Have you ever really took a close look at a paper clip? A small thin metal shaft ranging anywhere from 2″ to 6″ long, making many 90 degree bends in the shape of an oval. By itself, it is useless, It slides around on a table top and gets in the way, often times it is brushed to the floor by accident or simply just thrown away. It only becomes useful when sliding a few papers between the bends, Boom, it becomes a very helpful tool.

As some of you may know, I have developed a medical problem that came on very slowly over the past few years. The symptoms where so small that I didn’t realize what was happening until it got to the point where I was always physically exhausted to the point where  you would think that I was very depressed. Going to the doctor, blood test being done, indeed there was a problem. Red blood cells were low and white blood cells were high. My doctor being proactive as she always has been, ordered more tests to rule out cancer. All test came back negative for cancer but showed testosterone levels very, very low for a man of my age, for any man at any age. After 3 months of testosterone medicine my blood test still showed very low testosterone even though the levels did rise just a bit. With the white blood cells still being to high she was still very concerned and refered me to a specialist who deals with this kind of problem. After a long 3 month wait to get in to see the specialist, more tests have been ordered in February which will start eliminating probable causes. Again, I have to wait another 35-45 days to get these tests ran. I am the kind of person that just hates to wait. I hate waiting in long lines for anything. I don’t like going to the grocery store because these stores never seem to have enough registers open to handle the people who are ready to check out. I don’t like Christmas shopping for the same reason. I enjoy water and amusement parks, but again I hate waiting in line for an hour just for a 30 to 75 second ride.  Patience is not one of my strong suites and gets me very frustrated with people at times.

As I look at myself in a mirror, I can see that useless paper clip though, shiny on the outside but not in perfect shape.  I find that I am useless without Christ. Only Christ has the power to change this useless paper clip into something more than a miracle. Christ has put order into my life so that I can hold papers together. Christ is the light in the darkness and he will show me the right way. As medical problems and life get in the way, I have come to trust Christ for a way around them.  Even though I hate waiting, Christ is teaching me to have patience. Learning lessons is not always easy and many times it takes more than one lesson to teach this stubborn man. God loves and cares about me enough and gives me exactly what I need exactly at the right time.

I don’t know how this medical condition will turn out or how long it will last but the for sure thing I do know is, Christ will always be there and is there for me, even when I forget to call on him. There is no greater gift than God’s grace. It is enough that Jesus died and that He did die, for me.