Pins and Needles

“I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭143‬:‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Have you ever been ice-skating outdoors for a long period of time? You’re enjoying yourself so much that you don’t notice your feet hurt. Once you go inside and try to warm up, you realize your feet are numb. Are you “paralyzed” or numb and afraid that the feeling won’t come back? Paralyzed with fear is the same as being numb. You are unable to move. You’re not sure how you got to that point but you are numb. Eventually, you begin to feel the pain of what feels like pins and needles in your feet. Eventually those pins and needles subside and you are back to your normal self again.

At some point, we all are spiritually “paralyzed” or have numbness. We wake up one day and realize it’s been so long since we moved that we have become spiritually numb or have fallen sleep. We lack feeling or emotion. We are at a loss of the power of sensation and motion.

Have we fallen asleep and don’t hear or “feel” God’s presence? I grow numb when I disconnect from God and my heart grows cold. When you disconnected yourself from the warmth of the building, your feet became cold on the ice. Things are fine for a time but then numbness sets in without you realizing it.

What do we do when we realize we feel numb? We need to shake out the numbness, and begin to move, even if you have no feeling. Move even if it hurts. As you move more, the feeling will begin to come back. Sometimes getting feeling back will be painful but those pins and needles are your connectivity to God. They are the connection of numbness to a full feeling with God. God wants us to get our feeling and sensitivity back. He wants to give us new life and restore us again. Extend grace to yourself. We all have feelings of numbness and need to be revived. Revival comes when we begin feeling again. Being numb is being unable to move temporarily. Being paralyzed is a permanent situation. Are you paralyzed or numb? The choice is yours.

What areas of my life am I feeling numb or beginning to lose feeling ?