Maintenance!
There is really nothing in life that does not require maintenance. If you want to keep your car in running order it requires maintenance. Things in your home start going bad and it requires you to maintain it. Some examples are if you want a toilet, sink, or lighting working properly. The other thing that we have to maintain is our body. We can’t just go on with life as usual without maintenance.
For me, I fall into the latter category. As a child, I got Scarlet Fever and Rheumatic Fever. These brought damage to my immune system and my heart so I had to be more careful than others. Then in 2008, I got Lyme disease and it did more damage to my body. It has made it more of a struggle for my immune system. So maintaining a healthy lifestyle has been a must. But it also did damage to nerves and muscles that affect the right side of my body. It totally deformed my body on the right side, which took therapy to get it back to some normalcy. But it requires maintenance to keep the pain at a minimal. It brought more damage to my heart so exercising is paramount. And trying to have less stress is also helpful but seemingly impossible.
Requirements
With those that are generally healthy you can get away with a lot of things for a long while and it seems okay. But it will eventually catch up with you in your older years. For me, it is work to stay where I need to be.
For me, there are requirements if I want to stay in less pain and to be functional. All my muscles have never been the same since I came down with Lyme. But my right side is the worst. The muscles stay very tight and easily pull things out of alignment. So there are two things I need to do to get back to somewhat normal. I need to go to a deep massage therapist who gets really deep into the muscles to try to loosen them. Anything other than that will not get them to loosen up some. Then I also need to go to a chiropractor (I have a great one) and get an adjustment. I do have to do these fairly often to maintain. But because I want to save the money, I often don’t which causes me more discomfort.
Daily Routine
Once I am loosened and adjusted there is a daily routine that helps keep things where they should be for longer and that is exercise. And I am not talking about just walking, although that 
is great and needed. I am talking about muscle strengthening exercises. I need to do weights and anything that will strengthen those muscles. It does help make the adjustments and message last longer. But I still have to get that maintenance every so often.
Our bodies are amazing! Our spines have nerves running through them. And it sends messages to the brain and the brain sends messages back. Like if you poke your finger it travels to the brain. Then a message is sent back to say that it is pain and what to do about it. Wow! And it happens in less than seconds.
Misaligned
Think about if your spine is misaligned. What exactly will happen? There are so many things that can go wrong. The nerves that have certain jobs to do get crimped and those jobs are not done as they should be and things go wrong.
I understand that very much because of my own health. When things are not aligned as they should be I feel the results. I already have nerve damage from the Lyme and it increases the results when there is crimping of the nerves going on.
Example
I have a good example from my daughter. Just before she was born I got into a rear-ending accident. I was hit pretty hard and it took therapy for the damage that had been done. I was still receiving treatment when my daughter was born.
She had a problem right from the start that seemed really unbelievable to me. I was nursing her but she was not pooping. I finally took her into the doctor and he told me that I would need to use a depository to get her to poop. He told me that this was a condition that some people have and that she would have to deal with constipation for the rest of her life. I was really devastated with that but went forward and did what I had to do.
I was at one of my chiropractic treatments one day and somehow the subject got brought up about my daughter. The gal told me to bring her in the next time and let her take a look at my daughter. I did so and she did an adjustment in her hip area. I was so amazed it took care of her problem and I no longer had to use a depository for her to poop. The gal had me bring her in one more time and that was it. I asked her how that would happen. She told me that when a baby is born it can be rough on their bodies and sometimes misalignment takes place.
Due to my condition, I must have ongoing maintenance and I am so grateful that chiropractic and message are available to help me through my journey in life. And as I exercise with walking and weight lifting I can help maintain my health so that I don’t need as much of the maintenance.
Thinking
But all this got me to thinking about my Christian walk. The concept for our Christian walk is the same. Lyme disease is not much different than sin. Lyme disease attacks the heart, mind, muscles, nerves, etc. And sin “disease” also attacks the heart, mind, muscles, nerves, etc. I have to spend time in prayer and study of God’s Word to keep my spiritual muscles strong. If I don’t do it every day my spiritual muscles start to get weak and I get misaligned with God. When this happens things don’t go as well.
In order for me to get back in alignment, I need to go to the “Chiropractor” (God) and get an “adjustment” (forgiveness). Sometimes if we have allowed ourselves to get too far those spiritual muscles have become so hard and stiff that it takes more than just a simple “adjustment”. You really have to get in and get a “deep massage” (agonizing on your knees). Sometimes we need God to dig deep into our lives and reveal to us those things that are causing the misalignment. Our spiritual muscles have become so tight we can’t see why but God knows and can show us. Just like a deep massage can be physically painful for a temporary time, when we go to God in need of a deep spiritual “massage” and “adjustment” it can be emotionally painful as we allow Him to show us why our spiritual muscles are so tight.
Just like if we try to exercise and lift weights when our body is misaligned it will do damage so spiritually if we try to get close to the Lord without first aligning ourselves with His will it will do spiritual damage. It will make us feel like we are okay because we are doing the “works” but we are not.
Maintain
Once we have made things right with God we can maintain our connection by spending that time each day in prayer and the study of His Word. So the question is do we still need to get a spiritual “massage” and “adjustment” if we are exercising and building our spiritual muscles every day? I believe that we do. I believe that now and then we need to go to God asking for Him to reveal to us ways that we can have a deeper relationship with Him. He will give us a spiritual “massage” and “adjustment” that will give us an even deeper connection with Him.
I am grateful for His grace and mercy that does not reveal to us every aspect that we need to change in our lives all at once. He brings things to us as we can handle them. So now and then He does a “deep massage” and “adjustment” when He can see that we are ready. So one time you may go to Him and He reveals nothing and the next time He does. And you may wonder why He didn’t show you that the last time because it was in your life then too. It is His grace and mercy. He knows when the time is right to show us the changes that we need.
Dear Father,
Thank You so much for Your grace and mercy. I am grateful that I can come to you for a spiritual “massage” and “adjustment” and I know that You will not give me more than I can handle. It may seem, at times, that it is more than I can handle but I know that I can trust You and that You will walk through it with me, for which I am thankful.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
You can trust God with your life. Go to Him today and allow Him to give you a spiritual “massage” and “adjustment” so that you can be fully aligned with Him.
Love you all.
Do you have an experience that you can share that would express God’s grace and mercy? Share it below in the comments.