Sick, Bed Bound & Choices

I’ve been sick all week. Not the kind of bedridden sick that I usually get this time of year, although I feel it coming, I am just praying and believing God to heal me, but the icky feeling of sluggish tiredness and the body doesn’t feel quite right with the sniffles and headache kind of sick. I don’t have time to get sick. Do any of us? Whenever I do though, my mom always says, this is God’s way of making you slow down. I am not sure I entirely agree with that statement but nonetheless, I do slow down.

This week I have had lots of down time which is a welcome rarity for me, so if I’m gonna get sick this was the week to do it. During my down time I have done some major Jesus seeking. I have not only been praying for healing in my own body, but for healing in the body of Christ.

I will be honest with you. I am tired of seeing miserable Christians. That is the biggest oxymoron there ever was if I do say so myself. Even while in bed sick I found reasons to praise God and thank Him for His blessings in my life. I recognized that even though I was sick I could have been a lot worse off. It didn’t matter how I felt, truth is truth, and the truth is, I am blessed. All I had to do was scroll the internet for a few seconds and see millions of other people in dire situations or turn on the news to what is going on in the world around us and don’t even get me started with this current election. I am still seeking God on whom to vote for and I keep hearing “don’t cast your pearl before the swine”, in this case my vote being the pearl and pretty much our two front runners (in my opinion) are the swine. But, in all of this, I praise God!

I praise God because I am healthy minus the current sniffles. I praise God because my children are healthy. I praise God because my husband and I are still married and have overcome our struggles without getting divorced. I praise God that my 83 year old grandmother is alive and living with us, even though she feeds everything coke and ice cream including the animals, and she fights me on taking a bath and whether or not she took her medicine, she is still with me and shares knowledge from her 83 years worth of life experiences. I praise God because I have a roof over my head and food on my table. I praise God for friends that send me soup when I’m sick and reach out with encouraging words. I praise God that even though we are submerged in a selfish society there are still people fighting for good and righteousness and humility. I praise God! I feel like all Christians should seek to have a mentality of thankfulness, praise, and joy; and we should actively be seeking to rid ourselves of stinkin thinkin. Christians should be and are called to be a light in this dark world and you can’t do that if you are complaining all the time.

I know we'll have bad days and it is nearly impossible to be Mary Poppins happy all of the time, but shouldn’t we at least be trying. When I see a “saved” person grumble and complain continually I think to myself, “Dude, you aren’t going to Hell...doesn’t that make you wanna shout and do a happy dance!”

It was ground a little deeper into my Spirit this week, that we have a choice, I have a choice, a choice to praise, or a choice to complain. I find when I choose to praise, despite how I feel, I end up feeling better. I use to look at the glass as half empty. I really did, but one day I filled up a glass half way with water, and I stared at it repeating to myself, this glass is half full, this glass is half full and after a while it sank in. Now, whenever I see a glass with water in it half filled, I say, that glass is half full. It is a choice, and those choices, whether our feelings agree with them or not, affect our perception on life, and once our perceptions change so do our feelings.

So there you have it, don’t let your feelings make you do what they want, you make your feelings do what you want! I may not have felt like praising God while sick, but I chose to anyway, and then I felt better. Life is life, you can complain about it, or choose to look for the silver lining, the pot of gold, the good in the midst of the bad, the happy moments, the happy memories, the kiss of a puppy, the coo of a baby, the hand of friendship, the fact that we have a God who is willing to forgive us and pay for every rotten thing we have ever done, just so when we leave this earth we can live in heaven with Him and never have another bad day ever again. You can do it! Just try! You will be amazed with yourself and what you are capable of, if you just try. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And guess what??? You can too!

P.S. My husband is my editor and in his notes to me he said “the glass is always full; ½ liquid ½ air”...touche babe...touche...