Familiar Realizations

Here are some foods that I may never eat again after all this is over:
It has been really hard for me to stay positive this week. When I scheduled the appointment to have surgery several months ago, I thought I would be back at work the next day. On Monday I will have completed two weeks of recovery. The process has included a trip to the emergency room, and an emergency trip back to my dentist in Greensboro, both because of uncontrollable bleeding from the roof of my mouth. The result of those trips included more shots in my palate, more stitches, and having my palate cauterized (seared closed with extreme heat). So after working Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week, I have spent yesterday and today back at home. I am hoping that if I stay still and don't talk much the wound will finally heal.

I must admit that I have been really discouraged. I am tired of liquids and mushes. I am tired of laying around the house. I am tired of not being able to talk like an adult. And I am very tired of being constantly hungry.

Today I was thinking about all the things I love to do, and I came to some familiar realizations. They are realizations that I think about every time I get sick, but somehow they never completely sink in. Here they are, and I hope you will be as encouraged as I was when they were brought to my mind.

THIS TOO SHALL PASS! I suddenly realized that this will eventually be over! I won't be laying in bed starving with gauze in my mouth forever! Yay! Hopefully it will be over sooner rather than later, but it WILL eventually be over! That is definitely an encouraging thought!

I AM A SPOILED LITTLE BRAT! Now, this might not sound encouraging, and I guess it's not if you leave it like that. But it did make me realize how much I have for which to be thankful. Overall I am a very healthy human. I don't have many problems with my health, and I am so grateful for that! As I looked in my fridge today (for the eighth time) to find something that I can eat, I realized that many people have to live this way permanently, or at least for longer than two weeks. People with cancer feel nauseous all the time, people with food allergies have to say goodbye to many foods that they would love to eat, and people who are poor or homeless don't have food at all much of the time. I also have a wonderful husband who takes care of me, and some people are all alone through their trials. Wow... When you take time to count your blessings, the trials don't seems so terrible.

I TAKE MY HEALTH FOR GRANTED! This realization is linked to the previous one, but it deserves its own paragraph. It is probably the most familiar to me. Every time I get sick I think to myself "I am going to be so much more grateful for my good health once this is finally over!" But usually after the sickness is gone I go right back to taking my health for granted. This time I am starting in advance, and I am going to regularly thank my gracious God for blessing me with good health. It is something that I do not deserve!

GOD IS IN CONTROL! This is definitely the most encouraging realization. God knows my pain, my hunger, and my frustrations, and He has a purpose in allowing me to feel all these things. I don't know what His purposes are, but I don't have to know. He loves me, He knows the number of hairs on my head, and He provided a way for my sins to be forgiven. How can I question His perfect plan? Maybe His purpose is to make me realize these things and develop a spirit of gratefulness in me. I don't know, but I pray that I will be obedient to Him, and that He will accomplish His purposes in my life.