Touch the Floor

Date: 2.15.06

Written up by one of my friends

Earlier this semester, I kneeled down to tie my shoe and as I was standing up, I felt a pinch in the lowest part of my spine and then sudden pain. It was as if something was squeezing my spine together, causing it to ache terribly. I couldn’t bend over at all, it hurt to walk, sit, and lie on my back. This had happened to me before but not nearly as bad; however, the pain usually was gone in a few hours so I wasn’t that worried. It happened to me on a Monday morning and the pain lasted until Thursday. I couldn’t sit still in class or sleep at night because of the constant aching. Trying to put on jeans in the morning brought me close to tears every time, it hurt so bad. If I dropped something, I had to practically kneel on the ground, my back straight as straight can be, since I couldn’t bend over. I couldn’t go boxing that Tuesday night or do anything remotely physical. If I was sitting down, I couldn’t even raise my legs up and straighten them out.

At Cru Wednesday night, in the small prayer circle, I mentioned that my mom was upset because I was in so much pain and she couldn’t be here to help me. Sammy asked if they could pray for my back afterwards. I said yes, although I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical. But I figured I couldn’t hurt more than I already did, so why not? As Sammy and Lee were praying, the pain briefly flared up and died down. Every now and then, they would stop and I could straighten my legs a bit farther than the time before with less pain. Soon, I could nearly straighten them all the way, pain free, and my back was pain free. I was so excited I ran up and down the steps leading to Ravine, completely pain free.

I woke up the next morning and was fine. However, as the day went on, the pain slowly began to return. I skipped lunch that day after English and went to take a nap. Before I fell asleep, I prayed to God to please take the pain away. I kept repeating that, over and over, until I fell asleep. I woke up two hours later and, without thinking about my back, got up and did my normal things. About ten minutes later, I realized the pain was completely, utterly, and totally gone. I could sit, lie on my side, touch my toes, and straighten my legs without any pain whatsoever. It was amazing and any trace of that skepticism I felt the night before was gone too.