Sunday Sabbath September  20 2015  REMEMBER THE SABBATH TO KEEP IT HOLY

 

I like that verse in the Bible that says to remember the Sabbath and to rest on the Sabbath.  I haven’t always been faithful to the resting part but I do believe the Sabbath is a Holy Day.  It is a day when my heart is turned to God so that I will always be reminded of his love and protection over me.  It reminds me that God loves me so much that He sacrificed His Son to atone for my sins.  I so desire to know more and more about the character of God.  It says in Isaiah that the entire universe fits in the span of God’s hand.  Can you imagine a God that big?  I am still studying the prophecies in Isaiah and find them totally interesting and fascinating.  What is so interesting to me is the way the speaker (Damian Kyle from Calvary Chapel Modesto) presents the verses as well as verifying the facts from the prophesies to situations that are now happening in the middle east, down to the geopolitical moves that are currently transpiring.  There is no fear for me when I study the scriptures regarding all the things yet to come.  I realize that God is so in control and I do not need to fear.  Actually, so many of the prophecies have already been fulfilled.  There are still many more to come.  If I did not know the God orchestrating the coming events I would be quaking in my boots.  But, like I said, I need not fear.  God has already promised and fulfilled my eternal salvation through the death of Jesus on the cross.  HOW AMAZING IS THAT.  I know I have said this before, but if you have ever wondered about the prophetic scriptures yet to be fulfilled, go to Isaiah and Revelation taught by Damian Kyle that I mentioned above.  Go to the “THRU THE BIBLE” tab.

So today is the Sabbath and I choose to keep it Holy.  Today I will rest and tonight I will attend a beautiful concert our church is hosting to sing and give praise to our Father above.  Thus, I am writing this blog extra early so I may come home and go to  bed.

Dave and I just played a card game called 9 Hole Golf.  Just thought I would tell you that I won!  We are practicing for our Ladies verses Men tournament in Branson.  I cleaned his clock today if you know what I mean.  Now I am not being proud or anything, just stating the facts.  (Husband is proof reading for me and this is his comment regarding my last sentence, “Yeah, right!” (Spoken with a growl).

I have nothing else planned for this day (God may have surprises for me) except to lie down a bit and rest my back.  I was hoping this “old age stuff” would just pass me by but it doesn’t appear it will happen that way.  I think I need a little bit more education to see how it is supposed to be done.  Actually, I think it would be a great thing if women would get together in groups, based on age, in order to mentor those younger.  Everyone’s teacher would be someone who is 20 years older than themselves.  All the secrets would be revealed, all the “unmentionables” mentioned and a bit more education of what it is like to be 20 years older.  We could then in turn be teachers to those who are about 20 years younger than ourselves.  I know we all age a bit at varying rates according to our genetics and lifestyle, diet, drinking, smoking, exercise, and attitude.  I still think a general study of what is physically changing in our bodies, minds, and psyche would be an excellent place to start learning so we could prepare for what is to come.  The problem being, is that a lot of women may be too much like me, and need to live the experience in order to learn it thoroughly.  I learn best by experience and hands on contact.

Even though I learn by experience, I did know enough a few years ago to prepare for my aging.  I knew I needed repair on several parts of my body.  I put it off for as long as possible and then decided the time had come.  I had both rotator cuffs repaired.  I had major foot surgery on one of my feet because I could barely walk and doing weddings was extremely difficult.  I had a breast reduction because I was tired of my back and shoulders hurting me so much.  I suffered through a most agonizing and difficult recovery of a thumb/wrist joint replacement because I had so much pain in my disintegrating bones of my left hand.  That surgery was absolutely the most painful thing I have ever experienced (that is until I remember when I had to have my jaw bones operated on and my mouth wired shut for six weeks).  After the wrist replacement it took about six months of grueling therapy to recover the use of my thumb.  The jaw surgery about two months.  I often wondered if the jaw surgery was so painful because I couldn’t speak for six weeks.  I also needed repair work on the outside edges of my eyes because I no longer had peripheral vision because of a fold of skin that drooped and covered he outer edges.   The surgery wasn’t painful, but because of the surgery I had to have a second follow-up surgery that could have cost me my life or the removal of my left eye.  I ended up with a drug resistant bacteria in the wound and was extremely ill for quite a while.  All the above was done in order to improve the quality of my life as I aged.  I knew once I entered into Medicare years the above surgeries might not qualify for payment.

