He makes all things new.

This sentence popped into my head yesterday as I was marveling at how different yesterday was from the day before.

In a season where I am literally taking things day by day, I found myself caught off guard, surprised, at the reality of this truth... that He makes all things new.

Tuesday my body was not having it. Nothing I tried or started doing, could I finish. I had started doing laundry, but my neck and legs were already going nuts so I knew doing that would wreck my day. Or wanting to clear dishes from the dishwasher, or wanting to go here or go there.

I've had to learn to “listen to your body” or “let your body be your guide” as the doctors have told me. And it is remarkable how things I couldn't fathom doing Tuesday, all of a sudden, with a good night of rest, sleeping in a bit to shorten the amount of time I'd be up and running since I knew I would have a late day with getting home from girls' nites usually around 11, 11:30 pm, every Wednesday, when now I am usually in BED by 11 or 11:30 at the latest...

I felt new.

I was able to vacuum the whole house, not because I felt I had to just because I was having company later for dinner, but because I wanted to. The house looked good, but I wanted to do it and serve my husband. I was able to do three loads of laundry. HUGE accomplishment. I love doing laundry. And the baskets full of clothes that I had drug out to the hallway Tuesday were taunting me every time I'd walk by and be reminded I had to resist the urge and wait till I COULD do them. Then I was able to do some dishes. **I'm sounding really domestic here, but honestly, there is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing to be ashamed of, I love and enjoy being able to do things around the house, especially because when I do have the ability and opportunity to do it, I jump on it. Ben does a lot of it just knowing the things I realistically can and cannot do, we are a team, but when I CAN, I love being able to.

** (Quick aside, that label “domestic” has carried so much baggage for way too long as Jonalyn Grace Fincher frequently writes about and her book, Ruby Slippers, was a liberating journey of reclaiming the dignity of the feminine soul and who we really are and were created to be as women.

I love being a woman, I love the ways we each uniquely express and live out our femininity and I don't feel diminished because I enjoy activities so often negatively deemed as “domestic.” “Domestic” isn't synonymous for “femininity” or “womanhood,” we are all domestic, whether you are a male or a female. As women, we share the gift of the feminine soul, the capacities that serve as a window and show the world another side of who God truly is. As women, we were created female and have a unique place in God's kingdom, bearing and reflecting the image of God in a way no one else can.)

Okay, end diversion of something I'm obviously passionate about and will have to write more on a different day... back to what I was saying before... :)

You realize how good something is when you no longer have it. Energy is in short supply these days. I felt energy for the first time in at least a few days. It felt amazing. The pain and symptoms were still there all day. They always are, but when I am able to at least not feel fatigued just from the first hour of being up or driving down the street, it is glorious. A gift. Yesterday and today I have just been so grateful. For the countless things He is doing and ways He is blessing me and reminding me Himself and through our community around us, that I am loved. Missed. Desired. Still wanted. And I got to ENJOY my day and ENJOY my times with people, and feel just a little bit more like me.

And it was just crazy to me how I was able to more in the first two hours of getting up yesterday than I was all day Tuesday. A mystery, but not one I have to figure out. It's just how it is. Every day is a different day, and I LOVE and REJOICE in that.

There is so much power in what God does. He alone has the ability to restore and make all things new.

Yesterday's battles are over and now today is a different day. Not monotonous, but new.

There is a hope that pulls us forward, a hope that we find serves as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

"Behold," He says, "I am making all things... new."