Seventh-day Adventist® Church

The morning of the 7^thApril, 2021, began like most days for me, with my usual walk. I was in good spirits, in spite of the many things that were seemingly going wrong in my life. I was enjoying nature, singing along to my favourite worship songs, feeling God’s presence and just thanking Him for being always good and faithful. Suddenly, I felt something in my right shoe. It was uncomfortable, as we all know how annoying even a tiny pebble can be when it gets into your shoe. At first, I did not want to break my stride so I continued walking and singing. However, with each passing moment, the discomfort was more noticeable and I was forced to stop. I shook the shoe vehemently but did not see anything, I dust it out with my hands and then return it to my foot.

A few moments later, still enjoying my praise and worship, there was an increased pain in my foot so I stopped and closely examined the shoe. There was something lodged in the shoe, I could feel a sharp point on the inside but was unable to see the object. At the bottom, I can also feel that there was something there but still unable to determine what it was, I could only assume that it was a nail from the dark shape on the bottom of the shoe. I tried to remove it, but my attempts were futile and I was a good distance from home.

I continued walking, trying not to put any pressure on the foot, but this caused stress on my other leg. My right knee, my lower back and hip also started to hurt because of the way I was walking. It was then that I decided not to pay attention to the pain but instead focus on Jesus. I resumed my praise and worship session and was not even aware that I was not feeling the pain in my foot. However, whenever thoughts of the shoe came in my head, I felt the pain, so I did my utmost to ignore it and stay focused on God.  For the latter part of my walk, I did not feel the pain and it felt as if the object was no longer there.

When I reached home and removed the object, I realized just how faithful God truly is. A tiny nail had entered my shoe with the sharp pointed end facing downwards away from my foot and protruding underneath the shoe. I knew that God had protected me from some serious repercussions had that nail entered the other way around. 

A few things stood out for me from this experience:

1. What we focus on is what consumes our lives. When we focus on our problems, our trials, hurt, pain, disappointments, negativity, etc. we magnify them and they can overpower us.  Instead, we are encouraged in Philippians 4:8 to think on what is pure, true and lovely. In other words, we should think positively as this could help in our total wellbeing (A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22) and we are what we think in our hearts (Proverbs 23:7). Hebrews 12:2 invites us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus as He is the author and finisher of our faith, that faith needed to help us through any and everything. This experience also calls to mind the hymn that goes “turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace”, Oh how true! The pain in my foot dimmed when I focused on Him.
   
   
2. This small nail taught me that I can definitely do any and everything through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). On a few occasions the thought crossed my mind to shorten my walk, but then I asked God to help me to endure to the end. By depending on Him, with His help, I did not quit. It is only when I reached home that I realized how much pressure I had placed on my other leg and the rest of my body.
   
   
3. My almost nail pierced foot also called to mind Jesus’ nail pierced hands. What if Jesus had focused on the pain in His hands, or on the physical, emotional and spiritual hurt and pain our sins were causing him? What if He had decided it was too much and opted to save Himself from that cross? Humanity would have been doomed. Instead, Jesus focused on His Father’s will (Luke 22:42) and as a result, “he was wounded for our transgressions [and] was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5-8).