01/25/11: Am I Really Exempt?

Two days' (sort of) worth of food:

01/24/11: Bed at 10:30 pm/up at 6:30 am

God time? No

[P] Egg white

[P] Chicken

[V] Salad

[V] Salad

[V] Salad

[F] Apple

[F] Fruit in muffins

[F] Fruit in muffins

[St] Brown rice

[St] Kashi

[D] Skim milk

[D] Skim milk

[Sn] Home-made SF/GF muffins (x 2)

[Sn] Home-made SF/GF muffins (x 2)

[Nightfood bar] Yes

[W] Four cups (including tea w/ creamer)

01/23/11: Bed at 10:30 pm/up at 7:00 am

God time? Yes (Bible study and church service)

[P] Egg white

[P]

[V]

[V]

[V]

[F] Apple

[F]

[F]

[St] Kashi

[St]

[D] Skim milk

[D]

[Sn] Kashi bar

[Sn] Kashi bar

[Nightfood bar] Yes

[W] 4 cups (including tea w/ creamer)

I wrote you a great post on Sunday but proceeded to delete it with a mis-push of a button. I'm going to try writing today and use the "save" feature as I go along so it doesn't happen again. I was going to try to recreate the post later on Sunday but lost track of time and didn't get to it.  apologize for that.

I didn't write yesterday because (1) I had a chance to go swimming, so I nabbed it since I haven't been to the YMCA in months (it felt really good to exercise my body, BTW) and (2) I spent the rest of the afternoon undergoing a venous Doppler ultrasound of both of my legs to determine the cause of edema in my ankles (since I already have a risk of stroke) as well as an x-ray of my left foot (post-surgical follow-up). The Doppler was negative, so at least I know I'm not harboring clots, and now I move onto getting an echocardiogram. Whoo hoo! (not really, LOL).

Anyway, Sunday's post was about an intellectually rigorous adult Bible study on the second part of the Book of Matthew and a really good sermon about the Sermon on the Mount. I'm not entirely sure that I understood where my pastor was coming from, but when I reflected on what I thought he was saying, I realized that, to quite an extent, I think I am exempt from "carrying" the Good News, as well as getting out and helping the poor and needy, because of my mobility issues as well as a host of other medical issues.

 

However, being an introverted type, I do welcome the opportunity to witness to Jesus' gifts in my life, in a quiet one-on-one setting, if someone seems willing to actually hear the message rather than me just talking at them. I yearn to help people heal into wholeness, and to me, that's what Jesus is all about: forgiveness, healing, and love. My prayer for a very long time has been this: Lord, please lead me to the people who want what I have to offer. For such a long time I languished in a birth family in which I was the odd one out, the one nobody understood, and the one who felt I had nothing to give because of the combination of my family not sharing the same values and also from being handicapped and thus limited in giving the kind of help that was valued in my family, i.e., physical help.

That has changed since I became a Christian (I was baptized as a baby, but I truly came to accept Christ as my Lord and Savior as an adult and renewed my baptismal vows). I now have a church family that understands where I am coming from, to whom I hope to minister, and in the context of which I can practice Jesus' lessons of love. And my birth family life has gotten a lot better since I can now get my spiritual needs met elsewhere instead of trying to get my family members to fulfill those needs (somewhat like going to the hardware store for milk, LOL). I am truly blessed!

So, I'll just keep on blooming where I'm planted and asking the Lord to direct me. Who knows where I'll end up?

Hope to see you tomorrow!