Has life ever thrown you a screwball that turned your life upside down? It’s happened to nearly all of us. Some situation in life takes the wind out of our sails and knocks us back a step or two.

“What do we do when that happens?”

A few weeks ago my daughter tripped over a balloon and broke her leg. Not one of those little “breaks” but the grandmother of all breaks – a femur broken totally in two. We spent a little under a day in the emergency room (I’m not making this up) while the doctors and nurses figured out what to do.

When they were all done setting the leg they put her in a spica cast. If you’ve never seen one of these things, I’ll tell you that I think of it as the iron lung of casts. OK, maybe not a full body cast but it was pretty close. And she was in it for six weeks.

When the cast was remvoed, her leg was weak and her joints were stiff and, frankly, she needed a little time to get her “legs” back. So, just a little over a week after the cast came off, she took her first steps. And then a bunch more. And then some more again.

There’s a Process

I think that’s often how it is when we get knocked on our tails by life. There’s a process that follows before we get back up and run. And maybe, if you’re stuck right now, you can figure out where you are and how to move forward. Whether a broken leg or a business failure, when something catastrophic happens, I think you can do the same things we did.

1. We got professional help

At the time, we didn’t think her leg was anything serious. But because we cared about our daughter, my wife and I took her to the emergency room. While we certainly prayed for wisdom, we also chose to trust people who had dedicated their lives to helping others with medical situations.

The doctors and nurses not only diagnosed what was wrong, but they took care of the immediate needs and then prescribed a course of action to make everything right.

2. We followed the plan

We did what the doctors and nurses told us to do. We took care of the cast. We were careful with what we did and didn’t do.

3. We accepted help

Yes, it’s humbling to accept help. It’s hard as a person who often offers help to receive help. But we chose to do that, believing that God had a plan in all of this.

4. We let time do it’s thing

We didn’t try to rush things. Sure, we prayed that everything would be over sooner than the doctors expected. Nevertheless, we waited until we had a clean bill of health. Even after the cast was off we didn’t try to rush anything.

5. A small victory led to a breakthrough.

This was the most exciting part – when our daughter realized that she could take one or two steps without falling, her confidence was back. She took off walking (not running yet…sorry). She walked all over the place. Sure, this isn’t done yet. We’re still in it. But we’ve gotten this far.

But how about you?

Has life knocked you down? And, if so, where are you?

• Are you avoiding professional help?
• Are you following a plan?
• Are you trying to rush things?
• Is there one small victory or action that would give your confidence back?

I’d encourage you to spend a little time on this. Pray about where you are and ask God if there’s just one small step you can take towards recovery right now.

Then do it.

And  if you have a story that would encourage somebody, why not share it?

Or if you think this post can help somebody else, why not share it directly with them?