We are just two days away from being halfway through the six weeks. Rylynn has started telling people that she’s out of the pain stage and she is now in the bored stage. Thank the Lord, the hardest part is behind us. The pain stage was tough for sure. I much prefer the bored stage. We are keeping busy with a lot of crafts and our kitchen table is an explosion of beads, pipe cleaners, jewelry making supplies, confetti, glitter mod podge, scissors, tape, and anything else a bored and crafty girl can stash away. It has actually been fun watching her get really creative. She reads a lot of books and watches plenty of movies. She is completely dependent on us for movement. We pick her up and put her in her wheelchair, take her to the bathroom, pick up dropped beads, prop her comfortably in bed and arrange pillows, etc. It’s been a big adjustment to have such a strongly independent girl who taught herself how to tie her own shoes be completely physically dependent on me again. It’s been absolutely incredible to watch her handle this time with such grace and trust. She has been patient and encouraging and the bond that is being forged between our family is such a gift.
James 5:7 says “Be patient then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming.”
James does not tell us to be patient until our circumstance changes or be patient until we get what we want. He tells us to be patient until Jesus comes back. When I am merely counting down the days until I get my desired outcome, I am missing the point of patience. Patience in this verse means “long suffering”. I am going to experience something difficult and it will be for an extended period of time and I have to wait on the Lord. In our modern American ways, the pain control industry is a multi billion dollar industry. If I have any ailment, a quickish fix is merely a walk to my medicine cabinet or a short drive to a pharmacy. If I have a headache, I take tylenol. If I have a sunburn I rub aloe vera on my skin. If I have heartburn, I drink apple cider vinegar(it really is the best!). Rylynn literally had a femur cut in half and had to have an epidural and two IV’s to block and numb the pain. We were sent home with an arsenal of pain medications that I had to be trained by the nurse to administer properly. Everything around me tells me to avoid pain, to kill the pain, to numb the pain. But God tells me to endure. To be patient. To not be surprised with hardship. And yet, I still act surprised when I have to go through a painful season. But isn’t there a pill or a prayer or something that I can use to just numb this until it’s over? Again, I understand more and more that the challenging seasons that we go through are meant for our development. I can use this season to grow my patience. To teach Rylynn what patience looks like by modeling it for her. How do we do patience well? How do we find joy and contentment in this time?
John has a phrase he says often. “Patience is waiting without complaining.” We are almost halfway done. Can we wait without complaining?
Adventures in Hip Dysplasia 