Hope in the Healing Process

There's an 'old wives tale' that says broken bones grow back stronger, while this isn't exactly pure truth, the process in which bones grow back is truly fascinating. At the site of the fracture, a callus forms where calcium is deposited to assist in the eventual rebuilding of the bone. A cast is placed on the limb to protect the site, allowing it to heal unimpeded. Due to no pressure being placed on the limb in the healing process, the bone becomes weaker, all except for the site where the callus is being formed and the site of the fracture becomes stronger than the bone surrounding the area. Gradually, as the bone becomes used once again, the entire bone becomes equal in strength.

I find this process of bone healing to be both beautiful and incredible. Broken bones are pretty common, but can you imagine if they couldn't be healed? Can you imagine if you broke a bone and you were then stuck in a cast for the rest of your life? Now I've never broken a bone, I don't know the pain that accompanies such an experience. I don't know the inconvenience that results from wearing a cast, but I imagine it must be miserable; not being able to wash the area, that itch that can never be scratched, the inability to use the limb, the uncomfortable positions to sleep in, and so the list begins.

While I don't know what a broken bone feels like, I know what it feels like to feel "broken";  to feel as if parts of your life have fallen apart, to feel weakness and vulnerability, to feel the pain before the healing can begin. When this broken feeling happens, at first sight I start to panic, and then all the "What if?" and "Why?" questions come to mind.

The questions could potentially include:

- What if I had done just one thing differently, then would this have happened?
- Why is this happening to me?
- Why now?
- Why do I have to walk down this road?
- What if I could have prevented this?
- What if I can never recover?
- What if I'm not as strong as I believed I was?
- Why would weakness come after such great strength?

These questions come from the adversary, while it's good to glance back to learn from the past, it's even better to look forward, or best of all, to look to the Savior. That's the beauty of the gospel, all broken things have the hope to be mended and the gospel is a constant reminder of that. Christ is the 'Callus of the bone' in this analogy. Christ is the one who makes weak things strong again. The grace of Jesus Christ is there to help us mend, to become strong, and to become renewed. 

I know when I have been at my weakest points, He has given me strength beyond my own to heal my heart or even to heal my life. He gives me hope, He brings me happiness, and He gives me peace through the process. Having experienced mounds of grace before in my life, I've seen that healing is real. Sometimes the process is longer than others, but it's REAL. And once I have been healed, it doesn't mean that I am so strong I will never break again. I'm constantly susceptible to breaking again, one day later or potentially years down the road, perhaps in the exact same spot. There are beautiful ways to prevent the break, but if the break does come, Christ is there and He will not fail me, He will not fail you!

While I sometimes have to rebuild my life and start again, I know that healing is real. I know that I am nothing without my Savior, and I know He is the reason for all my hope! 

So while it can be discouraging that this 'old wives tale' isn't true, it doesn't have to be. If we remember there is hope in the healing and grace in the process of change and becoming, that we can be made whole and new again all because of what our Savior so willingly and humbly did for us, we can press forward in happiness because broken bones and broken hearts don't stay broken forever. If healing doesn't come in this life, it will come in the next and we can experience peace in the process. 

Because He lives, I can too!