My left foot-paw!

This past summer I attended Campus Outreach Academy (COA), a program run by University Christian Outreach (UCO) to train and form good Christian leaders to evangelize on today's college campuses. This was a wonderful experience and I'm so grateful that I went. During numerous prayer times those two weeks, we heard many prophetic words and scripture passages telling us to prepare for times of sorrow, struggle, trial, and suffering. Sitting here on my couch in Grand Rapids and looking back over the past year, I've really started to realize that my many struggles these past nine months have been spiritual warfare more than anything else.
First, in September, there was my bout with walking pneumonia. This was a stressful time and in some ways changed the way I prayed and the things I requested of God.
This was followed by several months of simple, occasional health issues related to anemia, a migraine here or there, and stress/winter related fun.
Then, in January, I went to the UCO Winter Conference. And, as I realized the other day, I haven't been completely physically healthy since then. My migraines got to the point where I had a few that I thought were going to kill me. Then, my breathing problems, which turned out to be allergy-induced asthma rather than bronchitis, came along. And then, there was the long and painful saga of my left leg. (Side note: For some reason, I was just reminded of a comment a friend of mine once made that went something along the lines of "Identity crisis, my left foot-paw!" She was referencing this excellent series of children's books.)
My leg crisis began when I fell on the ice on my way to the bus-stop after work one jolly, cold night in February. I heard a distinct pop coming from my left knee but being in a hurry and rather tired, I thought nothing of it and headed home for the evening. My knee continued to hurt for a few days but I chalked that up to the fact that I was working six to eight hours a day most days that week. And I had spring break a few weeks later, so my leg seemed to heal and I went back to my normal life.
Unfortunately, my leg did not heal. Instead, I frequently found myself in pain after walking or running for a long time. This situation worsened as time went by and I started finding myself frequently packing my knee in ice. And Greg and Kyle frequently began pressing me to go see a doctor. So finally, right before finals week, I consented and made a doctor's appointment. The day after I finished my last final, Kyle's twin brother, Alex, drove me to Ann Arbor, and then Jenny Pink drove me to the doctor's office. The doc ordered an MRI and said I was looking at one of two situations. Either I had a torn meniscus (which would mean surgery and weeks in bed) or a sprained LCL. So, I made an appointment for and MRI the following Wednesday. And then I began wearing a knee brace and starting using crutches to hobble around the world. Then, I had my MRI and the following day found out these shocking results: sprained ACL (not too bad, just means I need physical therapy when I move back to Ann Arbor in late June) and arthritis.
Yep, I have arthritis. So I'm going to spend the rest of my life struggling with arthritis.

And yet, I know that in all of this, God will be with me and love me and support me.
More on this story later...I'm tired but I'd love to tell you about the ways that God has used this situation to bless me in the past few days.