Ouch, That Hurt!!

Almost a year ago now I was trimming the hedges in our backyard with an electric trimmer. I was being a stupid man, standing on the ledge of our picket fence about six feet off the ground, walking along the ledge and the top of the pickets trimming the hedge line. The next thing I knew I was lying in the neighbor’s backyard shaking my head while stars went around and around. I wasn’t sure what happened. I assumed I lost my balance. I got up, shook myself off, and walked to the garage. I put the hedge trimmer up and decided that was enough for one day. Later that evening, the index finger on my left hand began to swell and hurt.

“Great,” I thought. “I’ve jammed my finger.” I still didn’t think much about it.
Until the next day.  It continued to hurt and turn blue. Then I went to the doctor. It was x-rayed and the doctor determined no broken bones. A few more days, more pain, more swelling. Finally a CT Scan. Still, all the tests were coming back that there was no muscle or nerve damage. Finally, I went to see a hand specialist. In the meantime, I had no use of that finger. After spending time with the hand specialist, he said, “tell me what you were doing when this happened.”

I told him what happened and he looked at me and said, “I think we need to do surgery and see what is going on.”  I don’t have to tell you that did not excite me at all. I’m not one for doctors, medicine, surgery, or the like unless it is absolutely necessary.

I’ll never forget me coming out of anesthesia in the operating room, and the doctor walking over with something lying in the palm of his hand. It looked like half the size and span of a toothpick.
            He smiled and said, “I think we found the culprit.”
            Apparently, the electric trimmer had sliced off a part of the bush with such force that it entered my hand like a bullet. There were never any puncture marks in my hand, but the piece of wood was there, nonetheless. I’m glad the doctor asked me what I had been doing when it happened. Everybody else had told me just to let it heal.

“Wrap it up, it will be fine,” someone said.

If I had not gotten that piece of wood out, something that didn’t belong in my hand, there would have been serious repercussions along the way.
            If we want to see a movement of God in our world, we’ve got to start with the right mindset. The right mindset comes from thinking the right beliefs. The right mindset is kept by knowing what caused the wrong beliefs in the first place. We must get the wrong beliefs out of our minds, or we will have serious repercussions along the way. If we don’t know the history, we may be rendered ineffective like a hand with a piece of wood stuck inside.

I'd like to know what wrong beliefs you struggle with that need to be removed. Let me know.