Monday Morning Memo: Life Exercises

I received good news twice this past week. First, I had my six-week check-up with the surgeon who performed my total knee replacement.  He was very impressed with my progress and said that he normally has his patients return to be checked again at 12 weeks, but since I am doing so well he said that wouldn’t be necessary.  In other words…he “kicked me to the curb” and doesn’t want to see me for a year.  Hallelujah!

The next day I had my final physical therapy appointment.  My therapist put me through all of the various exercises to strengthen my knee and leg and then it was the moment of truth.  If you’ve had a knee replacement you know which moment I am referring to. At the end of the session they measure to see to what degree you can straighten your leg and to what degree you can bend your leg.  Those two numbers tell whether the patient (me in this situation) has been doing the home exercises that were assigned at the beginning.  They had measured me two weeks prior and were happy that I was measuring 0/115 so I was anxious to see my progress.  The therapist measured and smiled which is usually a good sign.  My measurements were 0/126 and she said that was impressive at just six weeks after surgery.  I was very happy!

Obtaining that range of motion didn’t happen overnight. In fact, after the surgery I really doubted I would ever be able to bend my knee again.  Why?  Because my knee was so swollen and the thought of even trying to bend my knee made me feel a little sick.  To say I had a lot of pain, is an understatement, and I just couldn’t imagine that in six weeks I would be able to use my leg and knee much at all.  But they told me that how well I could eventually bend, would depend on how determined I was to get full use back of my leg.  I would have to do what they told me to do…be willing to go through the pain of rehab…keeping my focus on what I wanted to accomplish.

I had had others tell me how much they dreaded physical therapy following their surgery, but I never did.  I didn’t enjoy the pain that was involved, just like I didn’t enjoy the pain when I did my exercises at home, but I knew I had to be willing to sacrifice to get where I needed to be.  Without the pain, I was never going to get stronger.  With each therapy session, I felt encouraged that I was slowly improving and moving towards my goal.  My patient therapists were wonderful and kept encouraging me to work even harder.

As I’ve thought about what I have experienced these past seven weeks, I realized that my rehab is similar to my Christian walk. If I want to reach my goal of looking more like my Jesus, I have to be willing to sacrifice.  I have to be willing to go through painful times as He stretches me and makes me stronger in Him.  There will be times when I think that getting through my current situation is impossible and I will want to give up, but I have to keep my goal in mind.  Just like I had my therapists cheering me on, my Jesus never gives up on me and only wants the very best for my life.  He can see my tomorrows and knows my potential and He just needs me to be willing to put the work in and be obedient to His instructions.

What about you?  Are you in a situation right now that just seems impossible?  Are you ready to give up because it’s just going to be too painful to continue on?  I want to urge you to not give up!  I learned in therapy that the pain is worth it because of the victory in the end.  I believe if you are obedient to the Lord’s instructions, even if it causes pain, the YOU that He is molding and shaping will realize in the end how worthwhile your sacrifice was.   Who knows…victory might be just around the corner…so look up, keep your eyes on Him and obediently do the life “exercises” that He has for you to do today! 

“But as for you, be strong and courageous, 

for your work will be rewarded.”

2 Chronicles 15:7

Monday Morning Memo: Are You a Mistake?

Have you ever felt like you were a mistake? Maybe you have never put those exact words to your thoughts…but there have been times when you wondered why in the world the God of the universe thought the world needed YOU.

I think if we are truly honest, many of us have had times such as this.  Times when we compared ourselves to those around us and came to the conclusion that God must have been extremely tired the day He created us.  We read Facebook and Instagram posts from our friends and their lives are so much more exciting than ours.  They are getting promotions, going on trips and having meaningful, heart-warming conversations with their kids.  This is all while we are stuck in the same ho-hum job, never leaving our town, let alone the state or country on a vacation and our goal each day is just to make sure our kids are still breathing when we turn the lights out each night.

I think when these negative thoughts creep into our minds we need to remember a few things.  First of all, God honestly doesn’t care whether we are a brain surgeon or a street sweeper.   When we stand before Him someday, I really don’t think we will get more jewels in our crown because we had a more prestigious job than our neighbor.  God is going to care more about what we did with our job to reach others for Him.  Were we faithful wherever He placed us?  Were we the best employee in the company, always doing our share of the work, or were we known to be the slacker and complainer? 

  

Secondly, when we stand before God, I don’t think He will have a world globe in His hands to mark off where all we traveled in our lifetime.  Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with taking trips and seeing the world, but if we are basing our happiness on whether we are able to do so, we are going to end up thinking less of ourselves.  God is going to be much more interested in what we did for Him whether we are at home or in an exotic location.  

Third, always try to remember that very few parents post on Facebook, or bring up in conversation the difficult times with their children.   We tend to want to look good and have others think we are perfect parents who have it all together but, unfortunately, I’ve never met a perfect parent or a perfect child yet.   When we stand before God, I don’t think He is going to ask us why we weren’t flawless parents.  He is going to be much more concerned about what we instilled in the lives of our precious children.  Were we examples to them of followers of Jesus, whose main goal was to serve Him wherever we were placed using whatever He had given us?  Or did they just see us push and shove our way up the corporate ladder to ensure we had plenty of money and “things” to keep up with our friends on Facebook?

