My wife Jeanette has walked with a slight limp as long as I have known her. She has had joint issues that required her to exercise caution when moving about. For years some degree of numbness has been present in her hands and feet. Earlier attempts to identify and correct these matters were not successful. So, she learned to adapt, endure, and move forward without complaint. Her aches and pains have not stopped her from taking care of her home, serving as a pastor’s wife, being a denominational servant, or serving as a mission volunteer. But in recent years these issues have become more of a challenge. In the past two years her pain has been excruciating and her mobility has been limited. In the past year she has required a cane and then a walker to move around the house. The pandemic slowed the journey to discover the causes of these problems. Our efforts were further delayed by deaths in the family. But in the course of time, it was revealed that she had spinal stenosis in her lower back and neuropathy in her feet. Medications and physical therapy helped with the pain and enhanced her mobility to a degree but it was obvious that her problems were numerous and complicated. In January we had a consultation with a neurologist who did a thorough examination. He concurred that she had neuropathy in her legs and suffered from stenosis, but these things should not be causing the current level of weakness in her legs, her unnatural gait, enhanced reflexes, and the tingling and numbness in her feet and hands. He ordered a battery of blood test and though he was not convinced of the need for it, determined that an MRI of the neck should be performed. Within a couple of hours, we saw the results of the MRI on line. It revealed severe spinal stenosis in her neck at the C-4 ,5, and 6 area. That very afternoon the neurologist office secured an appointment with the neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon showed us the MRI images and explained how the spinal stenosis was putting severe pressure on the spinal cord and that surgery to relieve that pressure was necessary. He did not promise that it would correct any of her existing problems but said the surgery needed to be done in order to prevent much more crippling effects.
Jeanette had surgery on February 15. The surgery went well. Later
that day the surgeon’s physician assistant was visiting with Jeanette and in
the course of conversation asked her “when was the last time you fell”? She
replied that it had been 3-4 months. He said they could tell by the bruising on
the spinal cord that she had endured a blunt force impact that likely had been
caused by a fall. Then he said, “one more fall and you would have been in
serious trouble”. When My wife relayed that story to me my soul cried and
rejoiced at the same time. The Lord had been gracious, and she had been spared
from severe physical injury. She is now recovering from the surgery, we have
seen some positive results, and we await to see what the next steps of the
journey might be.
But the words of the physician’s assistant keep ringing in
my heart and mind “One more fall and you would have been in serious trouble”. There
is a spiritual lesson in those words for us as a missionary people. Every day we
encounter people who physically and spiritually are on the pericope of death
and Hell. They are one fall from an irreversible eternal destiny. You and I
stand before them with the healing gospel of the Great Physician. The saving
power of the gospel is the only hope they have. We are the ones who must
confront them with the truth about the severity of their predicament and we are
the ones who must deliver the crucial plea for them to believe the gospel and come
to faith Christ. The gospel may sound like foolishness to them, but “one more
fall and they will be in serious trouble”.
