DEAL

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--DEAL

Five minutes to free-write about it

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This was one of the views from my window for almost three weeks. Three weeks on an IV with no food or drink. 

It's funny how hard it has always been for me to lose weight, and how quickly I managed to lose 8 lbs. Now, instead of stepping on the scale in the morning to see if I have (hopefully) lost sometihng, I'm stepping on to see if I've managed to gain anything back. But I digress. 

One morning I woke up fine. By the end of the day, I was not. 

Since then, it's been a challenging time of unexpected ups and downs, ever changing plans and schedules, encouraging news and news that's not so encouraging, having every single available vein poked so many times they had trouble finding new ones--even with the help of an ultrasound (and I am a big wimp with zero pain tolerance and needle phobia). 

Throughout it all, what's kept me going is reminding myself that Jesus, my good shepherd, is right there with me, holding my hand, sometimes even carrying me. It's also reminding myself that even when I don't understand--and more so then than ever--I need to trust that God is in control, that He sees the end from the beginning, and that His plan and timing are always the best. Sometimes He reminds me of it too, such as in the form of a miracle. 

Like being on my way to surgery for removal of a small bowel obstruction and having one more X-ray before a nurse--very aptly named Rejoice--came to prep me for Pre-Op, but the surgery got cancelled.

The X-ray revealed there was no longer any obstruction and the surgery was no longer needed. The thoracic surgeon who was going to collaborate in the surgery and repair my hiatal hernia at the same time opted to postpone the repair until June to give me a chance to go home and regain some strength, and then, hopefully, he would be able to do the repair in a less invasive and more effective way.

However, the deal is this. One miracle does not necessarily mean assuming a second one will follow. It may or may not, but should not be taken for granted.  

The deal is that peace comes from putting my trust in God--no matter what--and seeking His face rather than His hand. It's looking at life's challenges as opportunities to acknowledge my neediness,  rely more fully on Him, and increase my intimacy with Him as my dependence deepens.  

I loved the words of a Sing Devotional I was listening to the day I was discharged (which unfortunately did not have a link I could link it to or even go back and listen to it again to get the name of the man who was leading it), but in essence, he likened pain as going from an open wound to a tender scab, and eventually to an empowering star. 

The worst of times, in retrospect, he went on to say, is often the best of times even if it doesn't feel like it at the time, because it's during those times when God is able to change our hearts and teach us the deepest lessons, and we learn to rely on Him instead of on ourselves.

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Hiatal hernia repair surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, June 2nd. Will keep you posted.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

DECISION

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--DECISION

Five minutes to free-write about it

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Have any of you ever decided to declutter and then later regretted having gotten rid of some of the things you did?

I used to save cards, letters, kids' artwork and term papers, and such, and had three large boxes full. And then I got on the decluttering bandwagon and convinced myself I needed to go through these boxes and only save the things that meant the most. So I did, and pared them down to just half of one box so there would still be room for anything down the road I felt I really couldn't part with.

The same thing with my clothes. Anything in my closet I hadn't worn in over six months got donated to the thrift shop or to our church's clothing giveaway, for someone else to enjoy.

Why I decided to do these things, I do not know. It's not as though I live in a cluttered apartment, but it seemed like the thing to do.

Invariably though, there always seems to be something that I think of that I would like to wear that I haven't in a while, only to discover I no longer have it. And this morning, I thought of something I wanted to read that had once been in one of my boxes of mementos, only to realize it was something I had gotten rid of. 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

TIMING

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--TIMING

Five minutes to free-write about it

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Friday's prompt made me think of how important it is to be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and quick to obey before the moment passes.

Most times I do respond right away to spiritual promptings, but other times I don't, and the moment passes, and the opportunity is lost. 

Just this morning, for instance, I was talking to someone at church and had a strong prompting to ask him a certain question, but it felt awkward and I didn't do it. Maybe there will be another opportunity, maybe not, but I'll never know what the Lord might have used that question to accomplish had I obeyed at that moment in time.

The same thing has happened in my writing. I'll feel prompted to write a post (especially on my other blog--At The Foot Of The Cross), but I'm in the middle of work or what I think is some other priority, so I just quickly scribble a note or two on a scrap of paper so I don't forget to do it later, but when later comes, the passion of the moment is gone, and if I do write something anyway, it does not have the impact it would have had, had I done it when I first felt led to do so.

Which made me think of a passage in the Old Testament (Numbers 14:1-45) about the consequences of missing God's timing.

The spies sent out to scout the land of Canaan brought back a negative report, and as a result,  instead of trusting God, the Israelites disobeyed Him and refused to enter the Promised Land because they were afraid. Then, when God told them they would die in the wilderness for their unbelief, they tried to make up for their disobedience by setting out to fight their enemies even though Moses warned them not to do it because God was no longer with them. 

They refused to listen, did it anyway, and as a result, they were defeated.

FRIDAY FUNNY

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

UNSCHEDULED

This post was supposed to be for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--SCHEDULE

Five minutes to free-write about it

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Participating in Friday's prompt was on my schedule, but the day did not go according to plan. Instead, I spent a good part of it sitting in the garage waiting for my car to be repaired. 

On Thursday, I had rolled my car window down and then not been able to roll it back up again. Not a good thing with all the rain in the forecast. Also not a good thing because, as I found out, it's the only window in a car that you have to be able to open and close in order for the car to pass inspection, and my inspection was almost due.

A friend had recommended this place. It's a new garage in town, which I had also received a discount coupon in the mail for, and it did not disappoint.

True to the sign, the people working there were very friendly, accommodating, and willing to go above and beyond.

They first took the door off to see what was preventing the window from cranking back up and see if they could fix it. Unfortunately, they could not. The very old mechanism (my car is 26 years old) was broken beyond repair and had to be replaced. 

And so on Friday, instead of tackling the things on my schedule, I did things that were not. Like take pictures of my visit to the garage, and read a digital library book on my cell phone that I had not had time to read, and that was about to expire and get automatically returned.

The interior of the building was very clean and bright, and the waiting areas were very comfortable and had several amenities, such as a refreshment bar, with coffee, water, and snacks; a trolly with free pens, flashlights, squishy toys, key chains, and other items (I was not ablt to get a good picture of); and a most amazing children's area.

The children's area had games, books, a little table and chairs, and a red phone on the wall with a sign that said to pick it up and someone would bring you a lollipop.

I did not pick up the red phone and get a lolliop, but I did accept the gift of these squishy cars and flashlights for two of my great-grandsons.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY