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The Lord Motivates, LIKE NORMAL, 15OCT2019
Today I remembered a crucial time of motivation from the Lord – and He used a song – LIKE NORMAL…
I hauled buckets and buckets of heavy materials into the car yesterday, out of the car today – LIKE NORMAL…
No sign of shoulder issues, NONE! “Strong like a bull” my orthopedist calls me – thanks to his/His rotator cuff repair thru 2 surguries and my 76 physical therapy visits – all caused by one piece of paper I left on the floor – I slipped while rushing thru my house Feb 2017 to wake my kids up for school… LIKE NORMAL!
So in all that struggling recovery, I had in serious serious pain, worry and strain – (see devotion below) – my external rotation was FROZEN – lots of hard work but I was stuck – I wondered if I had any hope to get back to normal and the Lord provided motivation…. LIKE NORMAL!
YES – the LORD PROVIDED MOTIVATION – the Lord and I and you, we are all Survivors – and we all have to share our hope… LIKE NORMAL!
I threw a pizza party for my PT folks when I was done – they became family – three times a week from May to December – and the Lord knew I needed that time to process – I was BLESSED… LIKE NORMAL!
I love the first line of the Survivor song, especially since these semi-heavy buckets were for my Walk to Emmaus organization: “Rising up, back on the street” – That’s EXACTLY what Jesus did that Easter morning – rising up, back on the streets, walking the walk talking the talk… SO THAT EYES MAY BE OPENED TO SEE HIM (Luke 24)
JESUS OPENS EYES… LIKE NORMAL!!!
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here’s my previous devotion:
PT divine intervention – song – “Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger”, 23JUN2017
Survivor – PT-style… I’ve had major progress after surgery, but this major frozenness in my repaired shoulder after the inactivity requires serious stretches and I’m grateful my therapists are stretching me hard… But quite often my doubtful thoughts flood in – that my doctor might not be happy with my progress even though I’ve been working my butt off… but that’s just because I’ve laid down a lot of scar tissue that I can’t help, my body just did it – no choice.
So the therapist, as well as a fellow shoulder stretcher Tom, were so wonderfully encouraging today, and just then my classic 80’s motivation song came on the radio – “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor from the Rocky movie. It came on as soon as I was in a moment of doubt – so I knew it was surely a divine reminder to keep fighting… A motivation to keep rising, to get “back on the street… hanging tough… staying hungry”‘…
Oh yeah, could not have been more awesome timing, my fight song, oh the tears flowed big time while I laid on the table as I thanked God for the motivation, I thanked the Lord for knowing what I needed before I knew I needed it… He gave me the release of tears to appreciate His love and He gave me the fight to move forward…. The scripture “He knows every hair on your head…” – Yup, that was exactly the song I needed exactly at the minute I needed it… Blessed… Couldn’t hide my tears even in public, so I got to share (I had to share) with three people what that very song meant at that very moment… awesome to have the right people placed perfectly because as much as God knows I needed that moment, He ALSO knew that I would have to share that moment… much more that sharing His spirit to me – He wanted to share it THRU me… my tears for His glory!
His love I feel so much
His love is amazing…
I’m hanging tough – I’m staying hungry –
I’m Staying hungry for His level of LOVE…
Blessed…
Thank you for letting me share…
Debbie Upper 
From my “penpal pastor”
I’ve told you how much I appreciate how your thoughts fix on a word or experience, and then free flows here and there in most creative ways in your writing. Well, what I’m about to write is a simple free-flow I got from reading your article, even though it might not be what you’d hope people would get out of it.
I’m inspired by your mini-phrase “LIKE NORMAL”. And what comes to me is, what IS normal anymore? And what comes is, you’re not “LIKE NORMAL”, indeed one could say there’s nothing normal about you…but that’s because your new life in Christ is not life “LIKE NORMAL” to most folks in our culture today. And when the Holy Spirit gets a hold of you and transform you by His grace, that’s NOTHING “LIKE NORMAL”…but it IS EXTRAORDINARY. Normal is ordinary, but life “LIKE NORMAL” in Christ is exceptional, indeed, extraordinary, “EXTRA-ORDINARY”. Your conversion is extraordinary AND your weight loss AND your journey to singing praise every Sunday and for rehearsal – all of it is “EXTRA-ORDINARY”.
It’s OK if you don’t vibe with what I’m saying, because I’m just rambling…”LIKE NORMAL”!
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