Praise Break

The smell of tar is in the air. Seems as if all the condos and town homes on our street are doing major roof repairs. It is not the scent of spring exactly, but it heralds the news that soon it will be way too hot to do this major reconstruction. The scent of fresh cut lumber is in the air at church. As the CLC becomes ready as our worship center it signals the beginnings of all things new. I will tell you the faithfulness of God is a fresh fragrance every moment of the day. If we pay attention, we will take in that refreshing scent of God.

So right now I need to stop and give God praise and glory and thankfulness from the bottom of my heart. I am shouting His praises from the third floor...He is King and He is mighty God. He cares about the big and little concerns and events of our lives. He surrounds us with favor as a shield!!!

Here is the story. Circumstances have kept me from renewing my passport until today. Roy has scheduled me several times on his calendar and each time something has come up. No time for a visit to the passport office. I asked him to go with me to renew my passport. Since it has been way over the time limit of doing it by mail, my journey is the downtown post office. I picked him up from his office and we made it over to the PO. On the front door a sign informs us the passport office and retail lines would be closing at 3:30 today. It was 3:12. We went to the office and there wasn't one person in line. We entered and asked if she would have time to process my passport renewal. Of course she replied and where upon, she sat me down to take my picture. She then realized that she needed to close down shop and move things to lock the door. Sweet hubby asked if he could help her while I filled out the renewal form. And she took him up on his offer. I am scribbling down all my memorized facts of my life. Trying to beat the deadline. She is talking to me, Roy is talking to me and I answer the best I can while giving all my concentration to the form at hand. Now you know I had an I Love Lucy moment... The episode when she barely made it to the passport office with Fred and Ethyl and she is trying to beat the time deadline. She is woozy from too much sea sickness medicine and can barely stand. They make the deadline because Fred has unplugged the clock to give Ricky time to get there to identify her as his spouse. Times were so different back in the 1950's. Back to 2008, I have the form filled out till the STOP HERE instruction. She administers an oath and I respond yes. For a moment I thought about raising my right hand and swearing on the New Testament in my purse, but the verbal response is all she is looking for. I had mentioned to her I wanted to pay for the expedited service. She only had charged me for regular. So, I quickly wrote another check. We exchanged good bye pleasantries, she unlocked the door and we were on our way, with 4 minutes to spare.

Roy and I got in the car and I said, "Roy, that was such a God thing!" Y'all He did it all. I haven't told you all about the reaction I have had to the new meds I am taking for my knees. Thanks for praying about that. I did have a reaction to it the first night, but since then it has been great. The side effect for me on this pain medication is, I am so focused. My mind which is whirling around with A D D, no attention span and lack of focus all the time, performed like a well oiled machine. I was thinking with focus and intentionality. I don't know that I would have been able to fill out the form in a timely manner otherwise, because of all the distractions. So, I should have my new passport by the end of March. Praise Him!!!

On a knee note- while I am waiting on the OK from our insurance company for the injections on my knees, I am taking pain medicine and an anti-inflammatory. My knees have not felt so pain free in a long time. I know this is temporary until the next step...ha ha...but it feels so good not to have bone shattering pain with every step I take.

Thanks for taking this praise break with me.