Her face appeared on my monitor as I sat on my bed, and we spent over an hour talking.

“I’m just not feeling right,” she said. “I’m out of sorts and lack motivation. I have much to do but I don’t do it, and I’m getting so physically weak. I wanted to start exercising more, but my knee hurts. Would you pray for healing for my knee, please?” After more talking and listening, we prayed.

A month went by, and we connected again.

“I have something I must tell you. God’s been pushing me to be honest.” She then unfolded a deeper part of her life. With all the pressure of family, isolated ministry, and continual warfare, she’d found an escape: screen time. That escape had now become a cage; it ruled her rather than she ruling it.

We all do this in some ways, don’t we? We run to temporary comfort rather than to the One who truly heals. In that first conversation with my friend, she had mentioned how God had her thinking about Hebrews 12, specifically “weak knees”. It’s interesting how He used the pattern of the following verses to work in her heart in between our conversations.

“Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. ‘Make level paths for your feet,’ so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:12-14

My friend and co-worker was doing this. She was following God’s lead as she confessed (James 5:16) that she’d been bowing to an idol rather than running to God. In His gentle way He had nudged her back toward a straight and level path towards honesty and the slow process of healing.

In His grace, may He continue to do this for all of us, and through His grace, may we obey.