365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 27

Wednesday I was in a grumpy mood. The physical therapy from the night before was doing a number on me in not just the surgery area but the rest of my shoulder and arms. I got a burning sensation that wouldn’t go away. And to make matters worse, I had a hot flash during the day that left me feeling more awful. I was ready to just take some medication, go to bed and pray that when I woke up it would be better. My daughter who is always so full of joy is extra enthusiastic with the approach of Christmas coming and I was starting to be cross with her about something but I managed to stop myself and went over and gave her a big hug and told her that I was really grumpy and I wanted to give her some love now before the “grumpies” took over. They didn’t take over! She hugged me right back and wouldn’t let go and said her own words of encouragement to me. Love conquered the “grumpies”! So when you feel like yelling at someone, or getting in someone’s face, or frustrated with someone, I hope and pray you can do like I did the other night and stop yourself and give some love instead. It really is an experience that you will be completely blessed by. You will have the concrete evidence in your own life that love conquers all.

Luke 6:31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 356

You would think a household could go one day without electricity. Not mine. I got home and the family was out taking Tristan to bible study group so I went around lighting some candles and than they got home. Immediately they all, including my daughter who was so gung-ho about us doing it, agreed that our No electricity experiment was done. TV won. I was actually very thankful as it had been one of those days at work trying to play catch-up to being gone the afternoon before for my shoulder appointment and dentist appointment and vegetating in front of the TV felt like a good idea.  So, my new shoulder PA and doctor take a look at my shoulder and told me I have “frozen shoulder”. Try putting your arms by your sides and hold up you lower arms with fists; keeping your upper arm by your side, move your arms outward. My right one goes out but my left one I could move out about ½”. Wow! Range of motion is dramatically gone. So to surgery I will go. PA explained that this is a fairly common problem especially for women in my age group. The cause a lot of times is related to diabetes or thyroid but I don’t have either of those issues so the doc thinks the probable cause is an impingement which he will take a look at during the surgery and fix anything else that needs fixing. There are lots of things to praise the Lord for in this situation: being listened to, having answers, having hope and knowing that God is in control and taking care of me. I know everything is in His timing and I am thankful for the Holy Spirit filling me with the patience to endure, peace to keep my mood from becoming dark and especially the loving tender care the Lord provides.

Phillipians 4:19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 36

My shoulders continue to hurt and I have delved further into researching surgery option and found there may be other options related to a particular kind of calcium. I will probably call my acupunturist today and get in and hope that some of those needles will be able to alleviate the pain at least until with God's help I can figure out what to do. I have been praying about guidance on what to try. I really don't want to have to do the surgery especially after more research and finding that there are way too many that have had negative things to say about the outcome of their surgeries. So I am praising God for this glimmer of hope to avoid the surgery but praying he will give me a definite answer that I clearly know is from him.
Psalm 62:5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone: my hope comes from him.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 35

The bible doesn't promise us an easy life or to not have challenges, difficulties, grief, fears and pain but God does promise to always be there. Today I am praising God for this promise that he will always be with me. Despite the extreme pain both my shoulders were in yesterday, I managed to tearfully make my way through the afternoon at my work desk. Focusing on my work and intermintent prayers when I was waiting for the computer program to do it's thing kept my mind from totally caving into the pain and just sobbing. I did a little research on surgery for shoulder bone spurs and found a lot of people wished they had done it sooner. So, my plans for things are a little up in the air until I go to the doctor on Jan 3rd and talk to him about surgery. It looks like a few days to a week out of work kind of thing and many months of physical therapy. My greatest concern at this point is that both my shoulders are hurting but I don't think that both can be done at the same time and that could create a lot of problems if I can't use my arms for any length of time. I am in God's hands at this point and we shall see where he leads me and this ministry.
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 23

It's times like these when I am in a lot of pain that my praying comes from the words of songs. The song that is playing over and over in my mind now is by Jeremy Camp. I think it's called "There Will Be a Day" but I will have to check on that. The words go like this: "there will be a day, with no more tears, no more pain and no more fears... The pain in my shoulder was the worst ever last night to the point of having a beer to take the pain away for a while. I don't drink much so that says a lot. 800mg of IB profin didn't do anything. I am staying home from work today just to let my shoulder have total and complete rest and will be icing off and on all day hoping to calm down the swelling. I got an appointment set up with Orthopedic doctor for January 3rd. It's not soon enough but in the end I am probably going to need surgery. So, I am off now to go ice it... I am thankful for my job but today I need a day of rest.
Jer 6:16 Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.