Hello!  I'm not sure where on Earth you are reading this from but here in Nashville it was beautiful today!! Absolutely gorgeous!  While I typically eat my lunch in the break room with a nice guy named Rick (I think. I keep wanting to call him Kirk but my boss said she thinks his name is Rick. It is just that I have met so many new people since moving here and I've struggled to remember them all.  What makes it worse is that he says my name ALL the time.)  Well today I told good old Rick/Kirk/whatever-his-name-is that I would be going out to our courtyard to enjoy what might be the last warm day we have before fall/winter settles in.  Now there are several things I love about the new job and one of them is our rocking courtyard.  In the summer they have concerts there on Tuesdays.  It is like an oasis in the middle of the big city.

I took this as I left today because it was too packed at lunch and I felt like people wouldn't appreciate their picture being taken.  I wasn't the only one that wanted to spend lunch out in the sunny oasis.  There were a lot of people out there and many of them were under the trees and under the shades of the trees but I went to the only open table that was half in the sun and half in the shade.  I wanted to soak up the sun and get as much vitamin D as possible and let my freckles pop out for the last time this year. I was in the middle of eating my meal and reading my book when I noticed a woman come in and settle down on a bench with her kindle and Subway sandwich.  I offered for her to share my table and she turned me down. Well, fine then, don't share my table!  After a few more minutes a guy came in and he had a take out box.  He sat down on a bench and I could just see how he was trying to figure out how to eat his take out without a table and he looked kinda awkward about the whole ordeal.  I offered for him to share my table and he was very grateful.  I asked him where his food was from and he enlightened me to the fact that there is a fairly good Mexican place half a block from my work.  While I may not be changing the world, I did offer a table for a guy that would have probably gotten his meal all over his lap if not for me.  

                                               

On another note I am having to get used to Twitter since I use it for work and Desiring God posted a link to this article that I totally loved and wanted to share a few highlights from. If you want to read the entire article you can find it here.  It is about a pastor that has lost the use of his arms due to disabling nerve issues. His perspective is amazing and inspiring. 

"I need other believers to encourage me with the hard texts of suffering and God’s sovereignty. I need to be reminded that God has plans to glorify himself through me because of my pain.

As a person who experiences chronic pain and physical disability, I need to be reminded of God’s sovereign goodness. I need to know that God can use me no matter my physical potential. I need to see lightning bolts of God’s grace shoot through my depression as I wrestle with nerve pain in the middle of the night. I need to be reminded of God’s good design in my disability to strengthen me in the daily reminders of my physical weakness."

His arms are what hurt him so much and ironically he has found solace in this verse: 

Psalm 90: 17- “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” 

I thought that was so funny because for me the first body part that I had issues with was my feet and a verse I have relied on through the years has been:

Isaiah 40:31- "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." 

Isn't it funny that we both are drawn to verses that deal with our broken body parts?  I know that the last time I ran on a treadmill was in high school.  That is when I started feeling like somebody was popping me with a rubber band on the bottom of my foot with each step.  It was actually my muscles tearing.  I have had times when my feet have hurt me worse than other times.  I have discovered that when something hurts on my body there is no telling how long it is going to hurt.  The pain might last for a day, a month, or several years.  There is no telling.  Sometimes I can be in a lot of pain when I first get up and by 10 that morning I feel fine.  I am starting to learn to just be appreciative when the pain isn't there and to not freak out when it is there. It is easy to start thinking that since it hurts this bad at age 29 then how much worse is it going to feel at age 45 or 60 but I can't let myself go there.  There is no telling what the world is going to be like, what medicine is going to be around, and what my life is going to be like then.  I might hit the lottery and have a maid to help out around the house. I might be blessed enough to met a great guy and have a husband to help me.  Who knows?  I'm just learning that while it might be simple to immediately picture the worst case scenario I can choose not to focus on that and to put my hope is someone bigger.  It takes effort but in the end I'm much saner and calmer and the world appreciates a saner and calmer me.