who do you rely on when life gets you down?

 

 One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: “Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love.” (Psalm 62:11-12).

When we get sick or really become ill, what we want most is to be back up and running as we were before the illness took over. Think about the last miserable flu bug that you had, the worst migraine, the icky cold viruses.....they are just plain crud!

We feel miserable, we may even bargain with God..."get me out of this bed and back on my feet and I promise you that I'll......" fill in that blank!

I have had a chronic condition since about Springtime of 2002. Lupus as well as rheumatoid arthritis. I have been down so low that I could barely get out of bed in the mornings, let alone function, yet function I did...until it became so bad I ended up in the hospital. My body was shot; toxins were building up in my liver and kidneys. Powerful medications kept me alive...but I still could not function as I once used to. The effects of those medications made me feel even worse than before. It is so easy to get caught up in the "pity poor me" attitude. So easy to also give up. I prayed to God to restore me to what I once was: youthful, strong, able to leap tall mommy buildings in a single bound...I had four children of varying ages who needed me!

Yet I was still relegated to doctor's visits, prescription medications that were doing more harm than any good. I felt as though God didn't care.
Oh...but He did!

My will to not allow this to get to me is what kept me motivated. Even though I could no longer do those bouncy aerobic exercises, I could still go for walks. Once I made up my mind to do that, I was shocked at how far I could go: about half a block before I tired myself out. OK...new strategy....go a few steps farther...and a few steps farther the day after that, until one day I had gone a whole half mile, then a mile. I had to have knee replacement surgery and once again, in recovery I had to start over. Then the other knee needed to be replaced. Once more, start over. It has taken three years and although I cannot run, dance or jump, I feel stronger, all because of those daily walks, as well as yoga. Stretching, pushing myself....all of it has  taught me what I am capable of!

I look back and realize that I am glad that I didn't have one of those healing moments in which I threw my walker down got up and walked, as Jesus instructed the paralytic in the Bible. I learned that I am tough, I am resilient and that in God's own way and time I can do great things. I relied on myself as well as God.  I also gave each day to God, I asked Him to walk with me, and He did! Oh, I saw such wonderful things on those walks: deer, budding trees that went from pale green to deep colors of green to autumn's finest colors of gold, orange and red. I heard the birds sing...I saw baby ducks that over time, learned how to fly and I identified with those same birds as I too, was learning to take off in my own way.

I choke up even now, so very glad that God showed me in baby steps, that I am His and that there is nothing that we can't do together, He and I.

Friends, it is the same with you...what are you facing? What battles of the day are haunting you? Is it job or the lack of? Illness? What fears have robbed you of that sense of security? Instead of running FROM that fear, that illness, that thought that you are not good enough for God to hear you, look to HOW God is using that illness, that far, that whatever for His good! You are a walking, breathing MIRACLE! YOU are that TESTIMONY of how He uses our sorrows and pains for something better! Instead of feeling bitter that you haven't received the miracle...feel blessed that in His time, you will receive something far greater...the gifts of resilience and peace.
Who can feel angry over having been given THAT?

 

May peace fill your souls today!
Amen!