This Friday I’m linking up with Andrea for Friday Favorites.
I’ve decided to do something a little different this Friday than what I normally do. Normally, I post a bunch of things that I’m loving that week, but this week my focus has been much different–and that has been intentionally shown to me.
Last Friday at school, I started feeling sick, and by the time seventh period hit, I felt awful. Dustin was on days, so as soon as I got home, I layered on the clothing, turned on the fire, and slept on the couch. That was something I NEVER do so I knew I was sick. Saturday morning I got up early, did my grocery shopping at Walmart, bought some DayQuil and NyQuil that I immediately started taking, and slept on and off all day. Sunday after church was Christmas Open House at the downtown shops in my town. It’s something I always look forward to except this year I felt horrible and stayed on the couch the whole time, and I knew that I didn’t want to miss my small group meeting that night. I went to school Monday because we started a new novel and I really needed to be there and then went to the doctor after school. The doctor said something to me that really resonated with me (this was after I asked her if working out at 5 AM on Tuesday would make me any worse); she said that sometimes our sicknesses are God’s way of making us slow down to take care of ourselves.
That really hit me. I’ve been so overloaded at times since starting grad school that I’ve taken little to no time to really take care of myself. I won’t go into detail at everything I do or all of the pressures that I put on myself to complete, but this sickness was needed in a way for me to stop and be still. I thought of Pslam 46:10 where it says, “Be still, and know that I am God;” Have I really been still? No, in fact, my quiet times have usually been done in about 10 minutes before bed. I’ve just been giving God my leftovers. So the two days of work I had to take off this week because I was so sick were welcomed. I was able to recharge and rest my body in a way that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t get sick. And I was able to intentionally spend more time with the Lord where He showed me that ultimately my dependence is on Him and not myself.
So, if you’re still with me then my Friday Favorites has become a list of things that I have been grateful for this week.
One
Blogging has been a great community that I’ve loved being part of. I think it’s really hard to understand unless you blog, and some people I know think blogging is silly but I’ve made great friends by blogging! Victoria is one of them.
I’m grateful for this post by Victoria because of her raw honesty. Her platform is influential and she’s using it to show that she gets her strength from the Lord–not from herself. Take the time to read her post about her miscarriage–it’s worth the time!
Two
I’m very grateful for a sister who knows how awful you feel and surprises you with a gift! Rachel’s job keeps her very busy (she’s a hospice nurse), so on one of her busiest days, she made the time to drop by my house and give me a card, Advocare vitamins, and tootsie rolls (not pictured because I may have already eaten them haha).
Three
I’m very grateful for my husband who has taken care of things around the house while I’ve been sick. The whole time I’ve been sick he’s either been working or gone to his hunting land getting it ready for hunting season, but every night he’s still taken care of things that needed to be taken care of. For example, I had been planning on taking all of the fall stuff off the porch because I’m so over it–my mums are dead and everything. But I haven’t had any energy to do it so I asked Dustin to do it at some point on Tuesday evening after he got home from south Alabama. He immediately did it after he got done working in the yard, then cooked himself dinner, did the dishes, and went to Subway to get me a sandwich. He’s a winner and I’m so, so grateful for him–and I really don’t tell him enough. Dustin, if you’re reading this, thanks for taking care of me this past week and I love you!
Four
I’m really grateful for medicine. Once I got my prescription filled Tuesday morning and began taking it, I knew that it would be just a matter of time before it kicked in and began working. Thankfully, I went back to school Thursday because the medicine was doing its job!
