For Me 40 is the New 60!

"Dear God,
Let me preface this whole prayer by asking you to forgive me for the serious self-pity.  As you know, I'm in a low season and I don't like it one little bit!  I know that I'm whiny.  I know that I should take comfort in the fact that you are in charge, and you work all things for good, and blah, blah, blah, but I'm having a hard time doing that.  Sorry, that's just how I feel and there's no sense trying to hide it from you because you know my heart.  But I haven't given up hope.  I still have faith and I know that my spiritual enemy is just prowling around, waiting to devour me.  Trying his damndest to gain a foothold in my life.  But thanks to you and your word I'm onto his schemes (1 Peter 5:8)!  Thank you for always being there, and for never failing me.  I know it could have been so much worse, so thank you that I wasn't in public.  Thank you that I wasn't home alone.  Thank you that  it's not life-threatening.  Life-altering for sure, but not life-threatening.  Amen for that!"

So if you've read my last couple of REVs you already know that I've been having a terrible time with family illness, another lightning strike (yes it can strike twice), and all of these things adversely affecting our pocketbook.  Which doesn't really help with the whole getting-out-of-debt thing!  To top it all off I just turned 40, something I really didn't mind until now...

A week before my birthday I was hosting my first bible study group (Nehemiah - Rising from the Ruins, of course).  With a kitchen full of new friends, I stood there cutting a cake when one of the ladies asked me where the forks were.  I pivoted on my left leg to point and the weirdest thing happened.  My left knee-cap decided to slide right off my knee.  It happened in a micro-second BAM! - I hit the floor, knee bent, unable to straighten my leg.  Long story short - I was whisked away from our first meeting in an ambulance to the ER, where I was put to sleep to have my knee-cap relocated.

Who knew bible study could be so dangerous?

I keep saying that to people and we laugh about it, but just now as I typed it I realized it really IS dangerous.  Dangerous because anytime you are engaged in God's work you have the devil's FULL attention.  I honestly think this whole thing was his attempt to throw me and my whole bible study group off track.  We all know that his main goal in our lives is to steal, kill, and destroy by any means necessary (John 10:10).

Well the joke is on him because John 10:10 also tells us that Christ came to give us life in abundance.  He will not let us be destroyed.  I think my little incident actually gelled our little group in a way nothing else would have.  The genuine love and concern that has been poured out to me by these ladies, that only a few short weeks ago were strangers, is amazing!  It's odd because I feel so blessed, but at the same time I still wish it hadn't happened!  Can you be blessed and cursed all at the same time?  I don't really think so.  I'm sticking with the blessed theory even though it can sometimes be hard to see!

I've been on crutches now for a little more than 4 weeks and I'm having surgery in 2 days.  Yes.  Surgery.  From standing in my kitchen.  Crazy I know!

They say "40 is the new 30", but for me it feels like the new 60!

It has been suggested that I really ought to come up with a "better" story for how I got hurt, but that's just not in my nature, which reminds me of something else they say,

"The truth is stranger than fiction."  (btw - who is "they"?) 

So for now your prayers will be greatly appreciated.  Prayers that this surgery will work and be the only one that I need.  I'll update soon, afterall I've missed a few months of REVs and need to catch up before the end of the year.  That's the commitment I made to God when I started this blogging journey 2 years ago, one post per month (12 per year is the same thing right?!).  He always keeps His promises to me, and I'm going to try to do the same.