“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” Is. 40:31

Since I last wrote, I have been recovering from a round of bursitis and tendinitis in my hip. That meant weeks of physical therapy which did not help, then MRI’s, then appointments with two specialists and finally an injection in my hip. The problem really began in January and it was not until a few weeks ago that I was really feeling like I would get back to some sort of normalcy. Then I was informed I needed an infusion for osteoporosis and since then, my knee has been acting up. Months ago, I took my issues to the Lord in prayer. I felt the Spirit say I would walk (for exercise) again, maybe not at the same pace, but I would be able to regain some of my strength. It wasn’t that I couldn’t walk at all, just not the loops I took for exercise. The last time I walked for exercise, I limped home with a bad hip. I started back doing one of the most harmless exercises I can do, swim. I was feeling real good about that. I felt like I had a promise I could stand on.

Since I last wrote, a darling little baby came into my life. She was a frail and frightened kitten hiding in my son’s car engine after a 30 mile ride from a local airport. She was hungry and we could feel almost every bone in her body. She quickly became a part of the household. Also since I last wrote, we have had some travels, church conferences, appointments and family coming and going. In the modern vernacular, “life be lifing”. Over the weekend, I was sharing with my brother the things she has been doing as she grows. Later that same day, she had draped herself across my chest for a nap and when she woke up, she hopped down from her perch. I put my attention to some matter of life that needed my attention, and I wondered where she was. I turned around and there she was standing on top of my Bible. I jokingly said to her, “So now you’re standing on the promises of God?”

Fast forward to today, my husband was randomly singing the hymn, “Standing On the Promises of God”. I am sure there was a reason for it, but it made me think about the picture I had snapped of our little darling from over the weekend. Also, during this conversation, we were talking about how I was scheduled to go to yet another doctor’s appointment, this time for my knee and my frustration that it seems like over the past several years, I’ve been dealing with one joint issue after another, none of them horrible by themselves, but certainly inconvenient and nagging. In the back of my head, my mind ran back to the moment that I felt the Spirit promised me I would walk again and just how far away I feel from that promise. Did I misunderstand? Did I read more into what the Spirit was speaking than was actually being said? Was it even a promise? Almost immediately, the scripture above popped into my head.

Also since I last wrote, I did a Bible Study on “The Promises of God”. As part of that study, there was a place where the authors had curated a list of God’s promises versus sayings we say and tag them as God’s promises. There is a difference. And it is not that God does not give us promises individually, the majority of them are meant to be broader in spectrum. So I can attach a healing prayer to God’s promises of healing, but I also have to understand that everything happens in His time and in His will and that sometimes, like Paul, the healing may not come because the greater promise is that His grace is sufficient for us so as to make God’s strength perfect in our weaknesses or infirmities (2 Cor. 12:9). Therefore, as I prepare myself for another doctor’s appointment, I am reminded of the greater promise given in Isaiah 40:31. That promise is for strength to walk out my faith daily, even when I cannot literally walk without some sort of impediment right now. Here, the promise to walk is tied to those who will wait on the Lord. I am still believing that at some point in my future, I will be able to walk around the neighborhood again, probably at a different pace. And given today’s experience, I am now hinging what the Spirit spoke to my heart on to Isaiah 40:31, and I will wait on the Lord for His timing, His will. And if that will includes relying on God’s grace, then indeed I will be walking by faith all the more.