“I Caught a Cramp”

I think one of the worst things that can happen to a person is to catch a “Charley Horse” in the middle of your sleep.  Some of you may have experienced this feeling a time or two. This morning, about 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off, I experienced a “Charley Horse” or another term is “muscle cramp.”  It hit me in my calf muscle and all I could do was lay there praying and hoping it would go away and not get stronger or more persistent.  I can remember back in college during what was called, “two a days”, where one night laying on the couch I caught a cramp. It started in my calves and moved to my hamstrings and then to my lower stomach area.

I did not want to have to go to the hospital, so I limped to the kitchen and began “drinking salt” to get the potassium I needed in my body. 

I laid down and I prayed like I never prayed before.  I laid motionless until I fell asleep and I woke up the next morning sore but stable.

Based on the Mayo Clinic’s definition, A muscle cramp is a sudden and involuntary contraction of one or more of your muscles.  Overuse of a muscle, dehydration, muscle strain or simply holding a position for a prolonged period can cause a muscle cramp. In many cases, however, the cause isn’t known. They say to help prevent cramps you need to: Avoid Dehydration and Stretch your Muscles.

So, to avoid catching these cramps we need to stay hydrated.  We need to drink plenty of fluids and water so that our muscles get the nutrients they need.  Then we need to stretch our muscles.  We need to work out the kinks in our muscles so that they stay loose, limber and lively.

As I was thinking about the pain of this muscle cramp, I began to think about how we catch “spiritual cramps”.  Those are sudden and involuntary contraction of one or more areas in your life. We often catch spiritual cramps when we are burned out, dehydrated from the Word or we have been in a position for a long time without stretching our spiritual muscles.

We can catch spiritual cramps when we are under attack or we have become lethargic in our ministry or calling. We can catch spiritual cramps when we have neglected to stretch ourselves when it comes to ministry or just allowing God to pour into us.   Our spiritual cramps can hurt because it is sudden and painful. It comes out of nowhere and it catches us off guard.  In order to put us in the right environment to eliminate spiritual cramps we need to: (1) Stay Prayed Up.  Don’t let prayer be what just do after the cramp.  (2) Stay in the Word.  Keep your mind fixed on the Word of God.  This will give you what you need to stay hydrated. (3) Stay Busy in Ministry. When we don’t continue to stretch ourselves in ministry, our muscles become prone for a cramp. You want to know how I got over my cramp this morning?  I will tell you. I laid there. I didn’t move.  I prayed and asked God to not let it get worse.  I didn’t get up or panic.  I stayed still until it got better.  The selfish part of me didn’t want to get up because I still had 15 minutes left of sleep.  Here is the shout:  After I did get up, I was able to walk fine but I still felt the pain from the cramp.  I am functioning but there is still a reminder of what I went through.  But the more I walked…the more the pain went away!  God Bless!

Michael O. Oyedokun II