59 WHY??

WHY??

Hang around kids long enough and that is what you will hear most often.  I imagine that is what God hears a lot from us.  Why my job, my health, my friendships, or other relationships, etc.

Well, I don't know why any of the things in my life have happened, but I know they have prepared me for what came next.

Learning how to respond to one incident in life helps me prepare for the next one.  Learning how to handle malaria helped me be better prepared for the next stomach virus, which helped me be ready for the next health issue.  Learning how to handle one relationship issue helped me handle the next one. I thought a malaria headache was tough, until I woke up from brain surgery with a drain coming out of my head.  Learning how the brain works through my post graduate studies in psychology has helped me understand more about what my own brain is doing. 

I also thought I knew what grace was all about, until I was told by doctors what my future, medically-speaking was going to involve.  I also thought I understood grace, until I needed it like I never had before.

Unfortunately, my days now often look alike.  I used to be at church on Sunday starting with Sunday School/Bible Study then morning worship followed by the evening service.  Monday started the work week at the high school.  Wednesday was Awana night at church with the kids.  Thursday began the count down to the weekend and all the jobs I needed to catch up on.  Now my days and weeks have changed a lot and its actually kind of difficult to keep up with either one. I currently find that the Sunday morning worship service is about all I can handle right now at church during the week. 

 It's also difficult to keep track of what I write in these posts.  So, I am just going to continue to share day by day what transpires in the life and times of Debbie Stamper and how God's grace is sufficient.  This takes me back to the beginning of this entry. 

 Why?

Well, I don't know why, but I know Who walks beside me today, tomorrow and the next day.  The first half of any verse I learned at a young age or even just yesterday might be just what I needed today.  The second half may be just what I need tomorrow. The point is that He Who began a good work in you or me, will keep working if we will just stay open to what He has for us.

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: - Philippians 1:6

So why?  I don't know now, but I will one day.  Until then I just need to keep trusting Him and letting those verses flood back into my mind even if it is at 5am when this Optune machine is beeping at me about something.  Maybe God just wants to remind me of His work in my life. 

PRAISES:

Starting to gain back more strength after several difficult days.

Lessons God continues to bring my way about Himself, me, others around me and life 

in general.

My trips to the stop sign at the end of the road are still “Painfully” slow in many people’s eyes.  However, they are getting better, and I continue to make them.

PRAYER REQUESTS: (I realize I keep posting the same requests, but they are still relevant/needed.  So, I’ll continue posting them, but I’ll try to add a marker if it’s something new.  No promises that I’ll remember to do that every time.)

Extra fatigue from medication.  So please pray for extra strength on a daily basis.

Continued strength to manage the physical strain of some of the treatment and exercises to improve mobility.

Courage to face the unknown and opportunities to show the grace of God through difficult times.

Safety.

Family who are hanging in there with me through this battle.

Wisdom to know my limitations and observe them.

Still working on paperwork for various devices to assist mobility as well as insurance matters.

Next MRI and doctor visit Feb 8.

**Here is the reason behind the walking to the stop sign. Every time I’ve been to Moffitt, the walking has been an issue.  Moffitt is a large facility and it’s difficult to get around when you walk as slow as I do.  Anyways, every time I’ve gone in there, I have done so in a wheelchair.  That means getting a yellow band on my arm indicating that I’m in a wheelchair.  Well, I want to walk in for once (no armband).  This next visit, I have several places to go and just walking around from one place to the next, would take all day.  I’m going to go in there in a wheelchair, so we aren’t there all day, but then I’m going to remove the yellow arm band and walk into the doctor’s clinic area.  I really just want to go in there once without the yellow armband.  Once we get close enough I can make it down the hallway to the clinic area, we will “lose” the armband and wheelchair and I will walk the rest of the way to the clinic area. That will be a first.  Call me crazy.  It’s just another “because I can moments.”