I went to occupational therapy today. A compression glove should help reduce the swelling on this hand now that the pins are out and the hand can move again. But just wearing a glove isn’t going to get my fingers back to being functional again. I gotta work at it!
Darci, the therapist gave me a glob of silly putty. Do you remember playing with that when you were a kid? Rolling and squeezing the putty is the order of the day. It feels like I am rolling a bale of hay and trying to squeeze it! Ouch! The little finger (the one that was broken) and the ring finger next to it (the one that was taped to the broken pinky to give it stability) both are hyper-sensitive and stiff. Suck it up, Jan! You can do this! No pain, no gain, remember?
Have you tried putting on a sweater with just one functional hand? Or better yet, pulling your pants up single-handed? No fun! Can’t play my accordion. Have trouble cutting a piece of meat. Try folding the laundry with only one hand. Oh, brother, suck it up, Jan! There are a whole lot of people in this world worse off than I am. Think positively!!! Grab that silly putty and get to work!
I can do this! Grin and bear it!!
“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.”
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”
“The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights.”
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.”
What kind of struggle do you face these days? Are you needing to just “Suck it up” and do it? Have you prayed to the Lord for help? I’ll pray for your strength and tenacity… You pray for mine, OK? Thanks!
Have a great weekend. See ya tomorrow (God willing). Love, JanBeek
The word for 2022 (that I chose on January 1 before I knew how MUCH I would need it) is STRENGTH. What kind of strength do we need each day in order to survive and thrive? I asked myself that question today as I realized it’s been the longest stretch of non-blogging that I have had in several years. My last post was when I dug to the bottom of my strength barrel and pulled out “Speechless.”
The deaths in Ukraine and that ongoing conflict drained me. The Texas mass shooting sucked the drops that were left. I felt lifeless. Then I discovered that two of my dear friends I do Bible Study and Bingo with each week in our nursing home – two of them – died this week. My heart is hurting!
Where does my strength come from?
Isaiah 41:10
“God strengthens you So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. God has promised us His strength. He will never give you a trial you are unable to handle.”
Personal Strengths Defined
Wisdom. Creativity. Curiosity. Love of learning. …
Transcendence. Appreciation of beauty and excellence. Gratitude. Hope.
Notice that the last of those personal strengths defined is “Transcendence,” and the last of its characteristics is Hope. Seems to me those should be first. They transcend all the others in my mind!
Without hopefulness Life has no sense of purpose Can’t cope without hope
Hope renews our strength Hope helps us face tomorrow Hope is essential
Take my life, Lord. I give it to You. Take myself. Renew my strength.
Take my hand – and let it move – please!
Take my hand – and let it move – at the impulse of your love! I pray the pins come out easily! (One more week til that appointment)
I pray the joints move with ease as I exercise them in the ways I have been taught to do. I pray I am able to use my life again consecrated to the Lord and the work He has for me.
Let’s hear that hymn again… and let’s internalize it. Let’s renew our sense of HOPE and let’s express it in ways that encourages others to give – Give HOPE for this day, Hope for all healing, Hope for His Love to flow through us always! Sing along!!
I’m back… the one-handed bandit… Back to send words of faith, love, joy, hope, and unity to a hurting world. Pass it on, my friends! The world needs the strength you have to give.
God gives us doctors When we cannot heal ourselves. He says, “Lean on them.”
God gives us neighbors When we need acts of kindness. He says, “Bee grateful!”
Our Savior saves us When we cannot save ourselves. He says, “Lean on Me!”
I may have to learn To accept strength from others – Can’t be strong alone!
Single-handedly, I feel slightly “hand”icapped. God says, “Lean on me!”
Have you ever felt Too weak to accomplish all You have on your plate?
Who did you lean on?
Sometimes when we ask God for the strength that we need, He sends us earth angels.
My neighbor, a retired nurse who lives in CA part of the year, just texted. She asked about my hand. When I told her about the upcoming surgery, she wrote, “We will be there to help and if you have any questions, we know stuff :o)”
See … earth angel on her way! And her husband is a brilliant physiologist. He’s part of the “we” she’s talking about! Yup, they “know stuff.” Hah! It will be comforting and helpful to have them back in the “hood.” Just in time! God is good … all the time!
When Our Daily Bread posted on this subject, it wrote:
“We may not be able to touch Jesus physically, but we can entrust the weightiest circumstances of our lives to Him. He said, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ (Matt. 11:28).
