THE BATHING ROOM

Sometimes we take things for granted. Simple things such as being able to feed ourselves, dress ourselves, walk without assistance, and bathe ourselves and at any time we so desire. Well let me tell you, I am appreciating these things more and more.

I recently had knee replacement surgery (that’s another story) and spent several weeks in a rehab facility. Your meals are brought to you, you are assisted to the bathroom, helped out of bed, and helped to put your clothes on. I didn’t even think about a shower because of the staples and bandages, so the traditional sponge bath was given. I progressed pretty quickly so some things I was able to do for myself; however no shower. I begin to notice that there was not a shower in the room. Just as I was tiring of sponge bathing and was getting ready to inquire, in comes a certified nursing assistant (CNA) asking me if I wanted to take a shower. BE STILL MY HEART. I asked, “Even though I still had staples and a bandage?” She said, “Yes ma’am. We can work around that.” My CNA said she would come and get me after dinner. I also learned then that each person is scheduled a bath day. Mine were Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Oh, the excitement of imagining soap all over my whole body and not just parts of my body and HOT water streaming everywhere. I don’t know when I have had something so simple make me feel so excited. They usually come and help you gather all of your things but by the time she came back I had all of my stuff in a little pile on the bed.

Finally the bath. Backing up a little bit, each day that I was taken to physical therapy (PT) I saw this closed door titled Bathing Rooms. I wondered exactly what that was. Now I get to see. We go to the door and she opens it and TA-DA the bathing rooms. Nothing fancy but for me a welcomed sight. When you first walk in there is a big shower curtain that covers the whole entrance after the door. Then each individual shower room had it’s own shower curtain. Looking in each room was like looking at the chairs in the children’s story, The Three Bears. One room had a bed with plastic padding. The next room had this super large chair with a doughnut shaped seat. The last room was the same except it had a much smaller chair. Each room was the size of three or four regular showers put together.

I picked my room and the CNA helped me with my clothes. No shame. No modesty. I needed help to bathe and I was ready for that shower. When I lathered up and that hot water hit me, OH MY what delight. My CNA  was there to help me with my back and feet and she even shampooed my hair. After the shower I felt like a new woman.

It’s the little things. If we can just appreciate the little things that God has given, know that there is delight in everything that God has created, we will soon realize that there are no LITTLE things.

 

 

Faith

The Bible says; Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrew 11:1 (KJV). The ISV states, Now faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists. Simply put, on payday we don’t need to have faith that we are getting our pay check because we have worked all week for that money. Real faith is believing in what seems impossible, that there is absolutely no solution yet we trust that our prayers will be answered. The Bible tells us we don’t need much faith, just the size of a mustard seed (Mat 17:20 and Luke 17:6). If we use what little faith to trust that God will take care of any situation then that faith will continue to grow. God is the answer to all of our problems no matter how big or how small. Just Jane’s point of view

 

 

 

Prayer Works

When my husband was transferred to Florida, we went there early to look for a house. If any of you have ever gone house hunting you know how tedious and time consuming it can be — looking at many houses that fit your personal preferences, trying to keep within your budget, making an offer, waiting for answers —  you know the drill. To make matters worse, we only had a few days to accomplish all of this, so the pressure was on.

The realtor my husband’s company provided for us took us around the city and we found the perfect house but it was above our price range. We told the realtor what we wanted to offer; however she said she was pretty sure the amount would not be accepted as it was below the selling price. Plus, another couple had offered the same exact amount the day before and that offer was refused. My husband said to make the offer anyway. The realtor told us she would make the offer but we probably would not hear back from her until the afternoon the next day.

At the hotel we discussed what we would do if the offer was not accepted as we only had one day left to find something. We decided that before we went to bed we would pray and that’s just what we did. We held hands and prayed to God that this is the house we wanted but whatever His will was we would be content.

At 7:30 am, not the afternoon, we were awakened by a phone call. It was the realtor. She was so excited that she kept saying, “I just can’t believe it! The offer was accepted!” She kept repeating it over and over, “I can’t believe it!” but we knew — Prayer works.