Serving up for dinner...One Plate of Patience After attending a great church service with awesome, powerful worship and singing...I thought now I shall go home cook a quick bite and do some cleaning and then kick back and relax with a good book. Well the bite wasnt as quick as I would have liked, the cleaning...well...I wont spoil those details just quite yet...and it was as far from relaxing as one could imagine. One thing in tonights sermon that really struck me is how people are sliding instead of deciding in most areas of life. Sliding doing minimums, not rocking the boat, not really committing to anything or wanted anything deeper with God or their relationships. Wow...think about it our challenges dont come when we are just sliding around in our commitments to God and others...because we truly are not a threat to the enemy and his plains we are complacent and stuck right where he wants us...we are lukewarm, snuggled in our comfort zones, and not a threat to Satan at all. But when we decide...it makes a difference and changes the eternal game play now doesnt it. We decide we are going to follow Christ, we are going to do something that matters, we arent going to settle, we are going to take that step of faith... Isnt that the time the distractions, challenges, obstacles, and hardships hit! New Level...New Devil is what Joyce Meyer likes to call it! She also says look out when you share about Patience...because inevitably you will be put to the test. Well again this wise woman was correct... Last post dealt with anger, emotion and patience...well now let the One Plate of Patience saga begin. This past week I have dealt with failing appliances, gas leaks that could blow up the building (really I am serious ... they want to shut down my stove and valve it off for safety reasons...and my cheap landlord wants me to wait until December to replace it, along with the refrigerator that is leaking and wont stay shut and is held together with duct tape and a prayer, is leaking and ruining organic, expensive food, and now has mold from the leaking.... I have been cleaning and mopping for over 5 months dealing with the fridge to not bug the landlords 6 month hiatus out of the country since July...which I am sure my rent money funds annually...I digress...but I can live with a potential bomb...and a refrigerator that has it in for my organic food! It never minded when I bought yucky, cheap, fattening food...dont figure! This week alone...4 gas leaks, 2 firemen visits which I did not even get to enjoy any eye candy...because I was not home either time...2 maintenance men visiting to tell me I am living in a fire hazard trap and should not even be using my stove as it is making banging noises and the pilots keep going on and off by themselves like a disco ball and could blow up the building (yup real safe)... When I got home tonight I knew I had to still eat, make dinner, and do some cleaning before bed. The plan should have been 20 minutes max until dinner. Twenty minutes turned into more like 3.5 hours...While I was where I needed to be tonight (Praising the Lord and listening to Gods Word encourage me)...My fridge became demon possessed and decided to spring a major leak! I had just gone grocery shopping and all my food was ruined...cucumbers, zucchini, squash, strawberries, broccoli, spinach, and 1/2 a salad I had saved from earlier... All waterlogged...water all over the place food, floor, carpet, yes it was a reenactment of the flood... Most of you are already aware that I have fibromyalgia, well I have even more on my plate now to deal with health wise (more on that story later) but for now just know that I have ore meds, and have to be careful with food, eating, what, when, how often, I also have to limit and watch my energy levels, and plan spurts of cleaning not my typical...getter done style...I am pretty used to this with Fibro already...but recent developments have made it even more of a struggle. So every day things and routines can be a real chore if not planned correctly. Definitely wasnt planning to eat at 11:15 pm...and being so sick and nauseated because I did not eat when I should have and had overspent every ounce of energy dealing with the fiasco at hand! I just wanted to eat...seems pretty simple right. The food in the trash - I will not lie caused some tears...but the timely texts of a dear friend...got me through without a complete and utter mental breakdown...(thanks Allen!) But isnt that like our God. Giving you the chance to practice what you are preaching...I am definitely getting better...I am completely stunned I am not throwing things (Well thats not completely true - I threw my darts at the dartboard after it was said and done), crying (I mean full blown catharsis...just a couple escaped what an improvement!), or having a meltdown and refusing to deal with anything until tomorrow and making myself sick by not eating and throwing the proverbial two year old tantrum! I dont wanna...clean this up yet again! it is getting rather old I must say! And when the tears did start to fall...I got some texts that made me laugh and allowed me to vent without losing my religion or my mind! I am determined that this pruning is for a reason...this page has not even been up 24 hours...and I am being tested. In the ways that would usually make me absolutely nuts! But through it all I did get dinner...before I needed additional meds, or had to kiss the porcelain throne...barely...but I made it through! And culinary speaking this was not by any means my finest (It was still delish)...but when it hit my lips, the satisfaction, the joy, the fact that I did not quit and kept pushing through made me proud of me especially now and at the stage of exhaustion that I was feeling with so much bodily pain from cleaning. And for your reading pleasure here are the bonus features of annoyances that also played a role in tonights saga...it didnt help I stubbed my toe twice and slipped on the water on the kitchen floor and twisted my ankle, and slammed my hand in the dishwasher, burnt my finger, ruined my manicure, spilled pepper all over everything, and killed a spoon in my garbage disposal! (...but I still passed the patience test (Maybe not with an A..unless it stands for Attitude! But what a remarkable transformation is taking place within me. This page is already making me put action behind my words and making me better in the process - showing me I can get through this one step at a time - grace by grace moment by moment. This One Plate was probably the best nourishment my soul needed. Proving that no matter the test...I will survive. I may not always be gracious in doing it but I am certainly going to at least get a good story or lesson from it! And this tonight has been one of the best tangible lessons on patience that I have had in awhile! And heres the perfect song ....Francesca just gets it! youtu.be/ar750jeupg8
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 05:30:49 +0000
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