I think I've gotten far too used to resting these days. The last couple of weeks were extremely busy and I didn't have either the strength or the head space to get my leg muscles closer to normal, but I really should try to get going again now. My lungs and muscles need some pushing.
Loved the sermon by Pastor Albert today. I didn't know he'd been struggling with an illness for the past nine months. He didn't say what it was but it sounds like he's doing better. It was something to hear about suffering from one of our pastors who has gone through suffering recently. Romans 5:3-5 is meaningful only when invoked by those who know what suffering means. (Please, people who don't know what it means to be in pain, just shut up.)
3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
A sprained knee is not much (it hurt a lot though), and three months' rest really isn't much in light of much greater sufferings. I am so thankful I didn't have to struggle with more than that. And I'm very thankful that I think I'm starting to see how God is redeeming that time. It was a "waste" insofar as my body hasn't been getting stronger, and I haven't been able to work on my badminton. But I'm realizing that being in pain gave me a lot of practice at being weak.
God decided I needed to be familiar with weakness: to know how it feels, to learn to come to terms with feeling weak, and in feeling weak, to not feel afraid or threatened or anything else but loved by God. And I probably wouldn't have gone back to counseling if I had still been able to deal with stress by sweating it out. (Pastor Albert made a pitch for counseling from the pulpit too; physical pain really can cause a great deal of stress! Even among pastors!)
I can't explain how the verse in 2 Corinthians, how God's strength is made perfect in our weakness, is "true" in a rational, logical manner. But my body knows that to be true now in a visceral way.
There is no rejoicing over illness and actual physical brokenness. That is not of God's design and can produce no happiness, pleasure, or even the so-called Christian "joy." But I can find joy in how God was there, and is here. Some people will never understand on this side of heaven why they go through certain challenges.
I'm thankful I can see some reason in this season that is finally coming to an end. It's still a long hard slog ahead to get back to "normal" as far as my body goes. But God is good, and he does love me.
Loved the sermon by Pastor Albert today. I didn't know he'd been struggling with an illness for the past nine months. He didn't say what it was but it sounds like he's doing better. It was something to hear about suffering from one of our pastors who has gone through suffering recently. Romans 5:3-5 is meaningful only when invoked by those who know what suffering means. (Please, people who don't know what it means to be in pain, just shut up.)
3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
A sprained knee is not much (it hurt a lot though), and three months' rest really isn't much in light of much greater sufferings. I am so thankful I didn't have to struggle with more than that. And I'm very thankful that I think I'm starting to see how God is redeeming that time. It was a "waste" insofar as my body hasn't been getting stronger, and I haven't been able to work on my badminton. But I'm realizing that being in pain gave me a lot of practice at being weak.
God decided I needed to be familiar with weakness: to know how it feels, to learn to come to terms with feeling weak, and in feeling weak, to not feel afraid or threatened or anything else but loved by God. And I probably wouldn't have gone back to counseling if I had still been able to deal with stress by sweating it out. (Pastor Albert made a pitch for counseling from the pulpit too; physical pain really can cause a great deal of stress! Even among pastors!)
I can't explain how the verse in 2 Corinthians, how God's strength is made perfect in our weakness, is "true" in a rational, logical manner. But my body knows that to be true now in a visceral way.
There is no rejoicing over illness and actual physical brokenness. That is not of God's design and can produce no happiness, pleasure, or even the so-called Christian "joy." But I can find joy in how God was there, and is here. Some people will never understand on this side of heaven why they go through certain challenges.
I'm thankful I can see some reason in this season that is finally coming to an end. It's still a long hard slog ahead to get back to "normal" as far as my body goes. But God is good, and he does love me.
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