Faith...Being Stiff-Necked

I bought a sling for the first time in my Motherhood career and my sister gave me one of the more expensive carriers on the market to help make getting around with 3 children easier. I was really enjoying the freedom the sling and carrier was giving me. I could carry our new little one in the carrier and have one hand free for DearDaughter1 and the other hand free for DearDaughter2. Both the sling and the carrier are good things.

Unfortunately, I found out that you CAN have too much of a good thing. I overused both the sling and the carrier. I was using them to run errands, like grocery shopping, for visits, for fruit picking, for going out to eat, for going to church, etc...Any time I needed my hands free and DearDaughter3 needed some comforting, I would put on my sling or carrier and comfort her in them.

Well, with the overuse of these items, I actually injured my neck to what my chiropractor called a "Whiplash type injury." "From a carrier?!" I exclaimed. Apparently, the weight on my shoulders put a lot of strain on my neck muscles which caused my muscle spasms. I started to feel this kink in my neck at the beginning of last week and thought it was the way I was sleeping. It would go away during the day and I didn't think it was the carrier or the sling. Then, as I was chatting with a friend last Wednesday afternoon, I expressed that I was feeling very achy. This past Saturday, I woke up and could not move my neck or head at all. You don't realize the muscles you use in your neck until you can't use them. Although the rest of my body was fine, I couldn't use my body at all because any type of movement would hurt. It was actually worse than any lower back pain I've ever had!!! There was NO comfortable position. I couldn't even open my mouth to eat or chew :( A single movement would shoot this sharp pain up my neck and spread out into my head, even my ears...Ouch! Being stiff-necked made me immobile.

After this experience I realized why God uses rebellion or a hardenend heart and the term stiff-necked hand in hand. A stiff-necked person is unable to move. When a person resists the Holy Sprit he becomes stiff necked or becomes a person with a hardened heart unable to move or obey God. God warns us that if you remain stiff-necked you will suddenly be destroyed (Proverbs 29:1) because a stiff-necked person does not listen or pay attention to God. One who is stiff-necked will do evil.

All of us fight against sin and even fall into sin, this weight and burden on our shoulders. When we do not know Christ Jesus as our Savior or when we do not guard our hearts in Christ Jesus as our Savior, sin will put a kink in our relationship with God. Let us not remain stiff-necked! Our God is a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Let us listen and respond to the Holy Spirit, trusting in His grace, compassion, and forgiveness, and He will loosen up that kink to keep us mobile in this race to glory!