Come Up Here And See

Recently at work, I planned to take a break to walk around a block and pray. I was involved in a worldwide prayer and fast for my neighbouring country’s election. I was praying for the souls of both nations to be restored to God’s covenant. Just before I tripped on an uneven sidewalk I was praying that the sexualization spirits running rampant in our countries would be broken. I was praying that the spirits of Molech, Ishtar and Baal be shattered off our nations and for our children to be protected from our enemy. 

I tripped on a section of a new piece of sidewalk higher than the older sidewalk. Down I went with my front arm bracing my face from the cement. My head hit the cement face forward, breaking my nose and my glasses and leaving a gash on my forehead. The gash required ten stitches at the emergency room. My right forearm and right hand suffered great pain from the fall. I know they protected my head from being split. As I landed it seemed my knees did not hit the ground but only my head and right forearm did. 

No one was with me as I was lying there. I knew there were dangerous possibilities of rising too quickly but I also couldn’t get up. I could reach a lens from my broken glasses that had fled from the impact and my cell phone. I could barely retrieve a phone number because my sight is limited without both lenses. As I squinted I guess the number I picked was correct. Thankfully when I set up my phone with my colleague’s work numbers their names also had the company’s name making it easier to find their numbers. The first three calls to different people went to their message retrieval systems. The fourth colleague I tried desperately to reach on my cell, was onsite in a different city so he contacted the office. 

The block I chose to walk around was not a home area but a park. A city truck was there but I saw no city workers until after I reached someone on my cell. I cried out but they were unable to hear until I gathered my breath to cry out louder. Immediately they called 911. Three of my colleagues arrived onsite after the city workers found me.

As the ambulance attendants were putting me into the ambulance I was crying to my office manager I didn’t want to go to the hospital because I was teaching on prayer that night.  She calmly said, “Lisa you will miss your class tonight”. I think I cried more. I love teaching others and myself about prayer. 

The ordeal involved an ambulance, a brace around my neck for eight long hours, x-rays of my head, and my arm, and dried blood being wiped off to suture the gashes. The doctor stitching me up informed me the gash was being stitched in the shape of a bench. Isn’t that just lovely to have a bench on your forehead? Thankfully there were no broken or sprained arms or bleeding in the brain. Even the nurse said it could have been more traumatic where I could have been rushed to the surgery and truly who knows what the horrible outcome could have been. 

The pain from my head, concussion, broken nose and arm has been present and real since that time. I am writing this thirty-eight days later. 

Now that uneven sidewalk has been sprayed an orange colour to warn others. At the time of my trip, there was no warning. 

The next morning when the pain was continuous, my nose still bleeding I was praying thanking Jesus for the cross. As I did a scene from one of the best movies about Jesus and the cross flashed before my mind. Jesus had been beaten, scourged to the point of his back cut open with thirty-nine stripes, unrecognizable, and naked and the Roman soldiers placed His cross on His back for Him to carry and He fell face down upon the cobblestone road. As that recollection came to me I cried and thanked Jesus for how worthy He is to receive my gratitude. I asked forgiveness for complaining about the little pain I was experiencing and that it was nothing to  Him standing in my place and being the Lamb of God. 

I was trying to remember scriptures about the cross and the suffering Jesus received in my place. Here are just a few:

• He was beaten with fists, slapped and spat upon. Matthew 26:67, Luke 22:63
• He was stripped naked and mocked with a scarlet robe and a crown of thorns pushed into His skull. Matthew 27:28-31, Mark 15:16-20
• He was scourged with shards of glass wrapped in leather whips. Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:15, John 19:1, Luke 22:63
• He was pierced on His side. John 19:34
• He was crucified with two criminals. Luke 23:33, Matthew 27:44

As I was sitting in a little bit of pain I remembered these few truths of the crucifixion of my Lord Jesus Christ I cried more. I thanked Him He took all these griefs, sorrows and horrible pains because of my sins. He was crushed for my wrongdoings. Even though I have turned my back on Him too many times He willingly went to the cross because of His love for me. If I were the only person He still would have obeyed God the Father. To this day He intercedes for me and everyone on the earth. Jesus has scars for all eternity to remind me and others of His love for us. Isaiah 53

God’s love is overwhelming. I am grateful for His loving kindness and I can trust Him through all situations because He is longsuffering and wants all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

Father God, thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus to love me and be the perfect lamb for me. I needed someone to be the perfect sacrifice because I was on a journey to hell without Jesus. Lord, I pray that all surrender to Your gift, Jesus Christ. I pray for those who are paralyzed, and in indescribable lifelong pain that they would look to You and your gift of the cross. I pray You would encourage them in their struggles and limitations and bring them hope. Holy Spirit, I pray we will receive and be grateful for Your conviction, in Jesus’ name, amen. 

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