Sep 26, 2018
By Holly Probasco
Over the course of my 17 years of life, I have had two knee surgeries, both for ACL tears on my left leg. So, as the second surgery rolled around for me, I sort of knew what to expect. Huge brace, one month on crutches, no running for nine months. Therefore, as I woke up from my anesthesia, I lay on my hospital bed wondering if they had already put the brace on me. I moved my right foot over and tried to feel for it; however, they seemed to have put something in between my two legs. I tried moving it. No luck. That’s when I realized it’s not moving because it’s my foot. There was never anything in between my legs. My left foot was just so numb I couldn’t feel it.
I think the church is like that sometimes. Hear me out. When my body underwent surgery, it had to heal fully before I could run. If I had tried to run two weeks after surgery, while I was supposed to be on crutches, I would have ended up hurting myself even more. Similarly, we are the body of Christ. Are we noticing those who are numb? Are we recognizing those who are hurting? If we try to push those hurting people before they are healed, even for a good purpose, we risk hurting the body as a whole. On the other hand, if we ignore those people, or pretend they don’t exist, they will just hurt more and more as time goes on. If I had ignored the tear in my knee, I would’ve been fine for a while, but as time went on, I wouldn’t have been able to walk without pain. Why would I want any of those things for my body? Why would we let these things happen to Christ’s body?
I guarantee that there are hurting people in your church. You might be one of them. And it’s okay to hurt. Pain is what tells the brain that something is wrong with the body. So, while it is the church’s job to come alongside the hurt, they have to recognize that pain exists. Are we, as the church, looking to heal the hurting? Or are we so caught up in our own hurt that we don’t have time for anyone else’s? I encourage you to get to know the members of your church. Because when life gets hard, they, or you, might need a little help to keep going.
