process of healing

Somewhere around the beginning of the year I severely sprained my right foot while jogging.  I was feeling so good at a slow pace that I thought I'd pick things up and run on the balls of my feet like I did when I was younger.  Unfortunately I'm not younger any more and something stretched or snapped in my right foot.  I was sure that, given a few days rest, the foot would feel normal again and I could resume running.  But that was about 5 months ago and I still have pain in the foot and can't run yet!  I finally saw a podiatrist and found out that I'd stretched out a tendon and that the healing process just takes time.  I'm encouraged to see gradual improvement and am confident that I'll jog again someday!  This morning, as I thought about this experience, I realized that healing is a process.  We'd like it to be instantaneous so we can resume life on our agenda.  Sometimes healing takes more time and I suppose that's because we are ultimately living on another agenda...the Lord's.  I suppose one of the benefits of time passing for the healing process is our greater appreciation for the things we have taken for granted about our life.  I think, also, that sometimes even with time we may not experience that total return of ability we use to have.  Nonetheless we can be completely healed as we realize the Lord can fill our "deficiency" with His "all suffiency"!  In a sense He is using our lifetimes to provide an eternity of healing.   Jeremiah 33:6 Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.   blessings, Rob Smith