I think we need to remember that whenever we compare our weaknesses to someone else’s strengths, we are going to come up short.  We are all different and each of us has our own strong points and our own weak points. It is up to us to decide on which we will focus. 

Amazingly, the same God who created mountains and oceans and galaxies looked at me and thought the world needed one of me too. AND, He thought the world needed one of you too.  Oh how that blows my mind!  You and I have never been, nor will we ever be, a mistake!  We were created for a reason to fulfill His purpose in this world. We just need to decide if we are going to live in such a way that others will see God’s plan being fulfilled, or whether we are going to believe Satan’s lies that we are a mistake.

YOU were created to be a child of the King.  Wow…it just doesn’t get much better than that!   

 “But to all who believed him and accepted him,

he gave the right to become children of God.”

John 1:12

Monday Morning Memo: Are We Listening?

When we were at our daughter’s home in June, I asked her if she had any books that she recommended for me to read.  Since I knew I would soon be in another time of recovery from surgery, I wanted to make sure I had some good reading material to fill my time.  She gave me a stack of books to bring home and I have been devouring them ever since.

Each book has been great and I have felt like the Lord really guided Erica in selecting the right ones.  Maybe I have gleaned more from them because I am reading them during a time when I haven’t been able to do much else, so my mind has been less cluttered.  But I have prayed that I would be intentional on listening to whatever the Lord wanted to teach me through this collection.

I had read some verses in Jeremiah right before my surgery that had jumped out at me about intentional listening.  I found them in chapter 23 verses 21-22 where the Lord was talking about those who were false prophets:  “I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for me.  I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying.  If they had stood before me and listened to me, they would have spoken my words, and they would have turned my people from their evil ways and deeds.”

The phrase that really struck me was “If they had stood before me and listened to me”.  It seems so simple.  If only these false prophets would have listened to the Lord and would have shared with the people what He was telling them, people would have been saved. But they chose not to listen. They made the choice to speak about things they knew nothing about, instead of being willing to learn from the Master, the One who had the answers for those who were seeking. 

I have been thinking about this during my recovery. How many times have I spoken without listening to the Lord first?  How many times has He been trying to instruct me about His ways and instead of listening, I have chosen to just do my own thing?  How often do I care more about my agenda, instead of seeking His agenda? And, how many people haven’t turned from their evil ways and deeds because I haven’t spoken His words since I wasn’t listening?

I don’t know how you feel, but it just blows my mind that the King of Kings wants to talk to me!  Why in the world wouldn’t I want to listen?  I sure don’t want to stand before the Lord some day and have Him say to me, “Why didn’t you listen to me LuAnn?  If you just would have listened, more people would be in heaven today.”

As we go throughout our week, let’s be intentional in asking the Lord to speak to us, directing our every word and action. Whether it is through our reading, praying or even in our conversations with others, let’s make sure we are listening to His every word. Then let’s be willing to use what we are learning to tell others about His saving grace!  

Until next week… 

Monday Morning Memo: A Christ-Like Lifestyle

Imagine that you and I are on the mountainside, sitting at the feet of Jesus.  We are talking, laughing and showing each other pictures of our kids, grandkids, pets etc.  Then, Jesus clears his throat and begins to talk, and immediately, we and everyone else around us grow quiet.  We have no idea what He will share with us, but we have heard enough about this man to know that we need to listen.

If any of the first paragraph sounds familiar, it’s because those are the words with which I began our study of the beatitudes back on April 30^th.  Since then, we have spent considerable time diving into everything that Jesus shared that day on the mountainside.  Each beatitude that He spoke of was a building block for us to be like Him.  Each of them contained the attitudes, qualities and characteristics, which produce in us a Christ-like lifestyle. 

I read Romans 12:9-21 in The Message the other day and it struck me how much these verses went along with what we have learned from the beatitudes.  Paul wrote, “Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it.  Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good.  Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder.  Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down.  Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone.  If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody.  Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. ‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God. ‘I’ll take care of it.’

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink.  Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.”  

Just like the beatitudes, Paul’s words, if taken seriously, will produce in us a Christ-like lifestyle. We need to remember that if we really want to look and act like our Jesus, then we need to make the decision to live every single day completely sold out to Him, no matter the cost.  It isn’t just a way we behave on Sunday and then do as we please the rest of the week.   We have to be committed to make our goal every day to do what would be pleasing to Him. 

As we wrap up our study of the beatitudes, I think each of us needs to decide if we are willing to let Jesus have complete control of our life.  It’s so easy to fall into Satan’s trap of thinking that we know best and that we will have to give up too much to serve Christ.  That couldn’t be farther from the truth.  He can do so much with our surrendered life; way more than we can even imagine.   And don’t ever forget, Jesus promises for those who follow Him:

The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs

They will be comforted

They will inherit the whole earth

They will be satisfied

They will be shown mercy

They will see God

They will be called the children of God

The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

Wow…I would say He makes it so worthwhile to let Him have control of us every.single.day!

Until next week…