We have to live through the bad times

Every day is precious no matter how much you ache or hurt. Life has to be lived rather than endured.

Realising how short life really is should encourage us to live it with courage, taking hard times as

a challenge.

Not every day will be sunshine and roses, but those days will help us appreciate the days that are.

Remember too, we have to live through the bad times to get to the good.

 © Glenys Robyn Hicks 

 “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the   days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Ephesians   5:15-17

You must make a choice

In life, we don't have a say how we were born, or who our parents are, but in death, we do have a say. Either we will be in Heaven or hell. Either our Father will be God or the devil.

Based on how we want to live forever, and the decision we make to that end, we have a say- a very important choice of whom we will serve. We have to make that choice- either we serve God and live with Him or we choose Satan and suffer with Him forever.

Make the choice to love God and live for Him. And remember, your indecision and silence means you remain in your sin, a child of the devil. You cant be half-Christian... you are saved or not.

Make the choice to be a Christian today. The end of your life here demands a choice. Get saved today. You must make a choice.

Today's the day of salvation

 

I think most of us believers feel that God is slow in coming back for us, and we are frustrated and depressed as the world is a sad place.

I have studied eschatology and I believe that the LORD is coming for His Bride- us soon! very soon.

Let that blessed hope buoy you up. It does me. He is at the gates... Just keep trusting in Him for He loves us... look up my friend. Our redemption is nigh.

God's wrath is for the unbelievers and Israel to recognise the Saviour they rejected. We are not going through the Tribulation.

We leave soon. Look up... I will save you a seat at the Marriage Supper.... Maranatha! Choose joy. we are blessed!

If you don't know Jesus as LORD, you can be Rapture ready by being saved. You don't want to be left behind. Today's the day of salvation... don't leave it too long.

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Revelation 3:10

Stating your name and business

As you know, we have just moved and along with a new home, comes some new things to add to the decor.

Chris and I love this door mat. This verse is one of our favourites and when we saw it we wanted it. It can be personalised to add your family name.

It looks lovely at the front door. We still have pictures to be hung and some flat packs of furniture to make up. The unpacking itself is almost finished.

The plan is to gradually go through room to room and gradually declutter. But this will depend on my spoons. I have another fibromyalgia flare.

But we have been finding that even a concerted effort of 5 minutes at a time followed by a rest and a cup of tea has paid off. Pacing is critical with fibromyalgia and heart failure.

I am in the process of getting an i-Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner to help with the floors. This house is quite large and the passage alone is as long as a cricket pitch...

Neither Chris or I can vacuum these days and I am hoping that the i-Roomba will save on money to employ a helper to come clean the house for me. I will let you know how we go.

Happily, the robotic vac can manage both tiles and carpet without skipping a beat, so it will be able to keep our lovely door mat free of dust bunnies. 

Meant to be noticed, I don't want visitors to our home seeing the mat dirty- not when it's proclaiming our faith and intention of having a holy home. It's all about stating your name and business! 

We live in a fallen world

 I have tried not to dwell on my illnesses these days, but still find that I have to remember to do this:

Accepting that one's life is going to be difficult due to ongoing illness makes for a happier life. When the chronically ill person decides to give it to God, and to cling to Him instead of succumbing to false guilt, life takes on a normality in what many would see as anything but. It is a surrender, if you will.

Suffering does not make us second-class Christians, as some false teachings would purport. Nor does it mean we are faithless or aren't reading our Bibles or standing on the promises of God regarding healing.

Furthermore, being ill does not check us out of God's watchful Eye of concern, or mean that He is an uncompassionate God. No, we all are subject to frailties and problems in the flesh because we live in a fallen world... we have not been singled out to suffer...

God has given us things to do in our suffering and it is important that we stay close to Him and continue to read the Word and pray. It is not that God has moved, when He feels far away during a flare or illness, but our emotions are also hurting as a result of our condition.

It is important to pray that God heal us, and to ask the Church to anoint us with oil according to the Scriptures... It is essential to our emotional and spiritual health to stay in the faith and believe that God can heal us, but to pray for strength until- or even IF it is His will to do so.

