A Year Ago and Today

I openly admit to the fact that I am in the final quarter of the game, BUT thank you Lord for calling me off the bench and into the game. A year ago today I was in NYC with the Parkinson Unity Walk with many of my friends from Patientslikeme.com. I was in a wheel chair and 65 pounds heavier. My hair was grey and for all intents and purposes, really thought I was headed rapidly to meet my maker face to face. As for last year, in April, I went to NYC, I was working on quilts for PDF, running three blogs, taking care of my 87 year old mom and decided to fall in love....I had my right hip replaced, got contacts, some new teeth and cloths and dropped out of sight to almost everyone. For this I my apologize......My team at the walk last year came in 13th place and collected around $15,000.00 for research....but as I changed within, I could no longer put all of me before the general public like before. A total makeover is a scary thing to go through, both inside and out and the continual fatigue and pain from Parkinson's never let up. No longer was it all about my chronic diseases and those who shared them with me.....it was me desperately trying to relearn how to love and be the healthiest I could be to recover and recover I did. I hit the road Monday with the old passion and then some...The fire is back in my eyes, hopefully for good . My love is the best, as are my friends who have helped me through this with wisdom and patience. Often they had to tell me things I didn't want to hear but I knew they were right. Tuesday I went to a symposium in Effingham , Ill. It was at the last minute and on dimincia and it was awesome. Dr Kuhn spoke at one of the breakouts and I made so many new friends....exchanged hugs and stories of encouragement. Wednesday we had our Lenten luncheon at church and once again it was awesome. Some of the things I wrote down in my notebook to remember were these: Jesus is the Lamb of God and the Good Sheppard. We can not hide from him. He can always find us...whether we think we need to be found or not. Our bodies are a temple, a house of prayer and we need to treat it as such. Our mouths need to be open and telling the story for all to hear. Jesus chose the downward demotion instead of up. He lowered himself to servitude and ultimately went to the cross for us. In all of this I had the thought. Who is keeping me from being the House of Prayer that my Lord wants? It's Me. I ask to be healed and he answered, "You Are.... Have faith, You are.' In this past eleven months, every sermon I heard, every passage I read in my "Gift Bible" was aimed toward my makeover and when I lost my way or did not understand he furnished me someone to explain and when I stub bled, I felt him giggle. Thursday I opened my email to the statement that the very first person I went to visit after being diagnose with PD was to have DBS surgery in St.Louis on Friday. Joanie is a woman of faith and a true inspiration. She knows her maker and is not afraid to let the world know who she is and what she thinks.......Praise the Lord for that. I hurried up and took off for STL with PLM's 2009 Unity Quilt, hoping to have it on her bed when she returned from surgery......Not knowing what I would find, I prayed the whole way there that I not cry when I saw her. There where 98 tornadoes that evening in our area BUT my Miss Joanie was perfect.....sitting up in bed and smiling. Alert and even walking back and forth in the hall. We talked about three hours and I left her with the quilt on her bed for comfort from all who had had a part in it. I left there ready to concur the world and what did I hear on my radio in the car? Bob Seger's "Beautiful Loser. A loser I am not, nor beautiful but I had set MY goals and they were not GOD'S goals. It's time to start listening better and as my grand kids say, "Get over it." The game is playing and we COULD WIN....Just get off the bench and join the game........love ya always Pokie