Vision

We see and find what we look for.
When I look for sadness, fear, pain they are easily found.
I am not exempt from their influence.
Sometimes they find me.
Unasked for, they invade my personal space. 
But, I do not have to dwell in their presence alone.
I can choose to look for hope, joy, peace, rest, love, contentment.
They make take a little more effort to discover, 
but they are available, even in the midst of sadness, fears, pain.
Daily, I have to choose what I am going to look for.

The sun rises.
Every day.
I wake up.
Every day.
(Sometimes more than once.)
At some point, I make the choice to leave the safety of the covers.
One leg at a time, over the side of the bed, sometimes slowly.
Pull back the black out curtains.
Raise the room darkening blinds-
discover if outside is as dark as it appeared or if the sun is shining.
Bathroom visit.
Back and knee strengthening/stretching exercises have become a regular part of my AM routine.
Quiet time-reading the Word, praying, thinking, journaling, basking in God's presence, is a life sustaining experience every morning.
I could not face the day without it.
Shower, dress for what I think the day holds.
Sometimes I take a little more time to sit in the glider again before I open the door and leave my room.
No two days hold the same events or people,
but each day is somehow filled.
The day passes.
Evening comes.
The sun goes down.
Every day.
Night falls.
Every day.
Lower the blinds.
Close the black out curtains.
Get ready for bed.
Write in my Blessings journal-
"Today I was given the gift of..."
Write in my calender things I want to remember about the day.
Struggles and victories.
Pray through my prayer sheets.
Turn off the lights.
Try to sleep.
Praying for rest.
The sun rises.
Every day.
And for each day I am given that I too can rise, I will.
I refuse to allow 
fear
pain
worry
anxiety
frustration
disappointment
to completely immobilize me.
I may move slower some days than I do other days,
but I will keep walking, 
as far as I am able, 
trusting God to continue to provide what I need, when I need it.
I choose to live allowing the power of God to work in me.

"...I bow my knees before the Father,...that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations... I ... urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called..."

Ephesians 3:14-4:1

“...do not be anxious about your life, 

what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Matthew 6:25-33