A Change in Perspective

Today I returned to Richmond Hospital.  Thankfully not to stay but just to visit the CT scanner.  This time it was for my head.  It was odd having my head strapped down but otherwise it was quick and the technician was really nice.  I had to have the IV contrast dye again, which gives this weird warm feeling as it goes through your blood stream.  As bizarre as it is, it is so cool.  Yes, it makes you feel like you have peed your pants but it is incredible because it goes through the body so quickly.  Within seconds your whole body gets this warm sensation.  How marvelous our circulatory system is!  How fearfully and wonderfully made we are!

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That is one thing that being sick makes you realize.  The complexity of our bodies truly has no explanation other than divine creation.  It is awe-inspiring.  For everything to function is an absolute miracle - a miracle that too often is taken for granted.  Today I ordered a print from Sevenly (an amazing organization that gives $7 from every item purchased to a weekly cause; this week it is CURE International to provide babies in Uganda with life saving brain surgeries!) and the print reads as follows:

Someone is praying for the things you take for granted

I think that is a good reminder - a perspective changer.  Being in bed has given me a lot of time to think.  To think about what I place importance on.  To think about the things that I make my priority.  To think about what I have and what I have been blessed with.  But I have not always taken the time I have been given to work through lessons and realize the blessings.  I have sat and just cried.  I have been angry with God.  I have had to examine what I believe to be true.  I have sat in denial and disbelief of my situation.  I have sat in the dark valleys.  But you know, I am actually thankful for those times.  The times when I could not seem to find God.  The times when I realized I actually was mad at Him for changing what I had planned for my life (like really who do I think I am?).  For in those times, He really is there.  "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me"  (Psalm 23:4).  He is there in the sun shining, my mother's embrace, the mother duck guiding her babies along, the peace that passes understanding, the joy unexplained bubbling up in my soul, the comfort that seems to never leave...
But I still take so much for granted: God's eternally unconditional kind of love, my family being by my side to hold me up when I am faint and bring me food and drive me to the doctor, to have a doctor, a car, a bed, a life.
Today while waiting for my CT I was reminded that things really are not that bad.  Despite me sitting in a wheelchair, I was definitely not the sickest of the bunch waiting to have my head or some other part scanned.  One man looked as though he were made of bone and skin alone.  But you know, he seemed happy.  He had a smile on his face and his wife beside him.  Being in the hospital today caused me to open my eyes a little wider to the blessings in my life.  To the miracles that occur every day here.  To the beautiful divine words of God.  To the everyday blessings that bring joy to my heart.  To knowing I am His and He is mine.