31 Wonderful Things Severe Pain Taught Me

19 Wednesday Oct 2016

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, allsparkledup, encouragement, God, Inspirational, nature, Scoliosis, Uncategorized

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All Sparkled Up, allsparkledup, encouragement, inspirational, nature, pain, photography

31 Wonderful Things Severe Pain Taught Me

He gave me a bouquet.

1. Your mind is very powerful. “Mind over matter” makes sense when you’re dealing with crippling pain. Fill your mind with wisdom and knowledge. There is plenty of room for thoughts that aren’t related to your pain at all.

2. You’ve heard it said, but those who have been there truly know: You ARE much stronger than you ever thought humanly possible. If you think today’s pain is a 10, downgrade it to a six. Then rejoice that you’re still 4 away from max.

3. There may or may not be another day. But time is on your side. Time is not the enemy because God is in charge of your time. And God never makes mistakes.

4. You CAN adapt.

5. These statements are simultaneously true: Things can always get worse… AND… This is the worst it will ever get. Which means this moment, right here, right now, can be the most fantastic moment you’ve ever had. Make it that way.

6. There are many ways of coping with pain. If one way doesn’t work, try something different.

7. Laughter can be The Best Medicine Ever. You’ve got to try it! Read humor, watch comedy, laugh with family and friends. Don’t just hope laughter might happen, deliberately make it happen.

8. Distractions are valuable. Listen, taste, see, smell, feel something new. Enjoy it slow.

9. Friends are pure gold, whether they’re wearing skin or fur.

10. Don’t let the sick part of you stop the healthy part of you. Let pain take up only its own space. If your head hurts but your hands are fine, let your hands delight in the day.

11. It’s never too late to learn something new, even something challenging. Learn a new language, study geography, literature, science, art.

12. There is a time to fight pain and a time to roll with pain. When pain is an ocean, be a fish.

13. Always take a little less pain medication than you need. Learn to be comfortable with pain instead of always trying to banish it.

14. Be glad if you have identified your pain-bearing limit. Then work to stretch it further.

15. You CAN do this! You can live WITH pain. Don’t listen to any voices that say you can’t. Don’t listen to voices that only want to lay pity on you. They aren’t helpful and you end up stuck in a swamp.

16. It’s OK to cry. Let your eyes express and acknowledge pain. But remember to let your mouth smile. Your mouth is good for that.

17. Pain is divisive. It will divide parts of your body from functioning together. It will divide people from functioning together. Fight against further dysfunction. Recognize the crevasses caused by pain and build bridges to go over.

18. Remember that this life is not the end. We were created to live after our bodies can’t go further. This life is the path to the next.

19. Pain is a heavy weight, sticky and personal. Don’t make your pain an issue that pulls others down into the stickiness. Let others help lift you up from it.

20. Pain is a noun. Give it a name… like Motivator, Teacher, or Police. Artist, Poet or Musician. Rest or Transformation. Never let pain become Politician, Spoiled Child, Bully or Tyrant. Make your pain the noun you want to live with.

21. Pain is a story, with a beginning, middle and end. Write the story you want pain to be.

22. If you face pain, face it fully. If you run from pain, don’t miss the scenery.

23. You do have a strong will. But maybe you let it get weak. Work at strengthening your will power.

24. Pain is dark. Find ways to add more light. There are always ways to add light. Find ways to “Be the Bright.”

25. There will always be something excellent that you can derive from pain. Don’t look for the damage pain caused, look for the benefit.

26. Don’t confuse fear with pain. Fear can be conquered even if pain can’t be.

27. Everyone has pain. You are NOT alone.

28. Pain can be ugly or beautiful. You’re in charge of that.

29. Don’t let pain get louder than it should be. Pain only has a voice if you give it one. If Pain needs to speak, try letting it speak through writing, through painting, through music. Some of the most beautiful art in this world was created with pain.

30. Listen to other people. Even if that’s all you can do, it’s ok to just listen.

31. God is here now and he knows everything about pain. Have some great discussions on the topic with him.

I’m praying for you. Sometimes it’s not about the completed painting, the final finish line. Today there is beauty in the brushstrokes, the breaths taken one after the other. Today the beauty is in the heartbeat and the single footstep, the eye contact and hand holding.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Every breath has enormous value.

You can do this!