How blessed we are to have a Savior whom we can trust to be faithful through every circumstance of our lives!
Are you ‘leaning’ on Him today?”
I am leaning on Jesus, and I am Leaning on Bob, too! He’s an earth angel God sent to me.
Thanks for visiting JanBeek See ya tomorrow (God willing)
Some of my friends need Time alone to regain strength I need time with them
In the Bloganuary #27 prompt yesterday the question was asked:
In my response, I used a Haiku poetry format in part of the answer to explain why solitude is not a “must have” on my agenda. In fact, I am never really alone. God is with me… and so are YOU!
Click the title below and tell me, how would you answer that question?
Is this the #bloganuary site where I am posting my answer to prompt #25? Or am I repeating it on my JanBeek WordPress site? One way or the other, I want you to be sure and see this response to today’s prompt before the day is over. So, if you haven’t read it already, please check it out:
My “WORD” for 2022 is STRENGTH, so I was delighted to see the Bloganuary#25 prompt is: “Write about what makes you feel strong.“
Flexibility is one condition related to strength.
More important than anything else for me Is realizing the Source of my strength And tuning in to the One who delivers it. He has strength closer than arm’s length.
In my Morning with Jesus 2022 daily reading, I find scripture references to draw on. When I need extra strength, I go where Help is delivered faster than Amazon!
Ps. 31:24
“Be strong and take heart All you who hope in the Lord.”
God does not promise we will be without troubles. He simply says He will walk us through. So when you feel you’re in the middle of an earthquake, Rely on God because He is there with you!
Joshua 1:9
“Be strong and of good courage; Be not afraid, Neither be thou dismayed: For the Lord, thy God, Is with thee.”
He lifts me up when I can no longer walk on my own!
2 Cor. 12:9
He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
And I can rest on Him… as He raises me up so I can stand on mountains!
Believe it! You have the Power of God in you!
Be strong and of good courage! That’s what we needed this week As we are at Mayo Clinic looking For answers. He cares as we seek!
In awe of Him, we are still, and in His presence we bow And pray for His strength. He delivers today… right now!
Thanks for your prayers for Bob.
See ya tomorrow (God willing) Love to you… Have a blessed Tuesday! JanBeek
In my reading this morning, These Days – Daily Devotionals for Living by Faith, I was inspired by the commentary of Robin Gallaher Branch of Memphis, Tennessee. The scripture that motivated her thoughts was from Ezekiel 1-2:1
The word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar, and the hand of the Lord was on him there.
What Does That Scripture Mean?
Study that painting. Obviously artists have been inspired by this scripture. But somehow, as I read it again, the depth of its meaning escaped me. I was not quite sure what to make of it. Robin Branch, on the other hand, saw “A Vision is a Divine Interruption.”
She wrote, “I tell my students this: Expect Divine Interruptions.”
Why? Because they occur regularly in the Bible.
And that is what she understood was happening to Ezekiel in this passage. She wrote, “He was minding his own business when the heavens suddenly opened.”
Another artist depicted the scene this way:
Wow! Robin Branch describes it in words, “He saw four living creatures in human-like forms. Each had four faces: those of human being, lion, ox, and eagle… When the creatures moved, their wings sounded like mighty waters.”
What did he do? Ezekiel’s response was, “I fell on my face.” (verse 28)
God Interrupts Our Lives
Ezekiel shows us what to do when God interrupts our lives with a vision, a dream, or an angelic encounter. Worship and wait to be addressed!
But, how many of us have had God present Himself to us in a vision or a dream or an angelic encounter?
Maybe more of us than we realize! Do we open our eyes and hearts to recognize those defining moments? Do we see the angels in our midst? Do we know God makes divine appointments with us? Do we feel His presence?
Live in Expectancy
Do you live in a state of expectation, looking to see God in others? Do you know God is making broken things brand new? I see God in you! I see God in the defining moments of my life.
Daily Word, a Unity Publication, provides a daily word (or words) to ponder. It has a short devotional to enhance the word. Today’s word was “Expectation.” In the commentary, the title was, “Expectation keeps my mind positive and my heart full.
“Living in a state of expectancy kindles a quiet excitement in my heart, keeping me passionate about life.”
If I live in expectancy, I encounter defining moments …
Moments that define us are often not recognized until years later.
What are Defining Moments?
