Fractured and Dislocated

In March, I fractured and dislocated my right elbow while walking my dog. He pulled, which he sometimes does, but this time I went down with a new cement walking path as my landing pad. There was no one in the park, despite several people walking earlier.

The requirement to ask for help was necessary as I frantically called my husband, who was still sleeping when I left the house. After the fourth call he finally came to my rescue. He took the dog, trying to help me up, but in my injured condition I didn’t feel I could put and weight on my arm. However, I also didn’t trust him to hold my weight as he helped me up. It was quite the predicament. He wanted to help me up but I wouldn’t let him. Instead, I struggled to turn around from the seated position to get on my knees and the let him help me as I pushed myself up.

This first scene in and of itself preaches. How often do I insist on doing things my self instead of just trust God. I get in predicaments on my own, or through the fault of others (like my dog) and God is there saying ”Trust Me. I got you.” But I refuse insisting I got myself into the mess I have to get myself out of it.

Or I know I am hurt, down, broken. I can see I can’t put any additional weight on myself. Yet I also refuse to ask for, or accept help. God brings others to help carry the weight, but I don’t want to be a burden. Instead, I insist on carrying it alone (and often times complain the whole time, because “No one is there for me.”

““Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”” Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭‬‬

“Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6‬:‭2‬ ‭‬‬

In insisting my way or doing it on my own, I often delay the very thing I need. Yet, I have learned even in my delays, God is working. He is working in me, on me, or through me for another purpose which I may or may not know. Sometimes it is about me, and other times it is about someone else.

An emergency room/urgent care, hospital visit and specialist later my arm was determined to be fractured and dislocated. It dislocated twice more at the hospital, a side effect of being hyper mobile. The doctor put me in a sling until I could see the specialist. The specialist put me in a metal brace that allowed me to have a specific range of motion while it continued to heal.

I think at times the body of Christ is fractured. Despite being one body, many groups have an either/or mentality. Christians make comments that imply one is either part of their denomination or they are not to be associated with. Or Christians are fractured on politics making comments like “If you are a (fill in a political party) then you can’t really be a Christian.” as if Jesus picked a political side.

“Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”” John‬ ‭18‬:‭36‬ ‭‬‬

Christ was fractured so that His body, the Church would not have to be. He bore it all on the cross so that we could be united as one body in Christ to God our Father.

“However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, And our pains that He carried; Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, Struck down by God, and humiliated. But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the wrongdoing of us all To fall on Him.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭‬‬

“Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭27‬ ‭‬‬

‭‬‬I also think there are people in the body who are dislocated. When I think of dislocation in the body, I think people who stay in a location because of tradition (all my family is here for generations) or loyalty (all my friends are there). They are there not because the Lord has called them to stay. Or sometimes they stay in direct opposition to Holy Spirit’s direction. This dislocation is often felt by the place where the person stays, but also the absence is felt by the part of the body that the person should be attending to.

The book of Acts is full of the apostles moving from one place to the next. Often the movement is because there is dissension but also because Holy Spirit leads them somewhere else. There are times they depart from each other and times they come back together. There is a natural ebb and flow, healthy movement for the good of the Kingdom.

Or dislocation occurs where people are actively opposing something being done by the pastor or leadership (by way of tradition or preference, but not out of line with Holy Scriptures) and instead of submitting they gripe, complain and cause dissension with others in the body. We don’t consider we are walking in the flesh

“The deeds of the flesh are… hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions…” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭20‬ ‭‬‬

“Do all things without complaining or arguments;” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬ ‭‬‬

“Therefore, all who are mature, let’s have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that to you as well; however, let’s keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭‬‬

Christ called for us to be unified not fractured and not dislocated.

““I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and You loved them, just as You loved Me.” John‬ ‭17‬:‭20‬-‭23‬ ‭‬‬

“For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one part, but many.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭12‬-‭14‬

“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. They is neither oneJew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭3‬:‭27‬-‭28‬ ‭‬‬

God is always at work, trying to open our eyes to His truth. He uses our everyday lives to reveal deeper things that were previously hidden. He reminds us of His truths in ways that we can relate and gain deeper understanding. God called His children to depend on Him. We are to cast our burden on Him and allow others to carry the burdens with us. He does not want there to be fractures or dislocations I. his body, but wants us to walk in love and in unity with Him and each other. Christ made this possibly, but we have to chose to walk in His Spirit and not the flesh.