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Never Never Never give up

09 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by Julia Monroe in allsparkledup, calligraphy, God, Inspirational, words

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All Sparkled Up, hope, inspirational, paper crafts

Some days are just plain hard. But God is powerful enough, loving enough and HERE enough to repair even the greatest brokenness.

Never give up.

Sunset Beach encouragement

23 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, allsparkledup, encouragement, God, nature, photography, Scripture, sunset

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allsparkledup, encouragement, light, ocean, photography, scripture, sunset

It’s ok. Trust God. He’s not silent.

Roses peeking in the window!

15 Friday May 2015

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, encouragement, flowers, gardening, God, Inspirational, nature

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All Sparkled Up, allsparkledup, encouragement, flowers, gardening, God, inspiration, nature, New Dawn, roses, window

I can’t count the number of friends whose lives are really complicated right now. I’m included in that number. So many troubles are weighing heavy on our hearts. But through it all, God is still there and still in charge.

This year, he gave me a little surprise again. Several weeks ago, I noticed New Dawn rose buds in the window!

The New Dawn rose has grown all the way up to my second story kitchen window again.

New Dawn rose buds peek in the kitchen window.

My kitchen window is on the second floor and I don’t have planters in the windows. The patio isn’t finished, the paint is peeling, lots of things are falling apart.

The patio is still unfinished.

Due to disability, I had to let a lot of things go, such as pruning and training the New Dawn rose bush. Just when it was getting to a good age to work with, my spine was collapsing so there were a half dozen years that disappeared.

The New Dawn rose bush is an untrained mess, tangled up with the honeysuckle bush.

Those were the thorn years. Lots of tangles and brambles.

We have to be careful walking down the stairs because the railing is lined with large, sharp thorns.

Even then, good things keep growing. Never forget that… GOOD THINGS KEEP GROWING.

Look how far that rose has grown! All the way to the window!

All the way up to my kitchen window, the rose bush reached.

The roses didn’t care that the paint was peeling.

Does God know where we are? Does he know our dark space? Can he see our need for beauty and goodness?

Yes, God is aware. He knows what we need. And all those little buds lined up in my window to say Good Things Keep Growing.

The roses are blooming now. But the weight of them is pulling the vine over.

I put three nails and a loose wire up to hold the roses up so I can see them from the kitchen again.

Roses in the window!

And how fitting that the rose is called New Dawn. Even without a window box of nourishing dirt, 20 feet from the ground, never stopping, the roses are peeking in my window to remind me Good Things Keep Growing.

Good things keep growing.

And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Is 58:11

Winter Tree

05 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, art, color, God, nature, painting, photography, sunlight

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All Sparkled Up, color, nature, photo, photography, snow, tree, watercolor, winter, Winter snow, winter tree

I accidentally set the exposure in my camera wrong. But sometimes what we do wrong ends up being way better than right. God didn’t want me to see a bare winter tree in my mom’s yard, he wanted to show me all the color.

Watercolor Winter Tree. This is a photograph, badly overexposed and with some motion blur. But oh the color! I almost missed it. Some day I’m going to make a real watercolor like it.

2 years ago today I got Scoliosis surgery

02 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, God, Scoliosis, time

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encouragement, God, joy, prayer, Scoliosis, scoliosis surgery, surgery

It’s been two years since surgery. That’s very hard for me to understand. It seems like just yesterday I got the surgery and yet forever ago. The first year and a half was lost in a time warp. I know young people heal quickly from Scoliosis surgery but for older folks like me, it took a long time, especially since my back was broken and damaged even before the surgery. The past couple months have been very very good and I’m glad I got the surgery! Life is good and getting better all the time. =)

I don’t have any photos to share today but I will share here…
A Prayer of Thanksgiving.

Thank you, God, for this time in my life. It hasn’t been easy recovering the past couple years but you have been with me through it all. I remember the night a couple months after surgery and the pain was so great that I couldn’t sleep. I asked you if I could fall asleep in your palm and I fell asleep instantly. Many nights after that I would pray “Can I please fall asleep in your palm tonight?” and not ten seconds passed when I was asleep, even despite the piercing pain. You are amazing, God. Thank you for the comfort.

