Tuesday, October 29, 2013

A Heart in Perpetual Bloom

a bouquet from my uncle's family
"My soul! Seek from God the spirit of thankfulness, and cultivate habitually the grace of praise. It is a soul-purifying and a God-glorifying grace. It keeps the heart in perpetual bloom, and converts the life into a daily psalm!"
~Octavius Winslow, Consider Jesus


a decorative fall birdhouse from a Bible study friend


Last Thursday, my chronically inflamed gallbladder was surgically removed. Considering that I only fainted once and no one else did, we're calling it a success. (I told the nurse I was a tough stick!)  The recovery crawls along, but no apparent complications have arisen, and the eating restrictions have not been problematic. Eventually my body will learn to digest fat without that little bile pouch, but right now it doesn't know how, so I need to protect it with low dietary fat intake.

Wouldn't it be nice if the chronically inflamed parts of our soul and spirit could be excised in a matter of a few hours under anesthesia? Fear, gluttony, pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gossip, . . . gone in a morning? Then again, perhaps I wouldn't be able to bear the post-op pain for such a soul surgery.

I'm living slowly this week, waiting for pain to subside and strength to return, but I wanted to touch base with you and thank God for His care in these recent days. Thank you for your prayers. May the Lord adorn your life and mine with perpetually blooming hearts full of praise and thanksgiving.

Thank You, Father, for
2307. Your protection and provision in my surgery
2308. Confirmation that this was the cause of my abdominal pain
2309. My surgeon praying with my family and me before I was taken to the OR
2310. One less body part to misbehave
2311. Your presence at home with me
2312. Loving husband working from home 2 days to look after me
2313. Loving husband who knows how to scramble egg whites and not burn toast ;)
2314. Mom and Daddy keeping tabs on me and coming by just for hugs
2315. Ebony's instinctive vigilance
2316. A wren coming to visit the garden yesterday
2317. Flowers from family
2318. Visit from Mezzo
2319. Abundant kindness from my Bible study friends in providing meals through next Monday
2320. One of them bringing a little birdhouse along with the food
2321. Pain medication to help me rest fairly comfortably so I can heal
2322. Sleeping well every night so far except the first one
2323. Every excuse to read a novel
2324. The prayers of God's people
2325. The living God who hears them