Blessings of a Moon-Boot

Last October I learnt a valuable albeit obvious lesson:

Breaking your foot is debilitating.

Especially when said break is caused by something as mundane as tripping on a shoe! I mean where’s the awesome anecdote to be gained? There is no story to relish retelling when the questions come, and come they do. When you work in the church office and everyone is used to seeing you up and about there is no avoiding the inevitable “How did you do it?”

So while I didn’t gain a good story to embellish, what I did gain was some truly wonderful blessings.

Blessed to be blessed by brilliant medical care

You’ve probably heard it before, but I’ll say it again because it is well worth remembering how truly blessed we are in Australia to have access to affordable quality medical care. It’s amazing to think that I could hobble into Emergency one afternoon and leave a few hours later with x-rays, a care plan and an incredible contraption called a moon-boot that gifts mobility.

No out-of-pocket expenses (less the pain meds) and amazing after-care with access to highly skilled orthopaedic surgeons committed to ensuring I make a full recovery. How awesome is that?!

Blessed to be blessed by total strangers

It can be so easy to turn the other way. To tell yourself someone is okay or that you don’t want to embarrass someone by offering assistance. Thank God, so many do not do this.

From the nurse helping me carry my handbag to the bus driver letting me stay on the bus during changeover. Sometimes it was as simple as a door being opened or people moving their bags so I could navigate my way to the sidelines to cheer on my son at the sports carnival.

It was a blessing to be blessed by these total strangers.

Blessed to be blessed by friends and family

This one may be expected. I mean, how often do you say when helping out a friend, “What are friends for?” However, for me personally, the most poignant blessing of receiving assistance from friends and family was accepting it.

It can be quite a humbling learning experience. Generally driven towards independence, it was one I had some difficulty with. Fortunately, due to the incontrovertible restrictions of my injury and a few patient and persistent teachers (ahem Zoë!), I have learnt to accept help with a little more grace than before.

Blessed to be blessed by God

The Bible tells us “in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28). Broken bones, injuries or illnesses of any kind are never a good thing but through these God has an opportunity to work through us and in us. As such, from them good things can come.

So thank you God, for blessing me.

And thank you for reading. My prayer for you is that when you next experience an injury or illness you get to see the blessings in it.

By the way, the foot is healed now. I received the all clear on January 2nd. My kids were particularly excited because it meant I could jump on the trampoline and play Pokémon again (priorities!). So long as I don’t play rugby (gulp!) or run any marathons (oh dear…), three months from now my foot will be ‘as good as new’, so they say.