It seemed like an ordinary Fall Day at the lake. I had returned from lunch and was walking to the RV when I fell. I heard the snap as my knees hit the ground. I broke my leg (femur). I was by myself, lying in the slow falling rain. In the past, I had ridiculed the commercial “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” I’m a big old boy, that could never happen to me, but now I could not even drag myself to a dry area. Mary came shortly but she was not able to move me. Little did I know that God was preparing to teach me a significant Prayer Principle. This was a God School’s Lab Session, that taught me about praying God’s transforming power.

An hour later the ambulance came, picked me up and transported me to Conway Baptist ER. After the medical team assessed my injuries and prepped me for my room, Pastor Randy Jumper, from our church, came to check on me and pray. This was the pivotal moment. He ended his prayer with, “and that others will see Jesus through Robert’s experience.” I didn’t think much about this until the next morning as I was thanking the housekeeping lady for the great job she was doing, she began tear up and said, “No one ever thanks me.” Bam! I remembered Pastor Randy’s prayer and knew if had I not broken my leg, I would have never met this lady. Pastor Randy’s prayer changed my focus from me to Jesus…from my pain to the Joy of Blessing others. It seemed my broken leg brought people to me to Bless. One day at Rehab people lined up outside my door to see me…to tell how Jesus will Bless them. Then God blew me away. He paired me up with a therapist that proclaimed she was an atheist. Only God does this…she had to help me walk, supporting me for an hour each day as I talked to her about The Hope…The Promise…The Freedom of Jesus. I am thankful for my broken leg. I am thankful for Pastor Randy’s Prayer Principle, “In every situation, people should see Jesus through us!”

Psalm 30:11 “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy”

Isaiah 55:8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”

MS. Johnson, the founder of Bible Study Fellowship International, said it something like this. “Don’t waste the pain, you paid too much for it.” Cling to this Promise, “God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 And know this Promise from Jesus, found in John 10:28-30, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and He is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” Only Jesus can transform pain to Purpose.