Raining, at times, in our neck of the woods, sky is grey.  And we are told we will get more of it, although it will quiet down through the rest of the week, and who knows, if they are right, we might even see sun this weekend.

Carla was called into work, to help cover breaks, not sure how long she will be working on her day off, but there is enough rain that she would prefer to be inside anyway.

But it definitely makes the hills around us green and pretty.  In a few short weeks they will turn brown from lack of moisture but they are a pretty green color now.

Just got back from therapy and really feeling it today.  I must have slept wrong on the shoulder because it was already sore, bit more right now.  Did get a good workout and doing fine – just keep reminding myself that it is better than going through surgery.

He put my on a hand paddle machine, bicycle with hand peddles, no foot paddles; as a warm up.  I was just sitting down when a young lady got on a treadmill across the room and started running, and doing it without having to use handrails to steady herself; she didn’t slow down the entire 10 minutes I was there – I know, that isn’t all the unusual, except it is for me and my treadmill; and I definitely felt the difference.

Several years ago I got Mom’s treadmill.  It has several ‘speeds’ on a sliding control.  From warm-up/cooldown to fat burn to aerobic to Performance on one side; slow, about half way up the scale and fast at the top on the other side of the control.

I have never made it out of the warm-up mode, not to mention even hitting the slow mode side – even at four miles an hour I used to get to on some regularity.  AND, I use the guard rails to maintain my balance.  I get to where I am going, but it takes a while longer.  As a fellow ‘older generation participant’ at the gym said, nice to be young.

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“I believe if you keep your faith, you keep your trust, you keep the right attitude, if you are grateful, you’ll see God open up new doors.”  Joel Osteen

Genesis 50:19-20 “And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?

²⁰ But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”  KJV

I don’t know how many times I found/find myself where I didn’t want to be, where I was completely unsure as to what to do or where to go.

It seemed(s) that I had fallen into a deep well with no way to climb out.  Frankly, there were times I panicked, and charged in without taking time to talk to God – invariably that was a mistake.

I have learned that God does allow us to go through things we believe are going to hold us down, or even destroy us.  IF we trust in Him, as Daniel did, we may go through many years of wondering about our situation.  But thankfully we can read the examples of Godly men and women; and remembering how many of God’s people have gone through similar and even far worse challenges and came out on the other side stronger and more effective servants of God helps.

God allowed satan to challenge Job.  In the end, Job came out stronger and more powerful in his life on earth and in his testimony to the goodness of God; BECAUSE, he trusted God throughout his ordeal.

As my granddaughter asks, ‘what am I going to learn today?’ we should take that same attitude about how we are going to learn to live a more effective life for Him, today.

God has a lesson for us every day that will build us up – even if we feel it is bringing us down, we just have to look for it with that same eye-wide innocence of a child.

Later, Art (-: