Philippians 4:13

 Months ago I was in an effort to lose weight and get healthier, so I started walking 2-4 miles a day and making healthier choices, plus we did workouts on YouTube in the afternoons. I lost over 30 pounds and was telling such a difference in how my body was feeling. I kept going over Philippians 4:13, each day as I would get so tired but knew I wanted to keep on keeping on.  

"I can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

On July 7, 2022, my left eye started drooping and my speech was slurred so we made a trip to the ER. We thought I was having a stroke. After some tests, it showed no stroke but a form of partial facial palsy. It became diagnosed as Supranuclear Face Palsy. My left eye drooped and would close completely, my speech was so slurred, and I couldn't even bite, chew or swallow much at all. It affected my neck and it would feel so weak that I didn't think it could hold my head up. Which in time moved on down to affect my hands and arms. Even today, my neck gets so tired doing laundry, emptying the dishwasher or trying to Swiffer the house.  I am learning how to hold my back and neck to make it easier. It is still messing with my hands and arms, but they seem to be getting stronger and I am able to crochet a while longer than I could a few months ago.  It is also messing with my eyesight. Sometimes I cannot see plain, but I am coping and waiting for God to heal me.  I know the Great Physician. I know He is going to heal me.

I was praising God that it was not a stroke but the time to recover was labeled as 3-6 months to a year or longer if I healed completely. It could possibly not go away and a bigger chance that if it did that it could return. This could have been depressing, but I was determined to give it to God and I knew I was where God wanted me to be at this time. Once again I kept repeating to myself and others, "I can do this because I can do ALL things through Jesus who gives me strength." I still claim healing and see some improvements almost every single day.

Talking was very difficult at the beginning, so I tried to remember sign language that I learned i college which was way over 40 years ago. The positive thing about that was I had been working with the kids at church to learn to sign some songs off and on throughout the years so some of the sign language stuck with me. I have the privilege to watch three of our grandchildren so they learned sign language to help me not have to talk. But still was not easy when others didn't know sign language so I would try to talk and that just made my speech worse. I continued to teach Sunday School kids and Children's Church. It was very challenging at times but I was determined not to give up or quit.  I just feel that was not what God wanted me to do. I felt He wanted me to be a witness to having a disability and continuing to work for God.  NEVER GIVE UP! I felt this was a lesson all the children needed to learn in their young lives to help them as they grew up and faced this huge world.

It has been 3 months and I am still struggling with eating and chewing, my eye still closes at times, and my speech gets slurred sometimes BUT, I can say there have been plenty of improvements along the way. I praise God for these and give Him all the honor and glory! I started a journal to log everything that I was going through with the prayer that someone might read it someday and it would be the encouragement they needed to go on in life. This is my prayer through all this ...that God will use this in someone else's life to encourage them. All of this has a ministry in it and I want God to use it for His honor and glory.

I would not have been able to continue without giving up if I did not know that I was able to keep going because God was giving me the strength to continue. It was when I was weak that God was able to show his strongest strength. 2 Corinthians 12:10, "For the sake of Christ I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." God can show out when I am weak and get out of the way so He can do "His thang!" Praise the Lord! I have been and continue to praise God through it all. I also put all the positives that I can find each day because they are things I can go back and read on the not-so-good days, These positives is what I praise God for and what I cling to through this. 

I do not want to forget how He has been by my side and has never and will never leave me.  "I will never leave you or forsake you." Hebrews 13:5.  It is so reassuring when I know that I am not going through all this alone. I have my supportive husband and family, but most of all I have God who is with me 24/7.

Whatever you may be facing today, you can do it! Please write Philippians 4:13 on index cards, on sticky notes, and put them on your computer, phone or desk. Have the reminder that you can do anything if you allow God to be your strength. I am not saying it will be easy, but the road traveled is much less bumpy when God is in the driver's seat. I just read yesterday in a devotional book, the author said God cannot drive a parked car. This means we need to make the first step, put the car in drive and move over and let God drive it. We are the co-pilot, not the pilot. God is our Pilot! This also means God is waiting for us to make the first attempt or step Then He can take charge and control God is in control and He does know best. He sees the big picture in which we only can see what's happening now.

I want you to know that I am here to listen to any prayer or concern that you might have. If you feel you can't write in the comments, my email is included below, or just put your name or even your email so I can get in touch with you to talk or just pray for you. I want you to know I am here to support, encourage, and pray for you.  MeeMee's Enlightening Moments