Ice, Needles, and Prayer

James 1: 2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.


By now, you know I don't like ice. Specifically, I don't like being cold.  Probably because I grew up in Texas and have always been little, meaning very little body fat and I get cold easily.  I bring a sweater everywhere I go.  It's 90 degrees outside and I have a sweater in my car "just in case".  Therefore, when I was told I needed to ice both my shoulders three times a day I was not a happy camper. 


On to needles. Needles hurt, plain and simple. I had to have my blood drawn many, many times when I was pregnant with both of my children. It hurt. My veins like to move around like rubber bands and sometimes the nurses had to poke me several times.  To make matters worse, I get nervous and afraid and I tense up my muscles which makes the poke hurt even more.  You know how you remember all the wonderful feelings and forget the pain of injuries and, well, childbirth?  I've been told we women were gifted with forgetting pain because, well, we would all have only one child each. In any event, when I was around 20 I got a severe case of poison ivy and had to have a cortisone shot. IT WAS PAINFUL!!!  My very first memory and beginning of my fear and dislike of needles.  


Today, I had an appointment with an orthopedist for my shoulders.  Two days prior my physical therapist said to me, "if they offer you a cortisone shot, take it".  Fear ensued. I was not going to get a shot.  No thank you.  I awoke this morning, which by the way is my wedding anniversary, extremely nervous, apprehensive, and not looking forward to my visit.  The nice nurse took x-rays of both of my shoulders then the doctor did his exam, which hurt like the dickens.  The doctor and I, with my awesome husband next to me, sat down and looked at my x-rays.  The doctor then explained to me the various defects in my acromions, humeral heads, and greater tubercles.  


Then, I heard it. The dreaded word. Injection.  I could feel the blood drain out of my face.  I turned and looked at my husband who told the doctor, "she does not want a shot."  Well, the good doctor then explained the alternative, surgery. Ugh, even worse.  Reluctantly, I got up on the examination table, looked straight ahead while the doctor prepped my shoulder.  I politely crossed my ankles in fear that I might kick him. 


To my great surprise, it didn't hurt.  I mean, I felt the pressure and the medication going into my arm, but it did not sting or burn or really hurt at all. But after he was finished I was shaking so badly I thought I was going to cry from the release of adrenaline that had built up.  


Point number 3. Prayer.  Please pray that the injection, ice, medication and therapy works so I do not have to endure surgery.


So, what does this have to do with the above verse? Everything. This whole shoulder thing is a huge trial for me. I have had pain that has limited my activities, sidelined my running, and in general has worn me out.  I cried like a baby on Sunday at church because I was so tired and in pain. How I handle this trial is a testament to my faith.  I can either rise above it and praise God, regardless of how lousy I feel, or I can grumble and complain and blame Him. Oh sure, I'm going to whine a little bit but it is not going to change who I am. This will pass. I may or may not have surgery on one or both shoulders. I might have to endure months of ice and many more needles.  However, the one thing I will not do is compromise my faith. I will let this experience, this trial if you will,  draw me closer to God. I will rely on Him to get me not only through it, but to somehow help someone else who may face a similar situation in the future. 




1 Peter 1:³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.