Because I should be doing something else.
1. My absence from blogging was mainly because of a mini health crisis. I had symptoms x,y and z, which pointed potentially to roughly 137 ailments, some of which were serious. So I had several tests, a couple that were unpleasant. I came away with a few thoughts.
a. Increased respect and a small understanding for those that go through this stuff much more than I do, and who don't always get good news or good outcomes. It's a whole other world, that of sickness and pain. It opens wider the eyes of faith, and so many of the things I spend time and energy worrying about become kind of ridiculous.
b. Just how much our bodies are linked with our emotions. When you carry stress around like a backpack full of bricks, eventually, you'll notice the weight. Or, say, if you keep ingesting something that you know is bad for you and tell yourself it is gone now because it's out of sight, guess what? It's going to come out somewhere, somehow, whether you want it to or not! The same with stress. You can only take in and harbor so much, until it starts exiting your body, whether it be in headaches, stomach ailments, anxiety attacks, you name it.
c. Along with the stressful uncertainly about what might be percolating in my abdomen, there was a lovely peace and assurance that whatever the outcome, I had the support of my family and my Lord. I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit, which also increased my appreciation of everyone and everything around me. My garden, the birds singing in the mornings, the ability to get comfortable when I lay down at night. Good stuff.
d. The long and short of it is that 1. All the tests ruled out the scary stuff.
and 2. Still have some of the symptoms, but am taking a break to forget about it all for a while. My own gut, pardon the pun, tells me it is probably along the lines of IBS (yay, another difficult to nail down thing) and was exacerbated by stress. Workin on that part.
2. Happy and proud to be an American. Just thought I would throw that out there. Hoping the future generations come to appreciate all that we have and what it means to be free.
3. The Duggar debacle. I have read so very many posts excoriating them and of course Christians in general for "causing" what happened with their son and the girls. Sigh. So many people in the "I would never" club. Listen. There is NO sin out of bounds for anyone. It is only God's grace that keeps us at every moment. Now, because I say that, am I defending anyone or anything they did? Because that's where it always jumps. NO. All I am saying is, unless you are actually inside their shoes, you don't know why-- anything. Their being Christian, conservative, in TV, whatever. I don't know their motives. All I can do is pray for them. So, please, jump down off your bandwagon in case it goes into a ditch.
That's all I have time for today. Hope to be back again before my summer road trip!
Peace,
Kelly
