By my side

So last Thursday I sprained my ankle playing basketball and thought the rest of my summer would be spent hobbling around on crutches. But being the stubborn person that I am, I went to work the next day without seeing the doctor; making my foot feel a lot worse. Saturday morning comes around and my doctor confirms why I hate visits to the hospital in the first place. I always get some sort of bad news, and this was bad. It turns out I not only sprained my ankle, I fractured my foot in the process.

The doctor was surprised that I have been walking on it the whole time and said I need to be on crutches, and might possibly need to be in a cast for the next 4 weeks. Even though I had plenty of family/friends calling, texting, coming over, and supporting me, I was discouraged because I wanted to be involved in so many things this summer, but now I am forced to sit on the side lines.

Getting ready for church Sunday morning was a hassle, and I never knew putting pants on would be so difficult. I strolled into church on my crutches and automatically got the sympathy card from everyone. For the record, I am the type of person who hates pity, and wants to do things on my own (I know its a bad habit). Later in the service, the visiting pastor prayed for me and said Jesus had healed me. I didn't feel all tingly inside, or have a bolt of electricity shoot down on me, but I believe that nothing is impossible for my God. I started to press hard on my foot and couldn't feel any pain. After the service ended, half the church crowded around me to see me walking around without my crutches.

The biggest touch from God was not the healing that happened, but what occurred directly afterwards. My friends helped me walk around and then laid their hands on me to pray. More than the healing, that action and development in faith from my friends was an answer to prayer. I've had plenty of great friends over the years who genuinely care about me and still do. But our personal prayer and mission with this ministry is to develop a "community for Christ". I've longed to see that in Chicago and have heard plenty of complaints why that hasn't happened. But my testimony is that it is happening and God is using the youth in Chicago like never before. You pray for revival; I'm seeing it. I know God is always "by my side", but think about if we were by each others side in the same way God is there for us? Check out the song "By your side" by 10th Avenue North and you'll understand what I mean.



quick update: I went to the orthopedic doctor the Monday after I got prayed for. The doctor said amazingly all the swelling went away, and I wouldn't need a cast at all. She even said I don't need crutches and I'll be perfectly fine in a few weeks :)

-Jobbin