“Okay, but what day does it feel like in your soul?” I asked a group of students a couple of days ago. Some of them couldn’t get away from the calendar date, but then we started to talk about the feeling you get from certain days of the week.
I have this thing about Thursdays; I think they’re great. I’m not sure when it really started, but at some point in the past year, a student told me he felt like God was going to heal me on a Thursday – not necessarily the day of the calendar, but the feeling of something unexpected and almost Friday. I, by random happenstance, had a call with this particular child on this past calendar Thursday – which we both agreed felt like a Wednesday. He caught me up on the semester of Thursdays he’s had at Wheaton this past year, and I’m so encouraged to hear how God is growing him. Then we talked about how my birthday was on Saturday – which turned out to be quite the Thursday if I don’t say so myself.
Similar to my conversation with Caylie a few weeks ago, Jacob and I pondered the poetic resonance of my birthday marking two and a half years of intense prayer and waiting for a miraculous healing. What happened instead was a different kind of Thursday. No miraculous healings or wild breakthrough moments, but I got myself out of bed, enjoyed a croissant and TJs coffee, read for a couple hours, had scones with clotted cream at an English tea house with some friends before watching The Fall (with Lee Pace’s eyebrows in all their glory) while eating schnitzel with Joy. As I tucked myself into bed, I checked the danger spots on my feet and saw nothing new I could do to make the spots any better. I also saw 17 unread messages that had come in through the hours since I’d last checked my phone and dozens more on my Facebook wall. I went to sleep recognising how incredibly loved I am.
Of course I would have loved to wake up walking, but my disability didn’t rob me of a single joy yesterday. My self assigned German mother just dropped off a basket of fresh fruit and two bottles of wine because she oozes generosity. At church this morning, we all wrote down something we are good at and can offer to others on sticky notes to cover a board at the front of the room. I was thanking God for all the gifts I’ve received while thinking about how I can bless others. Sometimes I forget that I’m capable of giving when I so often am the one to ask for help. One of the gifts I had yesterday was reminders that I offer hospitality and friendship that is valued by people in this community. I was showered with love by people willing to hold my hand and help me up a couple of steps or carry my wheelchair or make minor adjustments for my limitations because they actually love me and those things don’t phase them.
Most of the messages with birthday greetings included a note about how I was being prayed for. I’m so incredibly thankful to be covered in prayer – for my specific birthday requests and for countless other things people are prompted to lift up. Heading into this new week, I’m hoping for lots of Thursdays and looking for the little things to care for my feet and keep my body healthy.
