Good morning, friends.
All week, I’ve pondered what I would write for today’s post. I started one post, but it never felt quite right. Then, I decided I just would not write today, but that was not right either. I simply could not get an idea to gell in my head…….until…..
I made a cup of coffee, walked carefully to my computer and slowly sat down in my chair with a pillow and heating pad to my back. I clicked over to Kate Motaung’s Five Minute Friday linkup and immediately I knew that I would write a FMF post. The word prompt for today is LIMIT. Sweet mercy!
Do you recall what God made very clear that my OneWord for 2016 was to be? If you read that post you may remember I said that if I did not take my OneWord seriously, God would make sure I paid attention to it. The word was REST. Well, I thought I was taking it seriously, but apparently my ‘seriously’ and God’s are on two very different planes.
You see, the realization that I am not WONDER WOMAN hit hard and furiously this week. I know, you already knew that, but I’m a slow learner. God made dead certain that I reached my LIMIT this week.
Since the middle of December I have wrestled with four different health ailments. There is no need for me to describe them in gory detail, for that would be TMI! Suffice it to say, each one has caused me more than a bit of angst. I have always been a very healthy person, rarely going to the doctor for anything other than my yearly check up. So, for me to be hit with four different medical problems, each requiring a trip to the doctor’s office, is huge.
The latest issue has been with my back. I’ve never had back problems before, but 3 weeks ago today I was walking through my office, on the way to the gym to swim, when out of nowhere, I felt a mild pain in my back. I didn’t think much about it….I did not consider that I should LIMIT my activity at that moment. By the time I got into the pool, my lower back felt like someone had put a band around it and tightened it to the max.
A normal person would have thought, “Hmmm, maybe I should not swim. Maybe I need to rest and get it checked out.”
Not Wonder Woman. Nope! I swam and went about my daily activities for 2 very uncomfortable weeks. Slow learner!
I worked at the pharmacy on Monday of this week, and by the end of my 9+hour shift, I was nearly in tears because of the pain in my back. On Tuesday I went to the doctor. He diagnosed me with sacro-iliac joint inflammation. Sounds harmless, huh? Do not be fooled. It is wicked. He started me on a short course of an oral steroid, and on Wednesday morning I felt a lot better. So, what did I do? Yep, Wonder Woman went on with her usual life, not LIMITING herself very much.
I woke up on Thursday morning and knew immediately that I would not be able to go to work that day. I had reached my LIMIT and knew that I must REST. I hated like everything to miss work, but there was no way I could stand for 9 hours. So, I literally spent most of the day in bed, which rubs against the grain for me. Yet, in those hours the Lord sweetly reminded me that He created the human body to know and inform us when things were off kilter…when we have reached our LIMIT and need REST. The problem is that I am often too-danged prideful to listen and heed.
The reality is that I am 51 years old and my body has LIMITS. They are different than they were when I was 30, or 40. It is time to trade in my Wonder Woman bracelet for the knowledge that REST is my friend. Jesus ministered so sweetly to me yesterday as I RESTED…..through my husband, a sweet friend who brought dinner, the prayers and words of my editor, and time spent with Him.
Do you recognize your LIMITS? Do you listen to your body and heed its call for REST? Trade in that Wonder Woman suit today, friend!
