I'm All Shook up...

Dr. Elisha Mvundura, M.D.

Now Faith...

A few weeks ago I needed an unexpected surgery. My new surgical doctor is from Zimbabwe. He has lived in the United States for over 17 years and speaks very good English, but with a thick accent. His smile, humor, and semi-sweet dark chocolate complexion fascinated me. Maybe it distracted me a bit too, because I struggled to grasp hold of what he said sometimes.

He told Les and me from the very beginning; if we didn’t understand something he said to please stop him and ask questions. He didn’t want us to leave without understanding all that was happening to me.

Every word that came from that doctor’s mouth I understood. He spoke English. But how he strung them together, or emphasized a word in his sentence structure made it difficult for me to understand. I asked questions often. One time he laughed and left the room to grab a model of the body part in question. Another time he smiled that Mickey Mouse sort of grin, flashed his pearly whites and said, “Let me draw a picture for you.”

I was told by other hospital staff that this doctor was very good at what he did. He can be a bit difficult to understand, but they assured me he was the best one for the job. Because of their experiences and previous knowledge, I had faith in my surgeon’s abilities.  What could have been a very complicated surgery, he was able to perform perfectly, even with unexpected issues.

As a child, I remember quoting the infamous faith verse from Hebrews 11:1:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Every word in that verse is English, yet I really didn’t understand it when it was all strung together like that.

It’s been said often when someone is struggling with a trial in life; “I have my faith in God to hold on to.” Let’s see…. Hold on to something you can’t see…but hope for?

What if there is a crisis of faith? Perhaps you’ve grasped at that substance you hope is there but cannot see and felt only thin air.

We’ve had some doozey winter storms blow through where we live already this year. Branches litter the yard and roads after being pounded all night by high winds and heavy rains. The morning after one storm, we were rattled by a magnitude 4.2 earthquake where the epicenter was about 20 miles from us.

In our personal lives we weather one storm, recover, and the next thing we know another storm is hitting. We look around us at the debris and before we can begin to clean it up, the earth shakes beneath our feet.

Have I ever experienced a crisis of faith? Sure, more times than I care to admit. I’ve felt like I was grasping in thin air searching for that substance of things hoped for…but the evidence of things not seen…

Remember why I had faith in my Doctor? I heard the words of others verifying his abilities. Why do I hold on to my faith in God to take care of me? Because of the words others share that verify His abilities. Hebrews 11 is full of words about others who put their faith in God. The Bible refers to their words as a testimony. Maybe I’ll save that word for my T post.

Sometimes life’s storms can really shake us up, but let me close with this chewy verse:

Hebrews 12: 26b & 27 He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 

I can’t touch it… but even when I’m all shook up…my faith is firm.