I know that should/when another flare comes for me that I will have to cling to Jesus and reread what I have written here (for I write it for myself as well as you). I will need to surrender this next painful chapter of my life, knowing that God will still be there for me.

Surrendering our pain and our life to God is the only thing we can do.... meanwhile, I thank Him for the few days of respite..

Suffering is not our fault, but is because we live in a fallen world.

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 John 1:2

Drowning in fear?

 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16   Click here to become a Christian 

Keeping our head up

 

So yesterday we watched the election most of the day. We prayed for justice to prevail and praised God. By the afternoon, we were feeling such a heaviness that we turned it off.

I came into my study and praised and worshiped God until the heaviness abated. 

I didn't get a lot done in my house except wash my dishes and do a load of washing. I sat watching the news events unfold as I folded the clothes.  

Dinner was a frozen dinner because we both found we had lost our appetite. With my fibromyalgia  worsened by stress and flaring again, it was an easy fix!  

Today, we have an errand to do and a check of our Post Office Box is necessary, but that will be all outside the home for now.

We remain in a state of prayer and will bring all this deception before the LORD. We are also praying for all who long for justice and righteousness to prevail. 

God is still in control... but we who follow the path of justice and Truth will be having a bumpy ride.

We all have to remember that as the picture here says: we have to live though these bad days to get to the good ones.   Let's be keeping our head up!

Hit by a truck!

 

Things are pretty bad here in Victoria. We have been in lockdown for months now and in spite of low numbers of new cases and deaths mainly related to aged care facilities being hit with Covid, our Premier is in no hurry to ease the restrictions. 

I haven't seen my family for about 3 months now.  We are country so our restrictions are stage 3, they are suburban with more cases so they are on the stage 4.  The borders are patrolled by police.

Chris and I are staying home except to go to the chemist and for a drive when we are going stir crazy. We are allowed to go for a drive as long as we stay in our general municipality. 

People in Victoria are desperate. There won't be many businesses to reopen when he finally allows it. The Premier is giving a live broadcast soon... I hope it's a lessening of restrictions.

With my fibromyalgia flaring due to imclement weather, I am trying to keep my peace and have a quiet and undisturbed spirit.

I am wearing my Oodie with the hood up so as to keep my neck and shoulders warm. They are aching so badly that I can hardly turn my head.

Most times because of my fibro pain, I am happy to stay at home. Especially nice at the moment is our new mattress which is more plush than our older one which will go into the guest room. 

It helps with my muscle pain and anything that helps is just the ticket for when fibromyalgia makes even laying down a painful chore.

Today I am resting and doing just the essentials in our home. I will be cooking a vegetable intensive stew for dinner. Nothing that requires a lot of preparation.

I will be doing some bible study later on and just vegging in my Oodie. Not much on my to do list today, which is just as well when one feels like they have been hit by a truck! 

Watch, pray and wash your hands.

So this Corona Virus is getting serious here Down Under. In our home state, Victoria, people have been dropping like flies after a whiff from the can of Mortein. 

Melbourne and metropolitan towns have been told to stay at home and even  we in the rural areas have been asked to limit our business outside the home.

Masks are becoming mandatory after midnight Wednesday for those in lockdown and we here have been requested to comply. 

We had  a telephone consult about our three monthly blood tests and although Chris's sugars at 9.2 have come down, there's room for improvement. He has to double his Januvia tablets.

My sugars were 8 which our doctor has said was good but could be better. I do have a high GTT on my liver report. Just another thing to worry about, I suppose. Kidney function is good. Cholesterol is fine too.

I don't get much sun as I am inside mainly so not surprisingly, my vitamin  D is low. I am to take 2 Vit D tablets from now on to give it a boost.

Due to comorbidities, Chris and I have been told to wear a mask when shopping etc. I accordingly bought some on ebay today because it is cheaper than the chemist.

I am experiencing some itchy hands from the constant hand sanitisers when we leave the house. I know they are important, and I do use them, but I use soap and water at home.

It's just another cross to bear with fibromyalgia vying for top place in the itching field. My hands usually only itch after I clap my hands. 

But all in all, we have to stay vigilant to stay safe, so I will do as I am told. We have faith in God, but have to have a teachable heart with matters like Corona.

