{"id":284,"date":"2010-10-03T22:21:26","date_gmt":"2010-10-03T22:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ultimatejoy.wordpress.com\/?p=284"},"modified":"2015-07-02T15:24:24","modified_gmt":"2015-07-02T22:24:24","slug":"seventy-percent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/?p=284","title":{"rendered":"Seventy Percent"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m scared.\u00a0 There are thunderheads forming on the horizon of my life\u2026huge, thick, menacing clouds carrying raging destruction.\u00a0 Normally, I\u2019m better at weathering the doom of an upcoming storm without the dread I now feel, but the truth is, I\u2019m just plain not up to the fight.<\/p>\n

Six weeks ago, I had surgery and in my silly, uneducated mind, I thought by now, I\u2019d be 100%.\u00a0 Recovery just can\u2019t come soon enough for me, and despite the blessing of seeing progress each and every day, I want to be my old self again \u2013 the self that can laugh in the face of thunder.<\/p>\n

I place my recovery at about seventy percent and long for the days when I can accomplish tasks without difficulty or pain.\u00a0 Deep within every cell of my being, I feel the need for rest. \u00a0I\u2019d like to hibernate through the winter and catch up with all of you in the spring.\u00a0 But, I can\u2019t do that, so each day, I push myself to do my best; knowing that I\u2019m not doing everything I could do before surgery.<\/p>\n

With or without surgery, life is tough.\u00a0 There are days when getting out of bed is a monumental struggle. God gave us these bodies knowing that they would feel used up, worn out and broken down.\u00a0 But He also gave us something else, and that\u2019s His presence, His unique love for us.\u00a0 The Lord told Jeremiah (1:8) \u201cDo not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.\u201d\u00a0 The Bible is filled with verses that say the same thing, \u201cI am with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Staying joyful in the midst of fear is challenging.\u00a0 But the plain truth is that I am better at 70% with God than I am at 100% without Him.\u00a0 With God, I can laugh at the distant thunder, can raise my head in praise as the wind whips up, can sing in the midst of a torrential downpour.\u00a0 That\u2019s because God is faithful and loving and much more powerful than any storm that comes my way. So even when I cry for hours that I\u2019m not fully recovered, I can still hear the whisper of God, \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid; I am with you.\u00a0 I love you more than you\u2019ll ever know.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why there is always joy despite life turning you sideways.\u00a0 I\u2019ve learned that even though there are things that tumble you end over end, with the awesome God we serve, when you come out the other side, you are precisely where God wants you to be: rescued by Him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m scared.\u00a0 There are thunderheads forming on the horizon of my life\u2026huge, thick, menacing clouds carrying raging destruction.\u00a0 Normally, I\u2019m better at weathering the doom of an upcoming storm without the dread I now feel, but the truth is, I\u2019m just plain not up to the fight. Six weeks ago, I had surgery and in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,5],"tags":[45,13,48,23,27],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1248,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions\/1248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}