Blessed by The Best

I was listening to a friend of mine talk yesterday. She was talking about a great burden she carries in her life. It had brought her down and through some very dark times. This burden couldn’t be remedied by any power within her. She had talked to a counselor about the difficulty and he asked her where she found her joy. Had what she’d lost, been her only source of joy? After some reevaluation, she knew that God really was her source of joy, and if she really thought about it, there were many other places that joy could be drawn from. It took awhile, but she had found joy again in spite of this burden that still very much exists. I think that I have been learning this same thing in my life.

I think that it took me a really long time to realize that joy can be found even in the face of great loss. When something hurts us, when we lose something or even everything we hold dear, we make a decision. We can choose to wad our life up and call it a loss and throw it down the garbage, or we look for what we can still do. I think that it’s a very difficult thing to realize that what is precious is not what we possess, but what we give.

I hate when I hear someone say that something ruined their life. My heart breaks. Each time I hear that, I just feel so very sad. There are blessings all around us. Even on the worst days I’ve ever had, I have something to be thankful for. Days where I lost someone precious to me, my husband was suddenly out of a job, when my health has been at it’s worst; I still had blessings to thank God for. It can always always be worse. Even if all I can think of to be thankful for is, “Thank goodness it’s not worse.”

Do you ever think about the tiniest blessings? The smile from a stranger instead of a frown, the feeling of hot water, the warmth of a blanket, the fuzziest socks from a friend, the refreshing cold of water? Every one of these things are a pleasure. Kindness, love, generosity, other people…all blessings. If I was suddenly marooned on a deserted island, with nothing but a volleyball named Wilson, and an ice skate that washed in…the reality of another human would be a miracle. I would desperately miss friendship and love, clothes, chapstick, and even a dentist! Even sitting in the midst of frustration we can find gratitude.

Yesterday with less than 36 hours from my next spinal fusion surgery, I was informed in the afternoon that the insurance company still has not approved my surgery. The surgery scheduler called and asked them to expedite it, but that sometimes means up to 72 hours still, and my surgeon’s office would cancel my surgery if they didn’t get approval by today. I managed to get a hold of the authorization department directly. At first I felt stranded without any further help, but I really tried to make a concious effort not to take it out on the poor representative. I asked her what I could do and she said she doesn’t like to bother the nurses handling these because she doesn’t want them to be bugged for every case that calls in. I told her I understood and thanked her and asked if I should call back today at any certain time. She hesitated but then said, “You know, you are being very nice, and believe me not everyone is very nice. I’m going to get this sent to one of the nurses for you right now and hopefully they can get this taken care of for you hopefully Wednesday.” I thanked her and told her to please thank the nurse that would be looking at it as well. I really felt for this poor rep when she said that not everyone is nice. I imagine she deals with very frustrating situations every day and if I can judge by my 1000’s of phone calls with insurance companies…they probably aren’t paid enough either. I still didn’t know what would happen, but I had hope. I know God is so much bigger than my insurance hang up. It’s a huge hurdle for me because I have no control over it, but it’s no major sweat to God.  I’m thankful for the softness of this insurance rep’s heart and for her willingness to go a step further for me. I’m thankful that I can leave this 7 layer turd cake of worries, stresses, hurdles, problems, complications and frustrations, in the hands of a perfectly capable God. There is no problem too big for Him. Last night I was staking my peace in His words to me, “Fear not, Little Amy.”

My husband does security at the stadium from time to time. There is a janitor who works there who looks rough but always wears a huge smile, and has a brilliant attitude. He has dealt with some terrible stresses and trials in his life, and yet when asked how he is, he always responds,”Blessed by The Best!” That guy has the type of voice you want talking some sense into your head on a day when you wanna pull your hair out in tufts. He must have had some awesome teacher at some point in his life.

When we find that we can give others joy and blessing by being an extension of the reflection of God, it helps us to focus. When we decide to serve God and love Him, we also decide to think on the bigger picture. Life is no longer about what job we get, what we look like, what toys we own, or whether I have my surgery on time. Life is so much more about how we appreciate and handle our blessings, how we endure patiently in trials, how we treat others, how we give, and how we still have joy because our joy is in God. When we take the focus off the stuff and the fluff, we can refocus on how our heart is handling these things, and fix our eyes on what really matters in the long run. Believe me, I almost laid an egg when they told me I wasn’t approved for my surgery yet. I did go in my closet and pray while I leaked a few stress tears, and I did send out a mayday prayer request to every friend I have. Even in all of this stress, I know that God will get me through it. That is something to have great joy about.

1 Thessalonians 5: 9-23

9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

10. Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

11. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

12. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;

13. And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.

14. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.

15. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

16. Rejoice evermore.

17. Pray without ceasing.

18. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

19. Quench not the Spirit.

20. Despise not prophesyings.

21. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

22. Abstain from all appearance of evil.

23. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yesterday morning before the chaos, one of my best friend’s Laura, sent this to me, and I want to share it with you. This guy has fantastic focus and I needed to see it yesterday morning even before I knew there would be chaos in all this surgery scheduling. God’s foresight is awesome.

This morning after several prayers with my kids and in my mind, I was getting finished with the orthodontist for my son, and I got a phone call telling me that my surgery is approved and I am good to go for tomorrow. Even better, is that I got a message from my best friend Claire, who used to be the PA for my spine surgeon, and a good friend of hers who is an anesthesiologist, is seeing if he can adjust his schedule to be on my case. I didn’t even think to pray about that. God had all of this foresight and a basket of blessings all being wrapped together. My nerves are kicking in and I can tell you that I am very afraid of the pain after this surgery. They have to remove the old hardware from L5S1 and put new hardware in to accommodate a bigger rod, so they can fuse L4/5 as well. They will be cleaning out some scar tissue also and I’ll have to be closed with staples because I’m allergic to every adhesive and a certain kind of stitches. I would appreciate your prayers for all of it to go smoothly, but I do feel certain that God is with me in all of this. Guess what my reminder scripture was this morning?

Psalms 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

Oh AMEN!!!!

I love you guys. Please feel free to email me or message me in the comments. I won’t be writing for at least a few weeks, but I would love hearing from you. God speed as you run this race. 1st Thessalonians: Rejoice Evermore

 

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