It was totally a new one on me. I have had people not want to come to my weekend groups at church in the winter because of snow. I understand that because many are from countries where it never snows. But yesterday something happened I would have never expected.
I had plans to meet friends from Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and Vietnam at a shopping mall for an outdoor concert by a local group. We had fun celebrating two birthdays last Friday, so I was looking forward to seeing them again. But then the concert was canceled because of the HEAT. In my home state of Nebraska we get all of the extremes, severe cold and snow in the winter, thunderstorms in the spring, and heat waves in the summer.
But yesterday was still a good day. I hung out at a coffee shop and had a chance to meet some new people.
I talked with a mother and daughter from Peru who stopped in for cake and coffee. I was able to practice my Spanish with them, but they told me what my students in my morning class have told me. They told me I have a Brazilian accent when I speak Spanish. It is funny because my Brazilian friends tell me I have an American accent when I speak Portuguese.
I read some more from my Spanish story book, drank tea, and stayed cool in the air-conditioning.
But those blessings almost did not happen. I woke up so tired and fatigued. That is part of living with Fibromyalgia- never knowing how one feels when one wakes up. I woke up at 6 and posted in my blog but went back to sleep. I woke up at 9 again but still exhausted. I slept until 11am.
Getting onto Youtube to listen to worship music was a step of faith as I listened to It Is Well by Kristene DiMarco. Then I looked at the verse of the day in biblegateway.com and saw from Isaiah 41:
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
After reading that, it was time to confess my fatigue to Jesus and ask him to give me strength for the day. After listening to worship music for an hour and praying for ministries and people. the strength came to get ready.
The reason for sharing about such experiences is that it is my conviction that whatever Jesus helps me with is not only for me, but also for me to share. There might be someone else who suffers with chronic illness who reads this and is encouraged.
Well Sunday will bring cooler temps in the 70s. I am so looking forward to that. I shared the video of It Is Well in one of my first Music Mondays, but that was well over a year ago, so I want to share it again.
Thanks for reading. God Bless.
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