Tag: health

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Christianity Life momentous events More about me

In which I contemplate how amazed I shouldn’t be

I keep telling people how amazed I am at my quick recovery from the evil back injury I suffered recently.

Monday 25th June, 10am. The last Monday of term. The doctor who was treating me said he thought I’d be immobile for two weeks, and he’d be able to get me back to ‘normal’ (mostly pain-free) mobility by the end of 5-6 weeks.

Shock doesn’t even remotely describe how I felt. But then again, I was also in childbirth-like agony at the time, and my brain cells weren’t firing anywhere near their usual capacity.

I left the doctor’s office and called my boss, relayed the news, emailed my colleagues. Put the diagnosis out on Facebook. Then I received message after message after message, from friends and family near and far, who offered their support – and their prayers.

I was touched. (And in agony. And tears – many, many tears.) But determined to do everything I could to aid the healing process. The doctor had said ‘ice’? I’d be the ice queen! He’d said ‘horizontal’? I wouldn’t move a muscle!

(Admittedly, the phrase ‘off work for the rest of the week’ did *not* mean that – ask my Mum, who watched me plough through marking paper after paper, responding to email after email, proofing and writing report after report, all in a horizontal position either facedown or face up, ten minute interval changes, non-stop, from 5am until 9pm-ish!)

And wouldn’t you know it, but by Friday 2pm I was back at school. On crutches, but vertical. Yes, you’re probably thinking, ‘stupid!’ but I’d missed the kids terribly and wanted to see them before they left on two-and-a-half-weeks holiday, pray with them and for them, and testify to them just how amazingly their prayers for me had worked. That I was vertical, and walking on crutches, and was amazed at my recovery – but SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN!

Because I’d been holding fast to James 5:16. Especially the second part:

“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

Because I knew what the doctor didn’t – that the God who had made me, and who had let me go through this experience for His own good reasons, was able to heal me as well, for His own good reasons.

And He was doing exactly that! I should not have been able to be mobile – and yet, I was. And now, two weeks later, I should be starting to achieve pain-free mobility – and yet, I have it! Sure, sometimes it’s uncomfortable, but I’m just happy to be upright and without crutches 🙂

And in conversations with many, many, many others since then, I’ve been telling them how amazing my recovery has been – and then realising, over and over and over again, how amazed I should NOT be by this.

Wow, our God is an incredible God, isn’t He?

I hope you too, dear Reader, are having an AMAZING day today 🙂

And see you next week!

– KRidwyn

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#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity teaching Work

Sipping from the saucer #28

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me. And finally – nearly 9pm on the second last day of June – blessing #28.

So if you’ve been reading recently, you’d know that I injured my back (herniated two discs) last Saturday, and spent pretty much this whole week on painkillers and icing my back FAR more regularly than I’d like, in between spinal adjustments at the doctor. By yesterday afternoon I could handle over 45 minutes before it started getting uncomfortable – and the doctor was surprised when I walked into his office without the assistance of crutches. The power pf prayer, huh? Because James 5:16 is DEFINITELY one I’ve been holding on to this week!

Anyway, today was the last day of school before our mid-year holidays. I’d organised a HEAP of stuff to happen this week at school, and unfortunately had been away for all of it. But I *really* missed the kids, and seeing as it was really going to be problematic for Hubby to pick up our cherubs this afternoon, I thought I’d brave the sitting and the driving, and go collect them. And arrive early enough to see the donations we’d collected at our major fundraiser for the semester, being given to the representatives of the animal shelter we’d fundraised for at our final assembly.

And thus: my blessing for the day. No sooner was I out of the car than Middle Schoolers saw me. “Mrs Bloxham! Mrs Bloxham! You’re here! How are you? Wow! You’re here!” – a veritable chorus of kids who were surprised and pleased to see me, who wanted to wish me well, who’d heard of my injury and who had been praying for me -it was SO beautiful, to be welcomed back so warmly!

And thus ends my litany of blessings for this year’s #blogJune. Tomorrow’s post, my final one for the month, will be a ‘wrap up’ post. And then the blog will return to its regular Monday morning post. And yay for that, cos I’m tired!

Anyway, here’s hoping that your day was a blessed one too, dear Reader 🙂

— KRidwyn

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#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity Reading Writing

Sipping from the saucer #27

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

And now, blessing #27: the books Mum ordered for my birthday – which arrived in time for her to bring when she came to stay on Monday just gone 🙂

I’m partway through WRITING WITHOUT RULES by Jeff Somers – laughing my way through, more accurately. It’s a great read, and I’m learning about the writing craft at the same time, so a twofer and I like that 🙂

And what with the holidays officially starting this afternoon, and my (meant to be) being on minimal movement in an upright position… having a second brand new book to look forward to is a wonderful thing!

Here’s wishing you a blessed day too, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

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#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity family anecdotes

Sipping from the saucer #26

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

And now, blessing #26. Because I could NOT have done the last week that I’ve done, without this amazing lady. She has been there for me, and for Hubby, 24/7, full of enthusiasm and ‘nothing is too hard for me to do for you’ attitude.

Always and forever, my inspiration. And I KNOW that she’ll be horrified to be on here, and to be acknowledged, but… Mum, you’re the best. Thank you for everything – for giving me life and for helping me to live it 🙂 and even for the toasted mince sandwich you’re making me for lunch so I can sit here and catch up on #blogJune posts 🙂

And, dear Reader, I trust that you’ll be noticing those in your life who are the blessings that they are to you, too!

Have a great day, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

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#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity More about me places to visit

Sipping from the saucer #25

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

And now, blessing #25. Trying to madly catch up on #blogJune posts now I’m relatively pain-free and able to be upright for more than 5 minutes at a time… in fact, now it’s more like almost an hour before it starts getting significantly uncomfortable.