So we keep social distancing, and we watch and pray, and wash our hands. 

Beauty is all around us

As you probably know, we love cats. We used to have two white cats, but Snowy passed at age 14 and we now have our little white cat, Xena left to love. Both of them were rescue cats.

Xena has brightened my day. She is so amusing. Thinking she is invisible, she crouches after the many birds in our back garden, only to dash back inside when they gang up on her and chirp her away.

She is not very brave or wise. Her white fur is visible to everything. Her demeanour is the yellow of a coward. This is the same cat who squealed when a mouse ran over her paw! She's such a girl! 

With isolation, one has time to watch the antics of cats and birds, and to enjoy the beauty that is all around us. For in spite of pestilence and mayhem, there is still beauty to be found.

It does help me with this current fibromyalgia flare, to go to "the beach" and let the sun play on my skin and listen to the birds and watch our cats' antics.

Not many people can find much beauty in the world today, but I make a point of looking for it- and when I find it, I make sure to thank the One Who made it, and give thanks.

Gratitude and thankfulness in the midst of pain goes a long way in coping mentally with it all. 

Try to take some time out and focus on the good that remains in this sad old world. There is beauty all around us.

Let's be clever ducks!

So I am at  the "beach" again today... just watching out the window as the sun hid behind a tree. In the paddock behind our property, a little family of ducks waddled across towards the stream. One by one with a big plop, they threw themselves in and were rapidly whisked away on the current, probably ending up at the larger town twenty kilometres away.

With world events on my mind, I thought of how quickly we can all be whisked away to a future world we don't really enjoy or even like much any more.  It is dark and frightening for most of us-and especially so for the non believer in Christ.

For Christians have a hope and expectation: we are expecting and waiting for Jesus to come for us, and so we will be forever with Him, away from the anger and wrath that awaits the world. 

Whether we like it or not, we are being whisked away on a flood of rushing water and where we end up for eternity depends on whether or not we accept Jesus Christ as our LORD and Saviour. 

No good works will make us good enough to go to Heaven: Jesus Christ is the ONLY way. 

My prayer today as I watch those ducks making use of that current is that we will all be found safe at the other end with Jesus. Let's be clever ducks!

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. —Acts 4:12

Kissing my phone screen!

Today I have woken up with a little less pain from my fibromyalgia and costochrondia than what I have had the last few weeks. I have a distinct lack of spoons, but I will take less pain over spoons any day!

I have dishes to catch up on and washing and cleaning to do, but I am letting it go one more day. Today the Victorian Government has lifted the lockdown a bit and allowed us to go see family,  as long as there are no more than 5 people at the one time.

So we are getting ready to go to see my youngest child, Dianne who I wrote about in my other blog yesterday.  She lives an hour's drive from us. No doubt I will fall asleep en route to her place. That's totally normal for me and Chris is used to seeing me nearly being garrotted with the seatbelt on long drives...

Schools in Victoria are gradually returning in a few weeks. I never thought I would say this, but I miss the mums taking their children to school and even the school buses! 

Life  is gradually returning to some semblance of normal and I am very happy about it. Online classes and visits with family are OK, but nothing compared to face to face! 

Mind you, we are still going to be careful. Lots of hand washing still and today, lots of theatrical kisses without actually kissing. A big Mwah each side of the cheeks at a respectful distance will have to suffice. But hey, it's better than kissing my phone screen on FaceTime! 

On a wing and a prayer

I have not been that well lately. The rain and cold has exacerbated my fibromyalgia and my spinal problems have come back to make sitting difficult.

To be honest, at the moment, there's not much I can do that doesn't cause pain somewhere. My whole body hurts.

I have dishes to do and I plan to make a quiche and salad for dinner tonight. That's all.  I will be turning my electric blanket back on soon and retreating to bed.

Even staying up long enough to do these few things is only going to happen with prayer. I am like a war plane struck down and trying to coast to clear land. On a wing and a prayer!

Bed: my control centre!

Over the last 50 odd years, health issues have seen me having to take to my bed. It wasn't easy when I had 4 children under 5 years when glandular fever strikes and wouldn't go away. 

Likewise with schuermann's disease ravishing my vertebrae and spending weeks at a time in traction in hospital, I have learned to control my home from my bed.

