Page 21 - Evidence of Things Unseen

The pressure became so severe that I knew something had to change quickly. My wife
and I began to discuss where we had gone wrong. We realized that we had been disobedient,
and had turned aside from the path we were convicted was God’s will for us. We determined
that our only recourse was to repent and ask God for His mercy. My wife and I did this as
we knelt down in our living room and prayed to God, confessing our sin and asking our
heavenly Father to once again be the provision for our home. We estimated that it would
take many years for us to climb out of debt, even in a best case scenario, but God in His
mercy had other plans.
Not long after we prayed about this, I was at work one day and I had an accident on
a freshly waxed floor where I fell down and broke my ankle and tore ligaments in my knee.
The injury to my knee was very painful and required physical therapy. It also left me with
an impairment in my knee. I did not know that being injured on the job made me eligible
for a worker’s compensation settlement, so I was surprised when I was told after my
rehabilitation that I needed to be evaluated to determine what compensation I would
receive. I ended up being awarded $19,000 dollars, and this went a long way toward paying
off our debt. Soon after this my wife had an aunt die and we received an additional sum of
money that allowed us to pay off all of the remainder of our debt. In less than a year from
the time we prayed and asked God to forgive us for our sinful spending habits and
covetousness, and to invite Him to once more be our source of provision, we were
completely debt free. This was miraculous, to say the least, and it was evidence of God’s
grace and mercy extended toward us.
After we were debt free God began to speak to me concerning my injury at work. God
told me that He had broken my ankle and caused the injury to my knee that I might learn
to walk more carefully in this area of my life. I was reminded of the Scripture from Hebrews
that speaks of God’s discipline. It specifically mentions God causing an injury to a person’s
limbs.

Hebrews 12:12-13
Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and
make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out
of joint, but rather be healed.

God then began to show me parallels between the natural and spiritual applications
of this discipline He had chosen for me. After the injury I became very careful about walking
on the floors at work (a hospital). I was always looking for wet spots and paying close
attention to how I was walking, especially during the months I was on crutches. God told
me that He wanted me to walk just as carefully in the area of financial stewardship. He
wanted me to learn to live within my means and not be covetous.
This injury affected me in a way that I had never experienced before, although I had
known numerous injuries in my life. At times I would find myself walking down a hallway
at work and I would begin replaying the accident in my mind. I would see myself setting my
foot on the freshly waxed floor and falling. I would see myself lying on the floor unable to
move my leg and foot. As this scene would be playing in my mind I would stop walking, and
moments later I would realize I was standing still in the middle of a hallway. I would have
to tell myself to move, and I would have to wrest my mind free from this image.
The Lord spoke to me about this. He said He wanted this injury to be a reminder to
me to not transgress in this way again. The link between my injury and my disobedience in