And why? Because of these people.

I’d never had much to do with chiropractors before. Now, I see why so many do.

I can walk! Which is something I couldn’t say just 5 days ago 🙂 So thank you, Dr Matthew Smith, for your expertise! It was a blessing.

And I pray that you too, dear Reader, are having a blessed day too 😀

— KRidwyn

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#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity momentous events

Sipping from the saucer #24

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

Today, blessing #24. And yes, it’s super late because on Saturday last, when I picked up the heavy washing basket full of wet towels, I felt my spine ‘give’ and thought to myself ‘Great – not – I’ve thrown my back out again.’

But the truth became more clear with x-rays on Monday late morning. Nope – it was a herniated disc. Hmmm.

But back to the blessing: between the pain and the x-ray, guess what Hubby went and bought for me:

What a good man I have – and what a relief to be able to live in a country and have sufficient funds to be able to purchase pain meds!

Here’s hoping you also had a blessed day, dear Reader 🙂

— KRidwyn

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#blogjune Blogging challenges

Sipping from the saucer #21

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

And now? For blessing #21.

And this post *should* have been published yesterday – but with the craziness of this week, I’m going to chalk that one up to ‘lack of timely organisation’ and smile cheesily at you. Sorry about that.

This blessing comes courtesy of Miss10, who I’m guessing was inspired to look for blessings while reading this blog the other day. You see, yesterday afternoon, Mr9 vomited.

He’s not normally a vomit-y child; it’s been while since he’s done so. But yesterday afternoon was one such occasion.

It wouldn’t have been too bad if we hadn’t been driving home at the time. Or if he’d warned me. Or if I hadn’t been in the fast lane, on a traffic-laden main road.

Oh well. This stuff happens.

So how is this a blessing exactly, you may be asking? You know, I was thinking exactly that when Miss10 suggested it too.

The blessing comes when you realise that yesterday, I was driving our Toyota Aurion. The six year old car, which I wasn’t actually meant to be driving. The car I *was* meant to be driving was the 3 week old Toyota HiLux.

Aha! The blessing!

I have a feeling that Hubby would have hit the roof had our son decided to redecorate the inside of the new car. The old one? It was, well, not quite ‘okay’ but certainly a lot more palatable. (Ha! Wrong word right there, yes? Although I’m chortling as I type, so maybe it was the right word for me… now I’m cleaned up the entire mess, and slept, so it’s yesterday’s story and not today’s reality LOL)

Anyway, I’m choosing to agree with Miss10. Thank you, LORD, that I had driven the Aurion yesterday. Because cleaning that one, was far preferable!

Here’s hoping you could find blessings in your day too, dear Reader 🙂

– KRidwyn

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#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity Random thoughts

Sipping from the saucer #18

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

Today, blessing #18.

It’s a busy time of term (of semester, actually) at work – I’ve noticed I’m pulling more hours just to get things done, and the amount of time I’m spending staring at my laptop screen is just sad.

I’ve also noticed I’m wearing my glasses more and more. I can complete work faster if I’m wearing them, so they’re on my eyes while I’m at my desk, more often than not.

And I’m starting to realise just how much I’m relying on them. Not that that’s a bad thing; it’s probably just an ‘inevitable’ thing, instead. But no, it’s just that today I was thinking: I’m glad I have them. I’m glad I have the opportunity to put something on my eyes to assist me in doing the things I need (or want!) to do. So many? Don’t. I wouldn’t want to hazard a guess at exactly how many people there are in this world, who need assistance just to be able to see, but who can’t get that assistance for a variety of reasons.

So that’s what I want to thank my God for today. For the sense of sight. And even though it may not be what it once was, for the blessing I have of owning a pair of glasses which assist me to still read, and write, and… well, everything.

They’re pretty cool 🙂

Here’s wishing you a blessing-full day as well, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

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#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity

Sipping from the saucer #10

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

Today: blessing #10.

As part of the ‘new membership’ package at my new gym, I was offered a free ‘create a workout program’ session with the Head Personal Trainer. I felt pretty bad, because the Head Personal Trainer then had to arrive at his gym at stupid o’clock, because I normally work out from 4.30-5.15am. I apologised in advance, and we set the appointment for 4.45 this morning.

Fortunately, last night I mentioned this appointment to my husband, who woke me at 4.15am with ‘didn’t you need to be going about now?’
I jumped up, was dressed and out of the door in 2 minutes, and arrived at 4.35… but HPT was already there. Whoops!!

Never mind. He put me through my paces; and my left tricep is currently screaming, thank you very much, so I guess that’s all fair 😛

Blessing number 10? A thoughtful husband, without whom I would have been even more embarrassed than I already was.

Have a great day, dear Reader! Be blessed today!
– KRidwyn

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#blogjune Blogging challenges

Sipping from the saucer #9

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

Today: blessing #9.

And seeing as yesterday’s post, blessing #8 (published earlier today; sorry about that!) was an image, I thought I’d do likewise today. Because today I want to talk about my new gym.

I joined on the 31st of May, and had my first session on June 1st. And I’ve been going regularly (4 to 6 days per week, depending on other commitments) since then.

And I’m loving it! This was what it looked like this morning…

no other people. And because no-one was there to listen to – or even program – the centre-wide sound system, there was no other noise, either… exactly how I like my workouts 🙂

I unlocked the place. I turned on lights and equipment. I turned off equipment, and lights, and then locked up when I left.

It was just about the workout. And that’s perfect for me.

What a blessing, hey?

Here’s wishing you (again!) a blessed day today, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn