The reason I was doing this was to find something that would go with the swirling grossness I am dealing with. Nothing fit. And I'm not going to take a picture of this subject -- I only share this because there is such great spiritual application.
There is a growing wart cluster on the top of one of my toes on my left foot. I've grown past the idea of it looking gross. What is not great is that it hurts lately (and has before). I have froze it three times. I have put regular wart stuff on. Part of it goes away then comes back. What was the most interesting and best treatment (which I plan on doing again once I find the duct tape) is to tape a piece of banana peel to it. It worked! It actually worked better than anything else. I guess it is the potassium in the peel that somehow destroys the wart.
I did this for a couple of weeks, changing the peel every other day. It got to the point where it barely noticeable. Plus, it didn't hurt.
Yesterday my husband brought home more bananas because my kids love bananas and I need a new banana peel. It doesn't hurt so bad that it keeps me up at night, but it hurts enough that I can't ignore it. Also when I put the peel on it it will burn for a while.
Why am I even sharing this? I guess because it is the gross swirly swirling around in my brain while I read Proverbs 31 and think about the application of the worthy wife is to my life. I don't have a spinning wheel or a spindle. I am not going to make myself scarlet clothes. I don't have a distaff and I don't really have any earnings at this time to buy a vineyard.
What I took from it was that it is all attitude baby. This lady saw herself as in charge of making sure everyone in her household had their needs met. She didn't waste her time. She was always thinking of other people.She helped. She taught with wisdom and kindness. She eagerly made things with her hands. Her mind was on God and others.....I bet she didn't have a pulsing wart on her toe though.
But she could have had something else -- like a ...well, you can fill that in yourself. She kept that confidence and go-getter attitude constantly.
That's what we gotta do. We have to take responsibility for our little worlds and do good to those in our lives and also do good and no harm to our physical worlds (man, this wart is telling me it is still here...darn it).
Besides the gross swirly inside my head I'm also asking God for wisdom (which He promises to give. James 1:5 says, "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.")
because my 13 year old is not himself. He can't tell me what's wrong. He can't speak. But he's had high fevers and he hurts. The doctor took blood tests. Some of his levels are high but not real high. He has inflammation in his system but not a lot. If the fevers persist he's going to have to have a CT scan to make sure he doesn't have appendicitis. On the drive home from the clinic I admit I cried. I was worried (not supposed to do that). I want to make the right decisions and sometimes it can be overwhelming when your child's health is on the line.
Back to the wart -- you know maybe if I put that banana skin on it faithfully until it is totally gone, it will be dead and stay dead and not come back - -kind of like when Jesus talks about the demons coming back into a clean up empty soul.....We can't stay empty. Fill ourselves up with the Spirit -- yes we have a part in that. We have to allow that feeling.
What am I doing??????? Who really wants to read these ramblings?
One more thing: I got several books in the mail yesterday. I need to write a review for each. One of them is Disability & The Gospel: How God uses our brokenness to display His grace. I wasn't sure what I'd think of this book. It could have been sappy and real surfacey.
I was and am pleasantly surprised. It is quite deep, and it already is getting me to rethink something I've believed for a long time. The author quotes a lot from scripture and other authors. Here is one from Joni Eareckson Tada:
"Does God cause blindness or does he allow it? Does he plan for a person to be born dead or does he permit it? In short, does God want disease? The key here is how we use the word 'want.' God doesn't want disease to exist in the sense that he enjoys it. He hates disease, just as he hates all other results of sin -- death, guilt, sorrow, for example. But God must want disease to exist in the sense that he wills or chooses for it to exist, for if he didn't, he would wipe it out immediately.
"God chooses to allow sickness for many reasons. One of those reasons is to mold Christian character. In this way God uses one form of evil, that is sickness, to help remove another form of evil -- personal sin.
"But more important, God is delaying closing the curtain on suffering until more of the world can have the chance to hear the Gospel. For if God erased all disease today, he would also have to erase sin, the general cause of disease, and that would mean the destruction of all people. It is God's mercy that delays his judgment!"
Tada is not saying that a child born with a disability is because he or the parents sinned. She is saying that original sin opened the world to suffering that we all must deal with and live with in some ways.
This post is way too long. I better go and you probably have to go too.