I also needed bunion surgery. I had my surgery date and went in for the preoperative appointment, had an x-ray, and then was told I couldn’t have the surgery.  The x-ray showed that I was missing two bones in each foot and there would be nothing to anchor the bones to after the bones were realigned.  Because of all the things in my body that have fallen apart my husband likes to tease me that when God made me he saw a pile o f “seconds” that had been tossed aside and decided He could make me out of them.  When I came home and told him about the two bones missing in my feet he looked at me and said in all seriousness, “Wow, I knew you were made out of “seconds” but I didn’t know that God had run out of parts”.  So we laugh at the analogy.

Well, my retirement years are greeting me with bells and whistles.  It’s as if your body knows when you retire and when Medicare begins and then just starts crumbling, slowly for some, faster for others.  Well, I am doing everything I can to push back a bit.  So far I have lost weight, eat healthy, exercise, meditate, have a great attitude about life, go to bed earlier, and now I have decided that I must now rest during the day.  I rest, but not because I want to, and on most days don’t even feel as if I need to, but I try to do it anyway.  I realize however, that resting is accumulative.  It is sort of like being a baby again.  Remember back to your parenting days with infants and toddlers.  Every once in a while a nap could be skipped without too great a repercussion.  However, try to skip two days in a row of napping and you have a melt down on your hands.  And that is how it is as we age.  I can go and go and go and then I crash.  My crashing consists of becoming dizzy and my heart being out of rhythm.  I am seeing a bit of a pattern and I realize now that RESTING DAILY is essential for me, just as is was for my babies.  It might not be what I want to do, but…it is a necessity. 

I will close, leaving you with the above wisdom to do whatever you so like.  If you are twenty years younger than me, then enjoy these next twenty years or so.  If you are twenty years older than me, send me some insight as to what it will be like for me when I’m approaching 90.  If you are only 10 years older you can just tell me what is happening to you now but spare me the gruesome details.  Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

If I live long enough, I guess I’ll just find out for myself.

So…enjoy this day, regardless of  your age or health or size or attitude.  FOR THIS IS THE DAY THAT THE LORD HAS MADE AND I CERTAINLY DO NOT WANT TO WASTE IT!  I’ll go rest now.

I almost forgot to write my poem.  I can rest my body but it is nearly impossible to rest my thoughts.  I hope I can think for a long time to come!  Today I am going to post a poem I wrote in 2011. 

 

YOUR LIFE YOUR CHOICE

By Kathleen Martens

March 23, 2011

 

As you walk

Down the road of life

You’ll encounter joy

And you’ll encounter strife.

 

Decision made

Consequences yours,

Reaping benefits

Or settling scores.

 

What you do

Is your choice,

To be silent

Or give word a voice.

 

What do you desire

To accomplish in living?

A life of selfishness?

Or a life of giving?

 

The struggles you live,

Do strength impart.

Wisdom of life

Instilled in your heart.

 

Without temptation

No growth made.

And part of you

Would only fade.

 

Under trial

Self control grows,

Walk tall in God’s sight

And your maturity shows.

 

The easy road

Not always right.

It may lead to darkness

And not the light.

 

With best foot forward

Hand in God’s

Your steps will be firm

Upon this sod.

 

To live is Christ

To die is gain.

He’ll take the sorrow

He’ll cover your pain.

 

God is the answer

Through all we live.

Surrender to Him,

As your life you give.

 

Just in case I don’t get back to you I will say have a great rest of your day (no pun intended) and a wonderful tomorrow.

 

9:48 p.m.

I’m back.  It is past my bedtime and I thought to write a little poem today on my Sunday Sabbath to honor my King

 

YOUR SABBATH PLAN

By Kathleen Martens

September 20, 2015

 

Thank you Lord

For Your Sabbath Day

I’ll follow Your plan

For I like Your way.

 

I will rest

And give honor to You.

As I praise Your name

And Your plan ensue.

 

God Bless you.