25 April 2022 Pain is a Teacher

Hello to you. How are you? Today is another day of learning for me. The past few days I’ve been more active than usual. Yesterday I decided the yard work couldn’t wait and I really hurt my back doing it. I used to be able to take care of a front, back and side yard with weed whacking no problem just a couple of years ago! All I have now is weed whacking a little yard in the front and wore myself out! I’m so frustrated with my body….this getting older and limitations.

This morning I was reminded of a conversation I had with my ex once about being grateful I could do laundry. Some people with various physical and cognitive limitations can’t do it! They would give anything to be able to do it! This morning it was all I could do to get myself dressed! The other thing which is hard for me is asking for and accepting help! Thank God for my Aunt and Uncle this morning. They made sure I had something to eat and help for the pain. My Aunt used a massager on my back and left a cane and heating blanket for me! They helped me when they have their own things going on. My Aunt goes for her knee surgery Wednesday!

Pain is being my teacher. New, old and refresher lessons. I am reminding myself today to focus on what I can do and that my body is not meant to be a prison. What I’m going through will pass and new days will come. Hopefully mostly pain free days!

Please keep my Aunt in your prayers and my Mom. My Mom is having hip replacement surgery Tuesday!

Last night on The Chosen livestream psalm 77 was mentioned. I waited to read it this morning and it’s really perfect for what I’m experiencing with chronic pain. Especially the crying out to God for help part!

Psalm 77New International Version

Psalm 77[a]

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

I cried out to God(A) for help;
    I cried out to God to hear me.
When I was in distress,(B) I sought the Lord;
    at night(C) I stretched out untiring hands,(D)
    and I would not be comforted.(E)

I remembered(F) you, God, and I groaned;(G)
    I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.[b](H)
You kept my eyes from closing;
    I was too troubled to speak.(I)
I thought about the former days,(J)
    the years of long ago;
I remembered my songs in the night.
    My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

“Will the Lord reject forever?(K)
    Will he never show his favor(L) again?
Has his unfailing love(M) vanished forever?
    Has his promise(N) failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful?(O)
    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?(P)

10 Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
    the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.(Q)
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your miracles(R)of long ago.
12 I will consider(S) all your works
    and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”(T)

13 Your ways, God, are holy.
    What god is as great as our God?(U)
14 You are the God who performs miracles;(V)
    you display your power among the peoples.
15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,(W)
    the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

16 The waters(X) saw you, God,
    the waters saw you and writhed;(Y)
    the very depths were convulsed.
17 The clouds poured down water,(Z)
    the heavens resounded with thunder;(AA)
    your arrows(AB) flashed back and forth.
18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,(AC)
    your lightning(AD) lit up the world;
    the earth trembled and quaked.(AE)
19 Your path(AF) led through the sea,(AG)
    your way through the mighty waters,
    though your footprints were not seen.

20 You led your people(AH) like a flock(AI)
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.(AJ)

————————

Some pictures – no second walk yesterday!

Brand new leaves!
Normally these are in the shade. Not sure what this plant is.
Layers of different trees
Sometimes when I pass this house a man is sitting in the chair. A peaceful little spot to meditate on things.
Poor Smokey! He got tuckered out! The way he looks in this picture is how I feel lately!
Linky looking at me with a look that seems to say “I’m sorry your hurting….you overdid it again! “
No clouds and hazy view of the setting sun
A lot of furry and feathered beings visit this tree out back
“It’s not about what you can’t do but what you can do.” Sometimes just playing with the sun has to be enough

A couple timely messages from A Woman’s Spirit today:

Healing is learning to trust my own wisdom, my own intuition. -Mary Zink

I am wise. I’ll know what to do today in every situation if I open my heart to my Higher Power.

In case your interested (season 3 is in the works right now): https://watch.angelstudios.com/thechosen

19 April 2022 Surprises on Walks

Hello to you. How are you doing? I didn’t do a video for Twitch again today. It’s been about a week. I just haven’t felt up to it. It’s been hard to convince myself to get out of bed lately! I just hurt!

I was doing some surfing yesterday about joint pain and arthritis connected to having Covid. Turns out it’s indeed a thing! I’m really starting to believe what I’ve been going through is post Covid related stuff. Here is a link to one of the videos I found where a man and his wife have been experiencing joint pain after Covid: https://youtu.be/fyR9uJHCdKA – if you are experiencing inflammation and pain in your joints, like for me it’s my upper thighs and knees, this video might resonate with you. I am hoping it will eventually stop!

Despite the pain, I’ve been trying to get out for walks with Link. It’s so rewarding when I do! So much to see! There have been surprises lately too! This morning I looked down for just one minute and was amazed to see not one but two wild pansies in the edge of a yard we were passing! I struggled to get down to take the picture…..getting up made me curse gravity a bit lol….but it was worth it!

