Today is Friday the 13th. Whatever. We will have THREE of them this year which is unusual. The number 12 is the number of "completeness" which makes the 13th irregular and excessive and out of the ordinary. One too many.
For me... it's not unlucky... it's a day of victory. Just one week ago I was soaking in my tiny little bathtub praying for the strength to just be able to drive to a doctors appointment and back. Today I'm heading out to work my fifth day in a row with complete confidence that I will make it through the day... maybe not completely pain free but with victory over the pain and with strength that has returned above and beyond what I could have imagined. Miraculous, even.
God is good and He has shown favor to me this week. I might have healed on my own... maybe... without prayer and without His healing hand on me but I believe that the amazing progress I have had was because of prayer - not just my own but the many people who thought enough about me to pray for me. I'm in awe.
Yesterday I had lunch with a new friend and it encouraged me in a mighty way. It helped me understand a few things that have happened in the past month or so and brought me a lot of peace. It also made me feel less alone and that... to me... was a beautiful blessing. And no, since I didn't use pronouns, I know you're thinking I mean a gentleman friend... nope... just a sweet girl who has been compassionate toward me in an environment where I haven't found much compassion.
I want to give you a few positive thirteens to get through your Friday the 13th...
How about 1 Corinthians 13 - the Love Chapter? Isn't that a beautiful passage? How about the 13th verse of the 13th chapter which says: 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
You've gotta LOVE that! One my "wedding ring" finger I wear two rings... a tiny, little ring that says, "hope" and a big, solid band that says "faith"... it reminds me that instead of a commitment to a man... my strength comes from a little hope and a lot of faith.
Here's another 13:13 - this time from the book of Romans... 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
That's more of an "oh me" than an "amen"... one of those instruction verses... but it's something I take to heart. There's a gentleman who is pursuing me - patiently but - nevertheless - and I have told him that I don't believe that God intends for me to date in this season of my life. Maybe not never but definitely not right now. My focus has to be on Him. It's my source of strength right now. It's the only thing keeping me going in this last mile of my Single Mom Marathon. The Straight and Narrow is my anchor (like we talked about yesterday). No room in my life for those indulgences in human nature.
Another beautiful 13 for me is the understanding how deeply and intimately God has been involved in my life from the very start of my life 13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb
That was from Psalm 139:13. Also, ironically, the passage I challenge myself to memorize lass year and only made it less than halfway through. I'm committed to completing it this year. In addition I'm accepting Beth Moore's challenge to memorize the entire book of James while doing her James Bible Study. It's a huge task for an old brain but I need to get beyond my comfort zone a bit... believing that God has brought healing into my life, I need to live in an attitude of strength, not weakness...
Here's a 13:13 example of healing...
13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
This time from Luke. Sounds like what has happened to me... I asked God to heal me... last Friday, when I cried out to him... and it is why my attitude this week has been one of praise and amazement rather than fear and discouragement. I'm walking around, functioning, contributing to my world.
Something else I haven't mentioned but it's really cool: my back has not bothered me this week. I have a little muscle spasm here and there. My piriformis (the right butt cheek) syndrome is a bit flared up due to not being able to sit flat/normal. But the feeling of the disks being compressed and collapsed... the stenosis that makes it difficult to walk... that old feeling of dragging myself in the door and being in so much pain that I immediately hit my pharmaceutical drawer... hasn't happened this week. WHAT if... that three weeks of rest was exactly what my BACK needed? WHAT if... in praying for healing from pain... God healed all my pain? I'm also taking a new drug and it's possible that this medication is finally the right ticket for me, but even in that... after a full year of seeing doctor after doctor after doctor seeking pain relief... finding the right combination of how to heal is something to get very excited about. And I am!
I praise God for the next 13 hours... by 7:15, Lord willing, I'll be back home in my nest and can rest... recharge... renew... get groceries... spend time with my kid... but in these next 13 hours on the 13th, I have an opportunity to go out into my world and make a difference to someone. You do too. Don't be afraid... Friday the 13th is a great day!
Love and hugs, y'all!
1 comments:
You sound almost like a different woman this week than you have sounded for the past year! I am so glad that God's will was to heal you so that you could return to work, and that you have concentrated on all the positives that you have experienced this week. I know it's a choice to look at the positives rather than the negatives, and at times it is so difficult to do that, yet you still manage it. I thank God for you, as you encourage me to look at my life differently and to rely more on God.
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