction is free from difficulty. We happened to have a narrow hollow-core door in our barn, and that was used as my bed, with a very thin air mattress to help ease the hardness of the door—it worked perfectly. The Lord also made a way for me to get up and down, as it took two people to do this. Shifts were done around the clock, and this was possible since three of our girls are still at home with us. Oh, how wonderful is the Lord to measure out our trials!

My family was pretty well worn out and starting to acquire back strain, and so it was then that I needed to trust the Lord to help me to take care of myself during the night. To get on the door, two of my family would need to lower me down as I leaned back against the door. With the Lord’s help, I managed to take lying down for about 1.5 - 2 hours at a time. The Lord has given me strong legs, and so I was able to manage getting up and down in this manner. Oh, how I looked forward to those breaks from being on my back, but I knew that the more time I was on my back (my ribs were kept free from movement) the sooner I would be able to be up and about as usual. I was able to keep my eyes on the Lord and trust Him moment by moment.

After about a week’s time I was able to listen to cassettes, and I chose Pilgrim’s Progress, as I had only heard bits and pieces of it from time to time when the children were listening to it. It was truly a blessing to be able to be still long enough to listen to it—it took over a week to do so. I was able to listen to Christiana but only got part way through it when other things distracted me from completing the story.

The Lord gave me all that I needed for each moment. I believe, at least in this battle, that it took trusting the Lord to help me moment by moment—that was my way of escape. If I was tempted to look to where I was and how much I wanted to be up and about, that would only rob me of the peace that God gives to His trusting children.

In three weeks time I was able to get myself up and didn’t feel pain during the day, unless I forgot to lie down and rest during the day. It was finally at 6 weeks that I no longer felt discomfort while trying to sleep at night. A close friend mentioned that it took over 6 months before her sister was healed from broken ribs. Oh, how I thank and praise the Lord for touching me and making me well. I still feel a slight sensation in the area when I turn on my side at night—and oh how I thank the Lord for this reminder of His goodness towards me.

There are many in heavy battles at this time. It is at these times of great trial that we must remember to hold up the hands of the weary in the battle by encouraging them with the promises of God. “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”* (Hebrews 13:5) God is there right by us. Our job is to hold on and trust Him, never willing to give in to discouragement. In this spirit we are “more than conquerors”* (Romans 8:37) through Christ Jesus!