Just Do It Afraid

Mary really didn’t want to go to the dentist. In fact, she kept coming up with every excuse not to go. The weather certainly posed a threat to life and limb and certainly going to the dentist even more so. She laughed to herself at the silliness of her fears. Her husband wasn’t helping much because when she suggested to him maybe there was nothing wrong, after all there was no pain, he insisted she go. Just do it and do it afraid, had been one woman speaker’s suggestion.
Thinking on this Mary had shoveled off her car, backed out of the driveway, and driven down the street slowly as it was quite a mess out there. All the cars were moving at a snail’s pace. The new covering of white stuff blanketed the existing mounds of snow. Cars were parked wherever they could as the plows hadn’t been around to remove the last snow that filled all the parking spaces. People dressed in heavy parkas, big mitts and heavy boots lifted their legs over the embankments and moved slowly around precariously parked cars.
“What on earth am I doing going to the dentist?” Mary thought. Even though the dentist was only two blocks away Mary was still trying to weasel her way out of going. Despite this last attempt Mary suddenly found herself safely at the dentist office.
It all happened so quickly! Mary had been in shock when she left! Mary couldn’t believe what transpired. It was truly amazing! By now, you the reader are quite curious and asking yourself what did happen to Mary. Well, I shall tell you.
Mary had walked in, perched herself in a waiting room chair, and within a minute or so the dental assistant had welcomed Mary into the office. She sat Mary down in the long, white dental chair. Mary had no time to get nervous. She should have been because the new dentist she was seeing was only 33 years old! The nurse seemed to think this was not young but Mary had been 33 years old and had memories of her own shortcomings at that age.
However, there was no time to think about anything. The young professional, using modern equipment took a picture of her tooth with his little camera and put it up on the screen for them to look at. This was amazing in itself because she didn’t have to undergo an x-ray nor endure the potential radioactive threat attached to this procedure. This was modern medicine. Mary realized maybe it was a good thing the dentist was a little younger.
Smiling a big Cheshire smile Mary’s thin, 5 foot 3, dimpled dentist indicated there was a crack and they needed to fix it before the tooth broke away. However, before Mary had time to indicate that she might like to have the tooth frozen this confident little man initiated the procedure by proceeding to put a drill into her mouth and to cut away and smooth down the area he was mending. Mary, with her mouth opened, couldn’t do anything but let him proceed! In the past, despite a tooth having a root canal, Mary had never let anyone do a filling without freezing it. This was a first for Mary! Everything happened so speedily that in less than a half hour Mary was in and out of the dental chair. She was elated and told the young man that his confidence and speed had amazed her.
Driving home Mary realized two things. One was that she had taken a step of faith and just gone to the dentist afraid. Secondly, that God had answered her prayer and it had not been a major surgery that transpired! Mary had gone in faith and felt so blessed. Remarkably, Mary knew that in all the other issues she faced she needed to take just simple steps of faith whether it be going back to the old food bank, phoning a contractor, or even in dealing with her physical problems. Whatever she faced Mary knew she must just go forward and do the next thing at hand and see where it led. Of course, for Mary this meant facing her fears. They included increased debt in regards to the house, physical pain if what ailed her was worse than she thought, or the possibility of rejection if she went back to the food bank. However, after this morning’s awesome experience Mary realized she had to “just do it”. So just do it, she would! Thinking back again over what had happened Mary laughed to herself how easy it had all been. “It had been God’s grace!” Mary exclaimed to no one in particular.
And that’s what it was dear reader: grace, simply grace in action, as one faithful soul did what was at hand to do. What about you? Does Mary’s story intrigue you, egg you on, or will you fear to do what is obviously at hand? The answer is simple: just do it, dear friend, - and do it afraid, if need be!