Counting My Days

“Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.” (Psalm 39:4)

Birthdays are cause for great celebration, and as I get older, I’ve noticed that I reflect more on my life and where I am at any given time. Birthdays mark milestones—when we’re young, we pass from childhood to teenage years to adulthood. Milestones don’t stop there, as we celebrate our entry into a new decade at each turn—30, 40, 50, then 65, 70, and so on, if we live long enough.

I celebrated my birthday last week, and while I’ll soon close out my forties, I’m still a couple of years away from entering that fifth decade of my life. (How has time gone by so fast?) I’ve accomplished many things, but I’m now at an age where I know certain things will not happen for me. Continue reading “Counting My Days”

A Limp and a Prayer

Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. (Jeremiah 17:14)

The past year has been rough on my health. Last September, my blood pressure, which had always been normal, suddenly spiked after a dizzy spell and didn’t go down for three days, prompting only my second ever trip to the ER. While in the ER, my blood pressure went up to 164/117—definitely scary territory, especially because I didn’t feel any differently. Months of appointments and tests followed that trip to the ER—appointments and tests that didn’t reveal anything out of the ordinary. Eventually, I was referred to a cardiologist who determined that my family history, rather than an underlying issue, had caught up with me. The good news is that with medication, my blood pressure is back under control. The bad news is that the medication zaps my energy and took months to adjust to, and there are still days that I struggle.

Continue reading “A Limp and a Prayer”