Lindsay's Knee

Aren't we cute all wet? I've NEVER heard or seen rain like the rain we experienced that Sunday (June 2012) in Guatemala as we visited Casa on the Rock - an orphanage just outside Guatemala City. 

This sweet boy would not leave David's side. And even after he got tired from playing, he still wanted David to stay with him while he caught his breath on the stairs. : )

This precious young lady is Azucena.

She's getting so big!! So hard to believe. When I first met her in 2007 she couldn't have been three years old yet.

(First time we got to play together in 2007.)

Even though I only get to see her every couple years, she remembers who I am every time and her sweet voice calling "Lola" absolutely melts my heart. 

...

Needless to say, Guatemala is a huge part of each of our testimonies. This time of year a part of our Guatemala family comes to visit supporters for several weeks here in the States. We were beyond blessed to have Hermann, Linda, and Ilse Alb able to extend their trip back in 2010 so that Hermann could marry me and David. 

I could write and write and write about all of the things the Lord has done through our interactions with Medical Missions Ministry (MMM) in Guatemala and the way it's impacted our entire life and the lives of our families. 

Actually, just yesterday, because of Guatemala, I did something I have never done before. 

Ever. 

In my entire life.

...

I ran by myself. 

Outside. 

Well, I wasn't completely by myself. Sperry was with me. But, I didn't have another person who I was "running with" encouraging me saying, "Keep going. You can do it. Don't stop. Keep up!" No one knew what I was doing. There was no pressure to run. I could have completely gotten away with just walking. Plus, it was SUPER cold. I did not have to do it... 

When we are in Guatemala working with MMM we pray with every person who comes to our clinics. And, if they have some physical ailment, we pray that they would be healed of it. I have prayed for all kinds of things to be healed with people. And, I expect that God will heal the person I'm praying for. Just this past summer we prayed for a man who had just lost his vision. The next day we found out the doctors told him he would see again. 

During our last day of clinic this summer I met the woman who had actually organized our clinic for us. When she sat down to visit with me while waiting for her prescriptions to be filled, she told me the doctor told her she had arthritis in her shoulder, but she would not accept that. She knew that God would restore her shoulder and remove her pain. She also shared with me how her husband had gone into kidney failure secondary to alcohol abuse 14 years ago, at which time he lost both of his kidneys, and has since then been on dialysis. When this happened, she had only recently become a follower of Christ, but she had been praying for her husband to know God. A few years after loosing his kidneys, he too became a Christian. During this time, he also lost his vision. Six months after loosing his vision he asked God to restore his eyes, and He promised the Lord that he would tell everyone he met about how He gave him back his sight. Instantly, he received his sight. She told me they both share with everyone the miracles the Lord has performed in their life, and that when many people hear their story they come to know God as well... It's like you're reading straight out of the New Testament, right? 

(Here is me trying not to cry once we finally got her medicine.)

I was so incredibly humbled by her faithfulness. I was sitting there, still a pretty fresh newlywed, asking myself, "Would I trust God that much if my husband lost his kidneys and sight after abusing his body like that?" I really didn't know.

Also, that thing she said about her shoulder... She wouldn't accept it? 

I know a thing or two about what I can say no to (I can say no to fear, I can say no to anxiety, I can say no to lies, I can say no to Satan, etc). But, arthritis?

I broke my left leg when I was 16 years old. Three surgeries and several years later, there was still a lot of stuff I couldn't do because of my knee. My answer to my doctor every year when he asks, "How's your knee?" is "If I'm good to it, it's good to me." Which translates to, "If I try to run or climb up something or do lunges or don't stretch it bothers me. If I avoid those things and stretch, I'm ok."

My good friend Sarah was talking to me about races one day and sweetly encouraged me, "Lindsay, you could do a 5k." I automatically replied, "No, my knee won't let me."

...

The night of our last clinic, I shared with a couple of the girls in our room at the Guest House that I hadn't believed God would completely restore my knee. Not because He didn't want to or because I didn't think He could, but because I never thought of asking. I'd just accepted it - scar and all. 

Well, I realized I didn't have to accept a bum knee. Just like she wouldn't accept her arthritis. I didn't have to accept that my knee couldn't be fully restored. So, that night we started praying over my knee. And we've been praying over it ever since. 

And yesterday, I ran the farthest I've ever run. (Disclaimer, it wasn't very far for all you half-marathon runners, but for me, it was VERY far.) And, my knee didn't bother me once during or after. 

Getting into bed last night I told David, "I think God is healing my knee."

And my sweet husband responded, "Lindz, I think He already has."

Praise to Our Amazing God!

I think he's right. : )