With my back or heart problems requiring days of rest and my never-ending fibromyalgia flares, I still have to take to my bed at times. And apart from having a few nana naps, I have many hours to fill in. 

It is definitely possible for us chronically ill women to keep our households in order from our bed. Being ill or disabled does not preclude us from serving God or our families. 

With a bit of planning, we can be like that Proverbs 31 Woman.  God loves us regardless of how fast we spin our wheel. 

So today with the heavy rain we have been having last night and today, my fibromyalgia is beckoning me to my bed. There I will take my laptop and organise my finances, work out my week's meals and listen to scripture and worship music.  I will also pray. Blanket prayers, I call it.  And yes, I will be sleeping a little.

I have done a load of washing and it's in the dryer. I will be folding that up and putting it away sometime this afternoon when I get up. God willing: and spoons, of course! 

The dishes are soaking in hot soapy water and can wait. I will do them whilst I am cooking lamb chops, mashed potato and green veggies for dinner.

Not a lot will be done today except some resting up and controlling my household from my control centre: my bed.

Home is the new church

So today is Resurrection Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead. It is a joyful day in the Christian calendar and one I look forward to each year.

I am so grateful that Jesus saved me from my sins and that when I die, I will be with Him for eternity. That is a wonderful promise to hang onto in these uncertain times.

This year will see many of us viewing online Easter services and I will be doing that later, but today I will be taking Communion with my sister and one of my sons online. We will be FaceTiming.

We did this last week and it was very fulfilling. What better way of celebrating Resurrection Sunday than by worshiping and remembering Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us all?

I have some homemaking chores to do:

1. Make pumpkin soup
2. Fold a load of washing and put it away
3. Clean my kitchen

I will get to this hopefully after Communion today. I will be taking it under our picture of the Last Supper where Christ introduced Communion as a way for Christians to remember His sacrifice. 

It's quite pleasant to be home doing it: like other things we have to accept for the time being: home is the new church! 

Entertaining the young'uns

So with staying in isolation with the CV, we have had time to enjoy the antics of the birds in our yard and our little cat, Xena.

She has been so funny as she claws her way up and down her scratching post complete with stuffed mouse and pink ball. 

The weather has been lovely with mostly warm autumn days and just a little rain. It's been perfect for outside activities like cleaning the outside windows and pressure hosing down the front porch and carport.

We have accepted that we will be isolated for six months or so. We are grateful for our little cottage hidden away in our quiet country township.

We are believing that we will be OK as regards this virus and have been filling our home with worship music and faith building words.

Whilst Chris has been concentrating on the outside of our home, I have been tending to the inside. I actually have been enjoying my homemaking efforts despite not having enough spoons each day to complete everything I would like to do. Still, one has to accept that with fibromyalgia and aging.

I didn't get the cooking done yesterday so it's on my to do list for today.

1. Making some mini quiches to freeze
2. Making cookie dough also to freeze

We are so glad we bought that scratching post for Xena. It's been fun for us to watch her and she's happy that we are entertaining the young'uns.

All things work for good...

So we are staying at home with the Corona Virus spreading fast. But today we had to go to see our Doctor P to get some repeat scripts. He said that from now on we can just ring the clinic and he will fax our scripts to our chemist. We are glad for one less reason not to have to go out.

Our BP was pretty good: 138/74 for me... and Chris's, strangely was exactly the same. The doctor laughed and asked if we even synchronised our BP! I said to Chris isn't that romantic, and Dr P laughed again and agreed that it was!  We are always together and we never tire of each other!

Apart from today, we have been home and it hasn't been all that bad. I have been getting some things done around the house like decluttering and Chris has been putting some pictures up for me in our room and the guest room.

I am making sure we are eating proper meals but I do have some snack foods in the back of the pantry for comfort eating. Chris loves to munch on almonds whilst watching TV and I love eating muesli bars.

My fibromyalgia is dictating my life a bit, ensuring that I have a nana nap in the afternoons. With no social commitments, it's pretty easy to go to bed when I feel the need. And I don't feel guilty.

Staying at home because one has to with the Corona Virus like a spectre haunting our peace, is not ideal, but if we do what we are told, I am sure it will burn itself out soon.

