Isaiah 40:29 “He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]” AMP

This Thursday I am thankful for “strength”. I have had some projects around my home that I have wanted to do for quite sometime. It involved rearranging my laundry room. I have had a laundry rack sitting in a box in my laundry room for quite some time. It has a shelf on the top and bottom and a hanging bar across the top. My husband hates to assemble things so I’m usually the one to do it. He did put together some very nice bookcases he got for my birthday a few years back but it’s not his favorite thing to do. Let me just say HGTV is NOT his favorite channel if you get my drift. So this week hubby and his brother went to Kentucky to visit their loved ones’  graves (parents, sister, aunts, and uncles).  They go every year around this time. It’s a beautiful drive with the foliage and time for them to spend together so I’m glad this has become somewhat of a tradition. So since me and my little dog Nuggett were here alone we decided we’d get industrious. That’s not always an easy thing for me because I suffer with chronic pain of the spine and fatigue.  So I asked the Lord to give me strength to get some of these things done. 

So first we tackled the laundry rack.  It went together very smoothly without any tools.  I put it in the position I have envisioned it in for quite some time and stood there admiring it. But after looking around I realized the laundry room had become a catchall for things to be placed and it’s not been a pretty sight. So as you know when one thing looks good then you have to fix everything else (she smilingly says).  So next I tackled the utility closet throwing away old bent curtain rods and broken mops and those things you put out of sight with every intention of getting back to it. Needless to say, I was so proud of my nice organized laundry room that I went on out to the kitchen and ended up rearranging all my cabinets. Wow, I could not believe how much I accomplished that first day.  In my younger days it would have taken me a half a day to do what I did the first day but I’m thankful I worked through the pain to get it accomplished.

On the second day of my solitude I took all the knick knacks off a large very high shelf we have in our family room and dusted and washed  them all and dusted all the ceiling fans and overhead lights.  Even though I was a bit ashamed of the dust that had accumulated I kept forging ahead all the while conversing with God (and Nuggett) about how I need to make some changes in my life. The last couple years after having a fusion in my neck and lower back problems some things have had to slide. I have no children or grandchildren or any other family living in my city so I have really no one to ask for help so I definitely need the Lord’s strength to get things done. Some days I feel like a turtle in my movement. I never thought I would be moving this slow as in the past people used to tell me they couldn’t believe how fast I walked. I always had a lot of energy and could get things done in a flash. This is something that can put me in a depression unless I determine to press through it only with the help pf the Lord. It’s been very humbling to me in a way.

Well needless to say in the past two days I conquered my laundry room, kitchen, and family room.  Hallelujah!! I was also counseled by the Holy Spirit through all of this work and been given some insight into some things I need to drastically change. I have known for quite some time that I have been spending and wasting too much time on the computer. As I told a friend recently, “Do I need to know what 300 people are doing all at the same time?” I think not. I thank God for the physical strength to get the things done that I did for the last two days but I also thank him for the emotional strength to admit to myself the things I need to cut back on and the things I need to pay more attention to.  So I am in the process of  re-priortizing my time.  I know it needs to be God and Bible study first, husband and home second, and all other things third.  I have been shown the last two days that I can stay off of my computer all day and the world will not end. After dinner I can sit down and go through my e-mail, check my Facebook, and Twitter . As I get things more organized I will be able to spend a little more time reading  the books I want to review here on my blog.  I feel that I am strive to blog at least three days a week.

I am far far away from being that Proverbs 31 woman but I thank the Lord for strength this week–physical and emotional and I ask for your prayers for my continuing strength to accomplish what God would have me to accomplish.

If you’d like to read some more Thankful Thursdays please visit the Grace Alone blog where you can join in if you are so led.