Jan & Bob 1962
Of course, if you are married happily, you know a defining moment in your life is your wedding. That one is easy to recognize.
Defining moments are those that impact you, change your direction, or reinforce it. They change your thinking. They wake you up to an Ah-hah moment, or they sit quietly in your subconscious – ready for the day you are prepared to recognize their impact and put their lesson to work in your life.
I asked Bob, as we were together in our sanctuary this morning, doing our Bible Study and devotionals, “What are the defining moments of your life?”
Right away, he said, “Our wedding day.”
See, I told you.. that one’s a given. Especially for folks like us who have stuck it out through thick and thin for 59 years!
Not All Are Positive
Not all of your defining moments are going to be the mountaintop experiences. Some are experienced in the valleys of our lives.
One of mine was when I had a burst appendix. I thought I was constipated and that’s why I ached so much. I tried laxatives. I tried a therapeutic massage. It just got worse. Finally the pain was so intense, I couldn’t sleep and I was crying out. Bob took me at midnight to the emergency room in the hospital just 5 minutes from home. They ran a bunch of tests, took x-rays, thought it was diverticulitis. Sent the x-rays to the larger hospital in Bozeman (an hour’s drive away). The doctors there looked at them and called to say, “Get that lady in here right now! She has a burst appendix.”
Why was this a “defining moment”? A dear lady (one of our medical center volunteers named Donna) road with me in the ambulance to Bozeman held my hand and prayed with me the whole way. She was an angel on earth! She helped me survive the painful ride to the hospital. Once there, the doctors told me I could have died. At my age (I was 79 or 80), many don’t survive such an ordeal.
I learned:
it’s probably not a good idea to ignore excruciating pain or self-medicate
it’s not wise to diagnose your own ailment
a prayer angel can make all the difference between life/death and comfort/agony
A mountaintop defining moment for me occurred when I was only 16 years old. It was the summer between my junior and senior years in high school. I was attending a summer “Music Therapy Clinic” at the College of the Pacific. One of our participants was a little boy named Jeremy. He about 4 years old and had never spoken. He had a voice. He could scream when he was upset. He could moan. He could whimper. But he had not spoken any words.
My music therapy counselor/teacher, Mrs. Harbert, was playing the piano. We all were sitting on the floor in a circle. Each of us had a child in our lap. Mine was Jeremy. Mrs. Harbert was playing a non-sensical, very rhythmic song. Its only word was “Hospodipomilwi.”
Hoss-poe-dee-poe-meal-wee
Hos-po-de-po-mil-we
Hos-po-di-po-mil-wi
I bounced Jeremy on my lap and sang quietly in his ear.
All of a sudden, Jeremy began to sing!! “Hospodipomilwi”
A year or so later, I saw Jeremy and his mom when I was shopping near the college. She said, “I can’t believe I used to pray for him to speak. Now I can’t get him to stop talking!”
I learned:
There is no greater thrill than to help a needy child
Music is magical
I wanted a career where I could work with children and music
We were living in California. Bob was still working as a beekeeper. I was retired. He wasn’t sure he was ready to retire yet, but we talked about it. We didn’t know where we wanted to live after his retirement, but we were pretty sure we didn’t want to stay in California. The state was growing in population faster than the the infra-structure could handle the numbers.
Then he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Life changed. We changed.
I won’t take you through the whole three year process, just suffice to say, it was a defining moment! His cancer caused us to reevaluate where we were, who we were, and where we wanted to be.
It is the reason we now live in this place we call God’s Country, Ennis Montana.
The Road of Life is Filled with Defining Moments
The road of life is filled with highs, lows, mountaintops and valleys, potholes and gravel.
When life knocks you down, when you are going along minding your own business and the heavens open up, or the bridge collapses and you fall into a crevice, remember Ezekiel.
He fell on his face. He called out to God. He waited for God to direct him.
Let God’s still small voice direct you. Like my Donna, watch for the angels all around you.
Let His strength illuminate your path. Like Josh Williams, see God in others and let their strength encourage you.
Let the defining moments speak to you. Like Jeremy, find your voice and sing! Hos-po-di-po-mil-wi
Has anyone ever taught you HOW to pray? Here is a 7 step process that my grand-nephew was studying today. I listened in.
GRATITUDE: Get comfortable. Be still. Deeply breathe in. Breathe out by anxiety. Express Gratitude to God. Tell God what you are grateful for.
