I'm here. I' m good. I'm trying my best not to be defeated by the table and chairs from hell. Yes, they are still tormenting me. My fifty dollar craiglist table and chairs has become so much more- and not in a good way. Yet.
I'll have more to report, soon. I just realized I had not posted since I had pleurisy, so I wanted to at least check in and say HI! I'm is better. Much better. I still have a slight twinge occasionally, but nothing like the stabbing pain I was experiencing. It lasted about two weeks. Not fun, but it surely makes me appreciate being pain free that much more. I fully attribute my healing to the power of prayer and faith that prayer works.
I'm not proud to say my faith at time waffles. I always believe in God, I just don't always have confidence that God is in control, or that he has a plan for me. Oh, I know it in my heart, but sometime this human brain does what human brains do and thinks it knows best.
Well, how wrong is that?
I could give you so many examples of times I felt so lost and out of control only to look back later and see exactly how God was working in my life or the life of someone I love.
This time, I had been debilitated by pleurisy for more than a week. Yes, debilitated. Pleurisy is an inflammation of the lining of the lung. When I would inhale, it felt like a cheese grater on my lung. Every breath in caused a stabbing pain and if I got the slightest bit winded it was amplified. When you are several days into an illness that changes your way of life, you begin to feel like you will never return to normal. After more than a week I was feeling very low. Helpless and hopeless if you will. Hot baths did wonders to relieve the pain so I was taking at least two a day. During one of those baths, all was quiet and I was praying. A thought came into my mind, I can't explain why, but it was there and wouldn't leave. The thought was you need to ask Mrs. Muriel to pray for you. I've known Mrs. Muriel all my life, she lives not far from me and attends the same church. She's in her late 70s or maybe early 80s and is the kindest most lovely lady I've ever known. You need to ask Mrs. Muriel to pray for you! It would not stop. For days, a whisper in the back of my mind, it was there. Did I call her up? Drive to her house? Nope, I ignored it. Or tried to. Then Sunday morning rolled around. I didn't feel like going to church and almost stayed home. Mrs. Muriel was there and so was the whisper. Still trying to ignore it I got in my car after church to leave. Then I got right back out and proceeded, I'm sure, to freak Mrs. Muriel out a little. Because I get all emotional really easy and as I approached her and tried to explain why I was approaching her I was babbling and crying. She may have been a little freaked out, but she never let it show. She put her arm around me and said lets go back inside. She put her arms around me and prayed. She prayed and I prayed and I felt a sense of peace. I'm not saying that Mrs. Muriel has some magical healing powers and her prayers reached the ears of God when mine couldn't. But I truly believe it was a test of my faith. It was Gods way of telling me calm down, have faith, and stop trying to do this alone. Let others share your burden.
I left with a renewed faith that God is in control. My mood lifted and my mind was in a better place. A place that allowed my body to heal.
