I'm "Special"!

Let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy.

Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

~ Psalm 5:11

 You know, it's amazing I made it out of childhood to grow up to adulthood. My mother said I was the child who put everything in my mouth. She caught me crunching up Christmas bulbs once and had to fish out the pieces of broken glass with her finger. Another time, she didn't even know I had swallowed one of those beaded chains that guys wear their military ID tags on until she changed my diaper. The second time I had my stomach pumped out at the doctor's office, I was an old pro at it and it never made an impression on me.  I bet you are wondering what I did, right? Well, I found and ate a whole bottle of baby aspirin. It tasted good, like orange candy.

The first time my stomach was pumped out, though, was a different story altogether. I remember minute details of that day. I was about four then, mom said. We went to visit Grandma and she had a 7Up bottle filled with dandelion poison she'd forgotten about out on the front lawn! Thinking it was soda pop with a funny lid, I wanted to drink it, but had to pry the lid loose first with my teeth. I remember the nasty acrid taste of the stuff. My dad caught me in the act, grabbed the bottle away from me, picked me up and ran for the house. Dad, mom, and grandma pumped me full of milk and my little sister too, then drove as quickly as they could down the bumpy dirt roads to the highway leading into the emergency room at the hospital eighteen miles away. I woke up in the middle of the procedure, scared out of my mind because of the extremely bright light overhead, tubes running down my nose and mouth and the straps which held me down to the operating table. When I began screaming, the nurse jumped and immediately put the mask over my nose which made me think, she's trying to kill me. Talk about nightmare city! The gas did the trick and the next thing I remember is waking up in a wet crib. Nursie came over to check on me and as she pulled me out to change my bedding, she said, as she pushed me towards the bathroom, "You really are too big to be doing that, you know." I never could figure out why I had to go the bathroom when it was obvious to me I had already done the deed! J

I've been cleaning out drawers and closets lately to take things to the charity thrift shop, so when I ran across the clothes sprinkler top I purchased several years ago at a flea market to remind me of God's hand of protection and goodness in my life, I returned it to my drawer. I'm sentimental that way.

1. I do thank God for his protection. I've had most of the usual scraps and bumps and diseases of childhood. I could have died from some of the things I've eaten, yet God has been watching over his child and I appreciate his love for me. I feel cherished and special.

2. I'm grateful for that angel girl who grabbed my hands and pulled me to the side of the pool at church camp when I was near to drowning.  Foolishly, I was crawling with my hands around the edge of the pool in water over my head by hanging on the water gutter before I had learned to swim. After my hands lost contact on a slippery part of the wall, she appeared, an answer to the help prayer I was yelling in my mind while fighting to stay on top of the water. It was a horrible feeling not being able to breathe nor being able to find the side again with my hands.

 

3. I'm thankful broken bones eventually heal -- let's see, I've broken my tailbone twice and broke a foot. And no telling how many times things reached out of the dark and grabbed my pinkie toes on my way past. However, I don't want the experience of a herniated disc again. Once was enough, thank you very much!

4. I'm grateful for those little gadgets that have made my life a little easier -- a telescoping magnet, a telescoping back scratcher, a telescoping shoe horn, a long-handled grabber, a long handled dust pan, a sock puller, a safety bar in the shower, a walker/cane, a wagon etc.

5. I'm thankful for the promise of heaven, of seeing Jesus and the saints! I don't know about you, but I will be rejoicing and having fun at my graduation party! I will eat at his banquet table without fear of adding to the thunder thighs with every bite! J ("The twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." ~ Rev. 5:8; "Then the angel said to me, "Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!" ~ Rev. 19:9; "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." ~ Rev. 21:4)

 

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