I’m concerned because a few people think I’m not being honest with them about the arthritis that has been plaguing me the past several weeks. So here goes…

Getting up in the morning is not a pleasant task. I creak and ache and generally look like an old woman with, you guessed it, arthritis when I first get out of bed. Both hands get stiff over night and it takes awhile for them to loosen up. And until they’re loosened up, tasks like tying shoes, turning on a faucet, zipping a zipper, etc, can be quite painful. My feet also get sore… First thing in the morning the bones just hurt! I’m not absolutely trusting of them anymore and have taken on a lovely shuffle with my wonderful Acorn slippers that slides me around the house, alleving the ouch factor that comes with stepping. The shuffle began some time ago, it’s nothing new. My knees, elbows, wrists and ankles are mostly okay, sometimes they trade off mornings with varying levels of aches.

Over the past two weeks, I have cried buckets of tears about this condition. Who wants to deal with this at any point in their life, much less at 26? The bucket-filling usually commences when I’m by myself in the mornings, at the peak of achiness. But the good thing about all this, and I cannot stress this enough, is that I am THROWN to my knees as I take all this to God. Never before have I spent so much time sobbing out my worries, present and future, to the King of kings. Though it seems contradictory to call this a “good” thing — it’s not really. I take to heart, in a very non-cliche manner, Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take [the thorn] away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

HOWEVER, where Paul delights in these weaknesses, I do not. I am clearly not a saint in this struggle. But I have been able to experience God’s peace and Christ’s grace in ways I’ve never seen before. So, friends, don’t think that I’m not sharing the whole story with you intentionally (if this is the first you’ve heard of my struggles). I complain about enough things so the last thing I want to do is add arthritis to the list. And besides, I usually feel good and healthy for the latter half of my day… After my joints have loosened up a bit, by the end of each day, I’m typically feeling positive physically and emotionally.

Here’s what I want from you: I want you to pray that the arthritis goes away, if it’s the Lord will. I’ve got years of chasing after kids in my future (at least, that’s my plan) and I’d rather do it without creaky joints. If you’re willing to pray for this once a week or so, let me know by sending me an email (). Your prayers mean a lot to me.