We are refusing to give in to anxious thoughts and are trying to keep ourselves busy. Well, as busy as I can be with limited spoons.

My to do list today is to follow Thursday's List which is basically a rest day as I had the doctor's appointment today.  I am feeling tired now. 

I will be spending time watching You Tube and Netflix with Chris and trying to keep myself busy in the home. We can use this time at home for good if we think it through. All things work for good...

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Better days are coming!

So today I stayed home as we are self-isolating. It's not too bad being home when you have plenty of food in the pantry and fridge. Not to mention extra medications on hand. I love my home.

We have had some beautiful autumn days and I intend to spend quite a bit of time outdoors in our back yard the next few days.

The last few days have been spent in the kitchen but now I have soups in the freezer and so on, I can relax and wait out this Corona Virus.

As spoons permit, I will be doing some decluttering and Marie Kondo minimalising and folding of stuff from the move from the fifth wheeler. I also want to gradually deep clean our home. I will find plenty to stop me from going stir crazy during this trial.

Xena has been totally spoilt with all her choices of cat food that we have got her. I think she actually has more stored food than us at the moment.

We are trying to keep optimistic about life and are clinging to God's promises. Especially the hope of His soon return for His Bride, the Church.

If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Saviour but would like to, please click here

Meanwhile, let's prepare our nests for possible lockdown, keeping in mind that this will eventually pass if we follow instructions and assist our health professionals. 

Remember that better days are coming! 

Jewish Penicillin

The last few days I have been busy making sure we have enough food and medications for a possible lockdown for two weeks. It's not coming yet here in Australia, but I want to be prepared if it does. I know we are all sick of hearing about the Corona Virus, but it's no good treating it like it isn't a real issue. 

I have been making good use of my slow cooker lately, making and freezing soups to help extend the life of the poultry and meat that I have bought. In particular I have made a large batch of "Jewish Penicillin". It is so nice and also it is very nourishing if someone is under the weather. It just made sense to me to prepare some.

Whilst I believe in a healing God, I also believe in being sensible in heeding the advice of our goverment health department. I want to do whatever it takes to protect my family. That is not lacking in faith, in fact, we are called to be good stewards of our belongings and caring of our family.

I did not panic buy like so many did over the last few weeks. I did however, grab some extra things like bottled water, cans of milk powder (all the long life UHT milk was gone), canned goods and meat. A few frozen dinners as a standby were added to the mix. I also got some extra hand soaps and washing powder. Plus some tissues as all the toilet paper was gone..

As Chris and I are on quite a lot of medications, I got extra scripts made up in case we can't get them later on. I was not the only one: the average wait was two hours! I also bought some paracetamol tablets at the chemist as they also were sold out at the supermarket. By the way, don't use ibruprofen or aspirin if you think you have the C Virus... it makes it worse apparently.

My spoons are few and my efforts certainly made me what I class a Sacrificial Home Keeper! Nothing like trying to keep on top of things with a hefty dose of Fibromyalgia and angina!

I need to eat something that will give me a boost: I'm off to heat up a bowl of my Jewish Penicillin! 

It's just the nature of the beast!

I wish I could tell you that my fibromyalgia flare is over, but I can't. This morning I woke with so much pain that I took my bath in the morning instead of at night, hoping it would unkink all my sore muscles. It didn't.

As I lay in the bath I planned my day and prayed for the energy to do it. If determination was the only way to get through, it would be a breeze! But alas, determination does not equate to spoons (energy), and at the end of the day it can actually lead to false guilt if I can't achieve what I wanted to.

In chronic illness, I find that whilst it is good to make plans, it is unlikely that all will be accomplished. Like me knowing that my diabetes is out of control (11.6) and I simply must accept that I cannot take much sugar in any form, I must accept that I can only do so much. Or so little. 

So, it's no good flogging myself like a dead horse. It is what it is. What gets done, gets done. What doesn't, doesn't. 

So today, I am just following Monday's List. And preparing a curried sausages in the slow cooker for dinner. 

If I get everything done or not, I will have to learn to be content. Chronic illness is tough, but I will have to accept it: it's just the nature of the beast.