A lovely surprise for us today on the morning walk- a wild pansy!

Other pictures from yesterday and today:

The tulips are out here in Idaho – when I see them I think of my Mom. She used to grow flowers like tulips
“You make me smile…”
I noticed this yesterday in the shopping center on our walk
This beauty caught my eye even with being surrounded by so many power lines
Part of what makes each tree an individual is their bark – I love seeing trees in afternoon light
This little one made me think of a cat we used to see all the time in Alvarado TX! Love the mustache!
A blue version of the car I used to drive in Sr. High School! Mine was red. I’ll never forget Dad and I practicing stick shift in a parking lot lol!
Ridleys is the grocery store I always go to. I told the cashier I was so grateful she was there (they seem a little short handed), that I was grateful to wake up to peace and quiet and that there was food in the store…..little things people in warring parts of the world aren’t experiencing today. We are so fortunate!

My day will be dark only if I shut out the light f my Higher Power. Through my faith and my friends I can know peace – A Woman’s Spirit

https://youtu.be/bFeNjMjk0dA – Toni Cornell singing Nothing Compares 2 U in honor of her Dad Chris. Her eyes are so sad to me. This was the first song Kyle and I listened to (the Sinead O’Conner version) after we said goodbye to our sweet dog Sam. It’s hard for me to listen to for that reason but I toughed it out to hear both Chris and now Toni’s interpretation of it. She did her Dad proud I think!

10 April 2022 Sometimes We Have To Look Down

Hello to you. Hope you are well today. Yesterday was a mostly ok good day. My Aunt and I joined some really special women for breakfast at Grace House. It’s the first time I’ve been in there since we did cleaning and setting up inside of it. It felt so good to meet in a place that felt like a home. Going places with my Aunt is like that. She brings home to a house. It was a blessing to share a moment with her and these women who love God. Emily gave a devotional and I think this is the passage she referenced. She was thinking of her Dad and saying this brought tears to her eyes and to ours:

2 Timothy 1:7New King James Version

7 For (A)God has not given us a spirit of fear, (B)but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

On the walk last night I had one of those experiences that you pray you do it right. I had stopped to admire my favorite Willow tree like I usually do. I looked up into her flowing mane of green and then looked down…..I was dismayed at what I saw laying there. It was a dead baby squirrel. I stood there for a moment in sadness and wondering what I should do. Do I leave the body there? Then I saw a little girl in the window watching me. I took one of the bags I use to pick up after Link, and it took forever to get it open, and picked up the little body and put it in the bag. The little one hadn’t been dead long. Then Link and I walked home. I dug a hole in the yard and buried the little one. It made me think of Emily who lost her Dad. It made me wonder if that little squirrels Mom would miss her baby. It made me think of my own life….how one day my body will be a shell….return to the earth. I kept talking to God about it, thinking about that little girl watching what I was doing. My head is usually in the clouds but sometimes you have to look down. Be reminded of some of the hardest lessons God teaches- those about life and death. I hope I got it right.

Morning with my Aunt:

Me seeing my Aunt
Big tree outside Grace House
My Aunt at Grace House – the mat is a perfect message about the feeling of the place

Pictures from walks yesterday:

Two crows can you see them?
A tiny reminder underneath the rocks of how precious and fragile this life is. We all belong to God all creatures great and small.

9 April 2022 Your Not Walking Alone

Hello to you. This morning when I was preparing to get up, a phrase from a song kept repeating in my head, “I walk alone….” I tried to find it on You tube but found something better. I like the thought of never walking alone better. It makes me think of the scene from The Chosen last night. When Jesus meets the architect Nathanael and tells him “I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael had been sitting under that tree alone burning up his drawings. He had felt abandoned by God. How many feel that today living in the world as it is? I assure you in all the “noise” is God’s presence…you are seen and heard no matter how things may seem. Your not walking alone. Try to find hope today and let it make your steps lighter.

You’ll Never Walk Alone

Song by Gerry

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark

At the end of a storm
There’s a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark

Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone

You’ll never walk alone

Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone

You’ll never walk alone

Source: LyricFind

You’ll Never Walk Alone lyrics © Concord Music Publishing LLC

Songwriters: Oscar Hammerstein II / Richard Rodgers

https://youtu.be/mN8oN8I3lrk – Elvis Presley version of You’ll Never Walk Alone

Some pictures from our walk yesterday:

“Walks are good. When you go for walks you get close to God. If you walk slow like me or can’t walk it’s nice to sit outside for a minute and look at the sky…hear the birds. God is good. May be today you can smile?”