AWARENESS. Revisit the times in the past 24 hours when you were the best version of yourself. Then talk to God about the times when you were not the best version of yourself. Talk to Him abut hw you will handle the situation better in the future.
SIGNIFICANT MOMENT… recall a moment when you felt God was trying to teach you something through an event or action. Talk to God about that significant moment.
PEACE: Ask God to forgive you for anything you have done that you feel badly bout. Ask for forgiveness, and ask God to fill Yyou with deep, deep, peace.
FREEDOM: Ask God to help you be the best version of yourself. Ask him how you can change to be the person He made you to be. Ask God for the Courage and Strength to make this change in your life.
OTHERS: Lift up to God anyone you feel you want to lift to Hi today. Ask for the specific way you want God to bless the people in your life that you care about. One at a time, bring them to God.
OUR FATHER: Pray the prayer you might often say by rote. But this time, say it slowly and find meaning in each phrase: Our Father, who art in heaven Hallowed be Thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our debts As we forgive our debtors Lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For Thine is the Kingdom, And the Power, And the Glory Forever. Amen
How do you define adversity? It is symbolized by tough times. It is exhibited by disagreements. It represents challenges.
How do we deal with adversity? Why should we embrace it? Misfortune means misery, right? Calamity and distress are its partners.
But the Bible says, “The Lord is A stronghold in times of trouble.” The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed. “Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing” (Psalm 34:10b)
So let us embrace adversity By understanding it is a vehicle That strengthens us just as fire Tempers steel and hardens it.
We are called to share each other’s burdens. That is one of the purposes of church: Congregations are called to care for, Encourage, empathize, and strengthen one another.
“The church is a network of shoulders Supporting the collective weight Of everyone’s troubles, lifting burdens, Helping others find rest for their weary hearts.” (Charles Stanley, In Touch Ministries)
God often uses hard times to get our attention. When things are going great, we are not so quick to turn to Him. But trials drive us to our knees for answers and comfort.
The adversity that I faced recently was the death of my “favorite student,” Ty Stiles. The picture above could easily have been him. His early death was “misfortune” to the highest degree! I have told you about him in several recent blogs. Yesterday was his Memorial Service at Monte Vista Chapel, his home church in Turlock, CA. I was blessed to be able to attend it virtually because the church recorded it on a YouTube broadcast.
How do we face the “misfortune” of such a loss? Only by our faith! Only by knowing God keeps His promises and Ty has gone to Heaven. We will go there some day, too. We will all be reunited. In the meantime, adversity turns to adventure. We are invited to live our lives with thankfulness for the privilege of knowing one another. We are asked to change our perspective from “I can’t handle this,” to “”I can’t handle this on my own, but I can with Jesus’ help.”
Let the adventure of today’s challenges bring strength when we feel weak, safety when we feel danger, comfort when we feel distress. Let us be the ones who stand tall and say, “Here I am, Lord, send me!” Be ever ready to leap for joy and with your song, ever praise the Lord who is our strength.
Pray for his comfort and strength, rather than praying that he’d simply remove difficulties. Embrace Adversity. Be the shoulder others lean on. God will bless you!
Did you catch the twelve? I want to make them clear. Here they are spelled out – Obey and avoid fear!
Twelve Ways to Keep COVID-19 Away:
1. Be cautious
2. Trust in Science
3. Trust in God
4. Pray
5. Obey
6. Be aware
7. Take it Seriously
8.Wear a Mask
9. Wash Hands Often
10. Avoid Crowds
11. Socially Distance12. Don't Give the Bug a Test
God Bless You, my friends. May He keep you safe and healthy. May we all do our part to help keep this bug at bay!
Please pray for the Zufferey Family in Switzerland (my son-in-law’s cousin, who was our 1980-81 AFS exchange student). ZuZu, Celia, and Jeremy all have tested positive.
Pray for all those affected by this nasty bug. Dear Lord, may they beat it… And emerge with no lasting side-effects.
Please give them new strength, too.
DeAna
Lord, keep our daughter, DeAna, in Switzerland and all her family safe.
Amen
(From “Best in Europe” Switzerland has become one of the worst in new cases this week. Pray for that country… and all those facing this virus.)
Do you have a loved one who is in Harm’s Way or is suffering from COVID? Tell me – and I will add his/her name to my prayer list.
JanBeek 