Share Four Somethings - July 2022

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This month's challenge is to write about Something Loved, Something Gleaned, Something Braved or Saved and Something Achieved while on vacation. I started gathering my ideas last week but I'm still thinking. My blogging has been rather spotty this summer as it is, so I think it's important to at least do these regular link-ups so I don't neglect writing completely!

Something Loved

When I wrote last month, I was anticipating my knee replacement surgery with both hope and anxiety. Obviously the pain and hard work of recovery and rehab is not something anyone is excited about, but I had high hopes for being able to walk without pain again! I'm so happy to report that while there has definitely been pain that 's no fun at all to deal with, it hasn't been as bad as what I'd steeled myself for. I am so grateful for the incredible work of the surgeon and medical teams, and for the amazing advances in medicine and technology that make it possible to have artificial components replace the damaged bone and cartilage - and that it's possible to have that surgery and go home the same day. I'm also very thankful for the great help I've been getting from the physical therapists, and the support and patience of my family and friends. 

And most of all, so thankful for the amazing way God designed our bodies to heal and recover, and for the knowledge and creativity he gave to the doctors and scientists that come up with these life-changing surgeries and treatments. Wow.

That's me on Day Two or Three, raising a (prune juice) toast to my recovery!

Something Gleaned

I recently completed Craig Groeschel's Dangerous Prayers devotional on YouVersion, and gleaned some challenges and questions from it that have stuck with me:

If God said yes to every prayer you prayed in the last seven days, how would the world be different?

If your prayers were the normal, safe ones, then maybe you would have had a good day, arrived safely, or enjoyed a blessed double cheeseburger, fires, and Diet Coke.

If I did a prayer audit, the results would have been dismal. If God had done everything over a week's period that i had asked him to do, the world wouldn't have been much different at all.

My prayers were too safe.

Oh, yes. Mine too, I think.  Groeschel continues:

I had access to the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. The Great I Am. The Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and the End. The all-powerful, ever-present, all-knowing God who can send fire from heaven, shut the mouths of hungry lions, or calm a raging storm. And all I asked him to do was keep me safe and help me have a good day.

It's time to change the way you pray. It's time to abandon safe, comfortable, predictable, and easy-to-pray prayers. it's time to pray with courage, to risk, to open yourself up to a different path to a better destination. It's time to start praying dangerous prayers . . .

If you truly want to make a difference on earth, you need power from heaven. If you want your life to matter, it's time to pray big, bold, audacious prayers.

Seek God and dream big. Refuse to fear failure. It's time to venture out. To trust. To dare. To believe. Your life won't always feel safe. And it will take faith. But without faith it's impossible to please God.

I'm learning, and I want to pray more boldly. I needed the reminder and the challenge.

Something Braved or Something Saved

In honor of the heat waves we've had this month, I have a couple of quotes about hot weather that I've saved. I made the graphic of the Jane Austen quote a couple of years ago because the quote was so fabulous:

And this quote which I originally saved because it is such a good example of descriptive figurative language:

It was one of those humid days when the atmosphere gets confused. Sitting on the porch, you could feel it: the air wishing it was water. ~Jeffrey Eugenides

Something Achieved

I am really proud of myself for facing my fears about the surgery (the blood draws, the IV, and having the stitches or staples taken out were my biggest fears) and for sticking to the hard work of the exercises to get back on my feet. I guess it could be something I braved as well, but boy, some of these rehab exercises are definitely an achievement when I get through them every day! Who would have thought it would require such grit and effort just to bend my knee, or to straighten it fully? Who would have thought I would consider putting on my own socks and shoes a big accomplishment? Or that it would be a victory to get in and out of the car and be able to drive? 

This week on vacation, I am proud of myself for being able to walk a couple of miles at Franklin Park Conservatory, and being able to go on walks with my family. I worked hard to be mobile enough to do this vacation, and I'm still working every day to do these things. I'm tired and sore at the end of the days, but it feels good. 

And hopefully, I will keep working and improving so that I can establish regular exercise routines and be more active in the days ahead, once I'm no longer reporting to my physical therapists!

This post will be linked at Share Four Somethings hosted by HeatherGerwing.com

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