Recovery is a marathon with a moving finish line.

Almost four months ago I had surgery to recover from an injury. Ever since then I have been working towards recovery. I’ve been working towards getting back to normal. And if I’m honest, It's hard to define what normal will look like!

After a serious injury or a life-altering event - we are all forced to acknowledge we never stop being in recovery.

The scars are there.
The damage was done.
And what’s next will always shift.

Four months ago recovery was straightening my leg. Today it is getting strong enough to run again.

We will never sprint our way to recovery. We have to work for it, we have to show up daily, we have to decide that what I do today will be for the benefit for tomorrow.

I think that’s true for injuries and global pandemics. It is also true in our faith walk.

Recovery is the process of regaining what was to create a new reality. In our bodies that become easy to define. Strength, muscle, ability to perform routine tasks. Physical recovery can be easily seen.

Spiritual and emotional recovery is a bit more tricky. Identifying the injury isn’t always easy. Finding out what caused the pain can take a really long time, and is often work that we can’t do on our own. In the same way, we see a Doctor for our physical ailments, sometimes we need to find a trusted friend for our spiritual/emotional pain. Self-diagnosis is often misguided because we all have blind spots.

Once the injury has been identified then the hard work really kicks in. Physical therapy is the process of working through routine exercises for the intentional purposes of growth. In the church world we call these spiritual disciplines. Our spiritual disciplines help us stay connected to the truth, and in doing so guide us back to a place of health and form a new normal. Disciplines help us recover from spiritual and emotional injuries.

As the community begins to open up, and we continue to take steps forward to what’s next I want to remind you: We are all in recovery. We’ve experienced something, we’ve been injured. We’ve all had to deal with our own pains.

The healthiest way to recover in this global pandemic is to remember that we are all in recovery. Intentional disciplines, executed daily, will create healthy humans.

So, how’s your recovery going?

If you were to evaluate yourself today what grade would you give?

What are you using to measure progress?

Let’s commit to growing together.

Don’t forget to check out the latest episode of the Reclamation Podcast! I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Will Howell about how to have BIG FAITH. He shares his story about moving across the country and what it means to be in ministry.

Listen here.