REMEMBER…

The other day Tauna said, “Mom there is something on your eyelash.” I said, “honey, there can’t be, remember I don’t have any eyelashes.” She looked closer and reached up to remove a piece of white lint from my eyelash. “See,” she said, “you do have eyelashes!” I couldn’t wait to get home to see my new eyelashes.

Then yesterday as Amy and I were standing by her car she said with excitement, “Oh Mom, you have eyebrows!” I said, “Honey, I don’t think so.” She then said, “Yes you do, the sun in shinning on them and wow – there’s actually a lot of them!"

It’s so interesting how quickly things change and how fleeting our life can be, either for good or bad. Last month I tried a new herb called Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA) that was supposed to help with my neuropathy in my feet. I had been using it for a couple of weeks and hadn’t noticed any improvement and so I told my doctor that it wasn’t really helping. He told me to go ahead and stop taking it. I tapered down and finished off the bottle, not even thinking I would notice a change. The next week my feet started to “KILL” me! This went on for 2 weeks, until one day I realized that maybe that ALA had in fact helped. I went to the store and bought some more and this time, I started noticing the slight improvements along the way. It wasn’t all at once, and it is not a cure, but in the long run it helps me be able to endure the pain.

It wasn’t until I was completely out of this stuff, that I finally realized the benefit it had been for my feet. Then I thought of how this kind of parallels our life. The Lord blesses us every day and many times we don’t see it, until it is completely gone. Then we look back and sorrowfully realize that we had been blessed and watched over by Him.

REMEMBER – this is the most commonly used word in the scriptures. The Lord wants us to remember all the tender mercies he has given us and as we do, we will feel His love even more. It was actually on Memorial Day, as I sat cross-legged on the grass, watching my two sons play in an outside volleyball tournament, that I paused to remember. Six months ago, I would never have been well enough to sit on the grass, let alone cross-legged. I wouldn’t have been well enough to even be there sitting in a lawn chair.

Today I read a blog post from Alisa http://joshalisa.blogspot.com/2012/05/if-wishes-were-fishes.html where she was in the hospital last week and missed all the final events and recitals of her children. My heart ached for her and it caused my mind to reflect on where my journey has taken me.

I remember after my surgery, asking the husband of my cousin who had passed away, if I would ever be able to experience joy in my life again. He said I would, but I wasn’t sure I believed him. But now I can say yes, there is joy everywhere I turn…but it’s all about remembering how far you’ve come!!!!

Last week as I got to go to my granddaughter’s pre-school graduation, and sit on a hard chair through both granddaughters (long) dance recitals, I realized this would never have happened six months ago.

 
  
All the sewing, babysitting, baking of bread, and hiking I have done lately, all would never have happened 6 months ago either. When we went hiking, I was able to walk up the mountain, but when it came to coming down hill.... it killed my toes, so I tried walking heel, toe, heel, toe. Check out the 12 sec. video clip below, 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KKYY6s7qLU&feature=youtu.be

When I look at what I have been able to go do, I ask myself, “Am I forgetting how sick I was and how far I’ve come?”  I can’t believe how easy it is to fall back into the way things used to be. There are many times that I forget that I am still recuperating, and run “faster than I have strength”, but as I lay my exhausted head down at night, I try to look back and REMEMBER how far the Lord has blessed me to this point.