Jun 23, 2016
By Diane Andries
The decision to have spine surgery was not an easy one to make. I had so many tearful conversations with God about, and for, my healing. But I believe God had something different in mind for me. I knew that surgery was what I had to do, and finally I scheduled spine surgery for June of 2014.
After surgery was done, I had a big shock. I realized that it was going to be a much longer healing time than I had expected. I didn’t know that my walking was going to be affected to the extreme that it was. I used a walker for about four months to help me walk again. The first time I used the walker I was only able to walk a short distance from the bedroom to the kitchen and back. I was not able to walk down or up stairs, etc. I slept sitting up in a chair for the good part of five months because lying down meant pain and irritation. The most humiliating part was not being able to physically take care of myself. Thank God for my family who was there for me through it all. A special thank you to a wonderful mom, who took me in her home and cared for me during the hardest part of my healing.
I believe that I went through three different stages in my healing journey. The first stage was disbelief. This was when I realized what I was actually facing. It seemed insurmountable. At this point all I could see was the struggle I was facing, and it was hard to imagine myself healed. Then came self-pity, which is what I call the second stage in my healing journey. I began to wallow in “if only” and “why me?” I began thinking of all the stories I heard — about people who had this surgery with no success, some even felt worse after or they had to have the surgery again. This was an awful place to be in. I thank God He did not allow me to linger there for long.
The Holy Spirit reminded me of something I learned a while ago, something that has seen me through many difficult struggles. He reminded me I should use every difficult circumstance that comes my way as an opportunity to see God move in my life. Sometimes, I need a little reminder. I wouldn’t know if God could completely heal me if I didn’t trust Him to do it. And if I truly believe that “God works all things together for good to those who love God and those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28), then I had to believe He was working in my situation. This is when I entered the third stage of my healing journey. Faith kicked in and nothing was going to stop me from full restoration. I began standing on the Word for my healing. If the doctors told me to walk a block, I would walk two. Whatever they told me to do, I did more. I was determined to prove all the voices of doom wrong. I knew I was not fighting alone, but that God was the one giving me the strength to get through. I am happy to say I am fully healed.
My life is better now, having gone through this experience. This might sound strange, but I needed go through this so that I could hear God calling me to draw even closer to Him. Sometimes there are so many activities going on in our lives, so many things we are doing, that we miss the most simple thing that God desires from us, which is simply to spend time with Him. That is more precious to Him than anything else we could do for Him. I thank Him for taking me to the place where He was my only choice — total reliance on Him.
Diane is wife to Pastor Paul Andries from the Washington, DC, SDB Church and a mother to three wonderful children. She is a Deacon in the church, Young Adult Sabbath School Teacher, and Worship Leader. Her favorite thing to do is worship through songs.
