A Day Off the Pain Treadmill

Are you ready for another amazing grace note? I hope you like to hear about them as much as I like telling you about Papa God’s little everyday touches of grace that keep us aware of his presence and interaction in our lives. (Hey, you know I want to hear about your grace notes too, right?)

“For all of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace” (John 1:16 NASB). 

A little background regarding this week’s grace note: I have two bum knees. You might already know that, but you might not because I still attempt to play tennis and pickleball and take daily prayer walks. Attempt but don’t always succeed. My decrepit, worn-out knees always hurt. Big time. And sometimes they completely give out. Like, BAM. Down on my derriere.

But I can’t stop functioning just because something hurts, right? After four left knee surgical repairs and one right knee whack job, the surgeon says there’s nothing left to fix. One more wrong twist and I’m off to the ER for total knee replacements, one or both, take your pick.

Okay, so with that in mind, get this: Tuesday morning as I was thanking Papa God for His mercies (new every morning!), and asking how I could bless Him on my very hectic upcoming day attending to some business at the downtown Courthouse, I heard His still, small voice speak to my heart, “Well, at least you won’t have to worry about your knees today.”

Say what?? I stopped short and looked toward heaven. “Did you really say that Lord, or did I make it up?” I hadn’t even been thinking about my knees and couldn’t imagine what it might mean.

Then I drove to the Courthouse, parked two blocks away in a downtown parking garage, and began the quarter-mile trek to my destination carrying my 40-pound purse. About halfway there, I noticed something peculiar. I was moving along at a pretty fast clip (I’m usually outrun by a slug). And my knees didn’t hurt. At all. I wasn’t tottering side-to-side in the “Ow, this smarts!” lumberjack gait I’ve defaulted to in recent years. I was gliding like normal people do when they walk. It had been so long since I walked normally, it felt weird. But absolutely wonderful!

As I entered the county Courthouse, I was halted by the security lady scanning my purse. She was all bent out of shape about a pair of embroidery scissors that’ve ridden unperturbed in the bottom of my purse through countless airport screenings and even into this very same courthouse just last week. The scanner folks generally take one look at them, shake their heads, and motion them through.

But not this lady. She apparently thought I was Deb the Ripper.

Now these tiny scissors aren’t the least bit scary and I can’t think of anyone who would consider the inch-long, blunt tipped blades threatening. They’re made specifically for cutting embroidery thread. Thread. Or possibly a few stray nose hairs.  

Maybe she thought I was planning to chase down an esteemed magistrate to give him an unlawful haircut, or perhaps recklessly trim his beard. Pbbbt. Whatever the reason, I was told to return them to my car or forfeit them to the trash can.

Oh, man. Not the gumdrop buttons! I mean, not the wee scissors I’d had since I learned to embroider at age 12!

So back to the parking garage and another half-mile beating the pavement. But guess what? NO PAIN! At one point I realized I was power-walking like I used to decades ago when I still had working knees and inexplicably, it didn’t hurt one smidgeon. Wow! Watch me fly! I sang praise songs amid the gawking commuters all the way to the Tampa Courthouse. (I guess they don’t sing much downtown.)

My day included four flights of stairs (up then down), two+ miles of walking, and nearly an hour of standing (waiting). All without one bit of knee discomfort. Unbelievable!

And even after I returned home, the blessing continued. I walked the dog an extra long block, when I’d been barely making it around one short block this whole year. They remained gloriously pain-free all the way to my bed!

So I’m guessing your first question is: Were your knees healed for keeps?

The answer is: no, sadly. Two days later, the hinges that support my weight are feeling their rust again from a lifetime of wear and tear. I’m back to my lumbering Bigfoot gait. But that’s okay. I’m ENORMOUSLY grateful for my day off the pain treadmill and praise Papa God for his surprise mercies when they come.

Your next question is most likely: Why, Deb? Why would the Almighty do such a thing and why you? The answer is: I have no idea! But it sure was uber cool! I don’t pretend to understand it, or feel worthy of it, but I’m overflowing with gratitude for all of Papa God’s grace notes.

The way I see it is, life is besotted with pain and hardship. That’s just a fact of living in a fallen world. But it’s also bejeweled with Papa God’s sparkling blessings, if we make up our minds to see them. And then give Him all the glory!

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped” (Psalm 28:7 NIV).

I meant what I said at the beginning of this diatribe, dearest BFF (Blessed Friend Forever) – won’t you share a time when you experienced a surprise grace note with your BFF girlfriends by commenting below? We’d love to hear from you!