Female in Motion

Philippians 4:6-7 (KJV) Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. When I was young, and things would get me down, my dad would say to me, "Don't sweat the small stuff, Snooks." My thought life is something I have often battled--sometimes with better results than others. My brain seems to run on overdrive most days. During my adolescence, I allowed my emotions and overactive brain to govern my actions. It was a bad way to live. Once I committed my life to Christ, and came to know Him intimately through study of His Word, I realized that I had the cart before the horse. I am not at the mercy of my thoughts and emotions; I make the choices of what I think and feel, with God's guidance. Instead of the overblown--out of proportion--awfulizing thoughts, I can fight back...

Psalm 102:1-11 (KJV) Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top. Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass. Prayer sometimes feels like the last thing you want to do, when words are too hard, and the emotions well up and sp...

My war with cellulitis is over. I won, with God's help. The resulting lymphedema, however, has left me with a lifelong condition that I must battle until He takes me home. In April, I was hospitalized with a staph infection caused by a small cut on a finger on my right hand. Due to the fact that I lost most of the lymph nodes in my right arm during my breast cancer journey, my body had trouble fighting off the infection, and my arm swelled with thick lymphatic fluid. After spending four days as an in-patient in the hospital, and seven more as an out-patient, my doctor pronounced me infection-free. He referred me to a lymphedema-certified occupational therapist at Via Christi rehab hospital in Wichita. Anita taught me exercises to increase the strength and fluid movement in my arm, but the majority of the time spent together was bandaging. I had to learn a five-layer strategy to squeeze and cover the entire length of my right arm, from the tips of my fingers to the top of th...