Why am I left in a wheelchair?

Why am I left in a wheelchair

Helpless, dependent and scared?

My life’s been taken away from me.

And I’m left here, caged like a bird.

I’ve lost my dignity, I need help.

With the basic essentials of life,

I can’t please myself when I get up and dress,

I must wait till my carer arrives.

I cannot go out for a walk when I wish,

Catch a bus or drive a car,

I can’t go shopping to buy what I want,

I’m told, “Just stay where you are!”

Hours pass each day when I’m left alone,

I drop things and can’t pick them up,

I have to wait till help arrives

To even drink from a cup.

I once was young, headstrong, and free,

Never valued all I’d been given:

To walk, to run, to feed myself,

To go out without being driven.

You don’t appreciate the basics in life.

Until they are taken away;

But God has told us in everything

To give thanks to Him alway.

When did you thank Him that you could see?

Have you ever thanked Him you could walk?

To freely breathe, to think, to reason?

To eat, to hear, to talk?

To have a mind that is stable?

A friend with whom you can share?

For food, for drink, a roof, four walls?

A bed or someone to care?

We soon murmur and groan at what we have not,

God tells us to learn contentment,

To be full, to be hungry, to abound, to need,

To be thankful, not filled with resentment.

“Godliness with contentment’s great gain,” God says,

“For good, all things work together,

For those who love Him, to His purpose called,”

Whether things get worse or better.

The worst tragedies of life can open a door

Through which we would never have passed

To a knowledge of God and unspeakable wealth

Beyond all we could ever have asked.

The rich who have all they ask for in life

Almost never pass through this door,

The kingdom of heaven’s outside their grasp,

They lust for life’s goods more and more.

Your greatest loss can be your greatest gain,

You can be so thankful for the lone path you have trod:

Unsearchable are God’s judgments, His ways past finding out,

But you can plumb the depths of this wise, Almighty God.