The first time I went in to see a chiropractor I wasn't nervous about the adjustment. Sure, I had never in my life been adjusted before but I was experiencing pain in various parts of my body for a couple of years that I was just eager to get to the root of it all.
Being a missionary and traveling can sound glamorous from the outside looking in, but some days are just downright hard. I've talked about this before in previous blogs but I bring it up again to shed light on the different things I hadn't realized I was putting my body through: sleeping in an upright position on long plane rides with my neck every which way; sleeping on Therma-Rests on hard church floors; carrying 50lbs of clothes and food on my back while hiking 1-2 miles into any given city to our hostel/hotel; and the manual labor mixed with little sleep.
Now imagine doing all of those things for 12 years in a row and now imagine my back.
I should have seen a chiropractor a LONG time ago, but I am grateful our bodies give us signals and warnings when something needs our attention. I've since learned to not be fearful when my body is responding in a certain way that I don't understand. If I take a step back and look at my external circumstances it paints a pretty clear picture as to why my body may be responding the way that it is. Albeit stress, anxiety, lack of good nutrition, transitions, change, or lack of adequate sleep.
My body had been telling me I needed some adjusting. Some things need to shift and move so I could be healthy long-term.
The X-rays revealed that my hips were out of line and that one was taking the brunt of all my running and walking. Therefore, it was getting smaller than the other. My spine was curved and I could barely move the upper half of it. My tailbone was sitting too high causing me to hyper-extend my back which was not helping the lower back pain and pain in other areas I was experiencing. And all of that added to the fact that one leg/hip was longer than the other, putting most of my weight on one side of my body. Oof.
I started seeing my chiropractor twice a week for the next three months. He wanted to get started right away and the plan he laid out for me indicated so. He was ready to get started and do the slow work of shifting my hips and my spine back into their proper places. I was ready to do the work too. Outside of my office visits I had to foam roll nightly, stretch just about everything, ice, switch to a memory foam pillow (thanks mom!), and reduce my stress (yeah I know impossible right?).
Each week he moves one hip up and basically body slams me. He pushes the other hip down and body slams me again. He shifts and moves my spine and of course he cracks my neck on both sides. Some days it literally just feels like he's crushing me.
But he's actually slowly shifting and moving things. Healing.
My body has been responding so well and everything is moving so nicely, my new plan is just twice a month instead of eight.
You see, I didn't get fixed right away. It took time and lots of it. It took faithful obedience in all of the small ways. It took showing up when I had had a hard day and walked in with puffy eyes (and sometimes we do just have to cancel).
It was a slow and steady process. It was the consistent moving and crushing to get to the healing.
This lesson has applied to so many other recent areas of my life! (Blogs coming soon). I have learned to trust the process, and more importantly the one who has me in process.
My chiropractor knows what he's doing. I trust his process for me because he has my best interest in mind. Our Heavenly Father knows what He's doing. I trust His process for me because His heart for me and towards me is good. Even if/when it doesn't feel good.
A section of Scripture that I have been clinging to for a couple of years now is Matthew 6, specifically verses 25-34. I won't type it all out here so go grab your Bible and read it.
What astounds me is that the care our Heavenly Father has for us is shown by His care for birds. The "smallest" of creatures in this big world who fly and nest and live in trees, and we don't even take notice of them unless we're actively looking for them. And He cares for THESE. How much MORE does He care for us, His children?!
Friend, I don't know where you're at today or what you're facing as you sit down to read this. If it feels like life is shifting and moving and crushing you, you're not alone. I have felt that a lot too. If it feels like it's just crushing and there's no healing, I've 100% been there too.
Trust Him.
Trust His heart.
Trust His heart for you.
And not to get the blessing on the "other side." But to get HIM.
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