TerryLema

Recently I missed church service three weeks in a row. I had a cold and cough that did not want to let go. Finally, I was able to attend church on the first Sunday of November. What a delight!

The moment I stepped into the lobby of CFC Middleton, I felt like I had come home. I got to hug people I had not seen for a month. While I did not sing much during the worship service because I was afraid I would start a coughing spell, I did get to hear the praises of people around me. Then I received a good boost of encouragement in the preaching of God’s Word.

When I walked out the door, I felt refreshed and full of joy.

November is my month to do a deep dive of thanksgiving to the LORD for all those things He has bestowed upon me and upon all His children. Today I want to thank Him for my church family.  My natural family is small, three children and their partners. Grandchildren. My brother. Other than that, I have little or no contact with natural family except an occasional FB post.

But my church family! God has brought me into fellowship with great and wonderful people. I have been abundantly blessed by them in the past and am being blessed by them in the present. I look at their faces on Sunday morning and my heart swells with joy.

“Let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” [Hebrews 10:24-25 HCSB]

Thank you, LORD, for my church family. Amen

I was born in Philadelphia shortly after the end of WWII. My parents took me back to their hometown in Western Pennsylvania when I was just a few months old. I grew up in a little town outside of Pittsburgh called Charleroi.

My father worked for Corning Glass and then in the steel mills. Sometimes he had to work out of town and only came home on weekends. I remember times when he was out on strike, and we stood in line for the food given to those who worked the picket lines.

My parents did not have much money.  At Christmases, my brother and I would alternate who got the “big” gift and who got the small one. I remember one year I wanted a bike, but it was my brother’s year for the big gift. I was shocked on Christmas morning when there were two bikes under the tree. I still don’t know how my parents made that happen.

I also remember the following summer when that bike remained in Pennsylvania while we packed the car with what we could take to California. My parents had enough of the strikes and accepted an invitation from mother’s aunt to move where my dad could find steady work.

Maybe that is why I am so moved each time I read Peter’s description of what we are when we surrender our lives to Him.  “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” [1 Peter 2:9 HCSB]

Instead of a poor little girl in a nothing little town, I am a chosen race and a holy nation. Instead of a little girl holding her dad’s hand waiting in line for milk and cheese and bread, I am a royal priesthood. Instead of a heartbroken little girl leaving her most prized possession, her beloved bike, and moving 3000 miles away, I am a possession of the King of Kings and LORD of Lords (with all the benefits and privileges that accord).

Thank you, LORD, for calling me out of darkness and into Your marvelous light. Amen.

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetic in 1999. The first thing I did was lose about 110 pounds. Since then, I have mainly managed it with diet and exercise. That ended when I acquired two auto-immune diseases about four years ago. The medications I needed to maintain control of them meant I lost control of the diabetes. My doctor prescribed plain old insulin.

About a month ago, I experienced a middle of the night event. I awoke in a cold sweat. When I tried to stand up my legs were shaky. I felt as if I was going to collapse. I took a blood glucose reading and found it was 47—way low. (Around 40 is when you can experience convulsions, coma, even death.)

When I told my doctor about it, she had me come in and talk to a young pharmacist, who asked me why I wasn’t on a continuous glucose monitor that would warn me of such events. I told her I tried a few months ago to get one approved, but the insurance company said I only took two insulin injections a day instead of the required three for coverage. She said, “nonsense, anyone on insulin needs one,” left the room and came back with one (and insurance company approval).

Over the next week, I experienced three warnings of low blood sugar in the middle of the night. I never knew that was happening. She changed my medication and I have not had another one.

Now I know that was a lot to read about something that probably doesn’t apply to you. But let me tell you what else happened. For two years I have been experiencing an unexplainable fatigue. I have had about every test you can take to find the cause, and nothing has been identified. Since I have eliminated (apparently) the middle of the night low blood sugar events, my unexplainable fatigue has vanished. I still have fatigue that can be explained … but the other is gone.

As I was thanking God this morning, I realized that I experienced Romans 8:28 and knew that I did in the space of three weeks. Usually, it takes me years to realize the “for the good,” but not this time. “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.” [Romans 8:28 HCSB]

Thank you, LORD, that you can work all things “for the good” of those who love You. Amen!