Thanks, God for helping me not panic. The times I lay there looking at the ceiling and couldn’t move without assistance, the times when I couldn’t move my arms, the times when I thought I would break all over again. But I didn’t and you calmed me down and let me know that it was ok to just rest. It was ok to not move. It was ok for weeks to go by and seasons to pass. Thank you for the calm that covered my spirit.

Thank you, God for letting my husband and sons be so amazing. You knew I didn’t have parents or sisters nearby. You knew it was just me and the boys. Thank you for all that encouragement and loving patience from my sons. They were amazing! Thank you for the two years of cooking they did. Thank you for their diligence in picking things up from the floor and getting things out of cupboards for me and moving stuff when I needed it. God, they gave up so much to take care of me. Thank you for their huge hearts, their abundant energy and their unstoppable encouragement. Thank you for their laughter. Bless them over and above what they gave away.

Thank you, God, for always thinking kind thoughts toward us. We mess things up so much. Thank you for giving us order when there is chaos and direction when we’re lost. Thank you for helping us when we make stupid mistakes. God, I made a really stupid mistake when I didn’t seek medical attention when my back broke. We humans truly are bleating sheep sometimes. Thank you for guiding us and steering us in the right direction.

God, I love living on this earth. Even with disability, I LOVE being here. There are beautiful people here. The heartbeat in this world is beautiful and worth sustaining. Please forgive us when we have a “broken back” and don’t seek the right solution, when we try to fix things on our own. Please help us go through the hard times to get to the better times, the times that you planned for us. Thank you for being incredibly patient with us all.

And God, thank you so much for letting me be able to walk.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Psalm 89 8-9

14 Sunday Sep 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, God, Inspirational, Scripture, sunlight, words

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God, inspirational, ocean, scripture, Sunset Beach, waves

Please feel free to print this 4″x6″ inspirational card. Click on the photo to access a larger image.

This photo was taken yesterday at Sunset Beach, NC. I still remember the sound of the waves and the warm moist breeze on my skin. Shh… breathe…

God is good.

Image

Don’t give up

10 Tuesday Jun 2014

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Black Canyon of the Gunnison, God, inspirational, nature, photography

Posted by Julia Monroe | Filed under All Sparkled Up, God, Inspirational, nature

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When a bird needs a little help….

22 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in God, Inspirational, nature, Scripture, Uncategorized

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bird, bird photography, God, inspirational, nature, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, scripture

As soon as my son and I heard the thunk, we both said “Was that a bird?”
It was. A tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet had flown into the sliding glass door and lay on the deck.
What do we do? What can we do?
While we watched, the little bird got to his feet. But he was not well.

The tiny bird sat stunned on the deck.

He wobbled around a bit and panted hard.

Finally, he fluffed up all his feathers and tucked his head in and made himself into a tiny feathered ball.

The Ruby-crowned Kinglet fluffed up his feathers and curled into a little ball.

His breath came in shudders and heaves. We watched in distress.

The tiny Kinglet shuddered so hard I feared he was dying.

It was so cold outside. Would he be ok? We were very glad the cats were inside! Cats love birds so of course Matey purred with glee and wouldn’t take her eyes off the little bird through the glass. We finally put Matey in the basement out of annoyance of her and respect for the bird. He kept his head tucked in, shuddering and quaking and I kept expecting the little feathered ball to fall over.

Alone yet not alone.

We looked up info on what to do. The advice was to carefully lift the bird into a box lined with a towel and wait. So that’s what we did. My son lifted the little feathered ball and placed it in the box, then backed into the house and slid the glass door shut. The bird stood up and balanced and revived in the warm towel-lined box. Then we waited, watching his every move.

The tiny Kinglet stood up and we got a glimpse of his beautiful ruby crown.

The little Kinglet looked around for a couple minutes and without even testing his wings, suddenly flew away.

We were so glad the bird was ok! There’s not much you can do for a bird that crashes into a window and sometimes the bird will be stunned for hours. The little Kinglet was on the deck for barely 20 minutes in all.

I was glad the cats were indoors and shut in the basement.
I was glad we were able to look up info online.
It was good that we had a box and a towel to help warm the stunned bird.
And though we couldn’t do much to help, we hovered over it with concern.

Then I remembered what Jesus said.
“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?”

If God cares so much for tiny birds that he made sure we kept the cats locked up and provided a warm towel, surely he will hover over us when we are curled up and in need of care.

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
I Peter 5:7