In the second half of my life I have finally taken up gratitude as my preferred weapon of choice. I tend to hit everything icky with a strong blast of gratitude, at least in my own mind. Sometimes my facial expressions do not always match, but the sentiments are still there.
I somehow managed to throw my back out rather well, causing a great deal of pain and those weird electrical charges that kind of zap your lower back and exit out through your left eyeball. So, thank you Lord, for pulling me back into my body. May I quickly glean whatever wisdom this pain is here to teach me, so once having served it's purpose, it can just go away. So far it's purpose seems to be about reminding me not to self identify as Anne Andres, the man who fancies himself a woman, who just broke a woman's weightlifting record. Not only am I not a man, I am not even a professional athlete.
It is not entirely my fault, we shall tease and blame some of it on the goodness of God. See, I was feeling so darn healthy and strong, praise the Lord, that I completely forgot I was not 30 anymore and should probably not dead lift heavy boxes off the ground or do numerous squats and twists without even thinking about it. Like, duh.
I have all of the tools. I just want to put in a good word for using all of the tools in your toolbox. Like ice packs, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, topical muscle rubs, physical therapy, aromatherapy, essential oils, prayer, or perhaps even sacrificing a small goat. Whatever works, I tell ya. I need to put in a good word because so, so many people have chronic pain and when I make suggestions they just throw up walls. They are like, I tried that, it doesn't work. Right, well if it's free and you aren't doing anything but rolling around and moaning in pain anyway, you might as well try throwing the whole toolbox at it. If nothing else it's a good way to pass the time when you can't do much else. Also, just visualizing yourself throwing tools across the room really helps.
Anyway, I am just fine. Did I mention that God is good? He is! He is good when you are in pain and He is good when you are in healing. I am walking upright, even if it's going to be a bit slow for a while, and I am nearly pain free at this point.
Why do I share all this? Well, because it took me long time to learn! I didn't figure this out over night. It takes a lot of practice. It feels kind of weird at first to thank God for unpleasant things, but gratitude is a valuable weapon of warfare. It causes you to place your eyes on the One who can and does make it all better. If you spend too much time lamenting "why me" or feeling sorry for yourself, it drains your power away and makes you less able to cope with life's challenges. So gratitude is an important weapon in your spiritual toolbox.
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