Don't Quit Too Soon!

As I write this today, I am sore - but it's a "good" sore.  My legs and my back and even my neck all hurt, but just a little.  I spent the weekend locked away at a hotel with an indoor water park, enjoying my son, daughter, and grand baby.  We had a great time.  My almost 9-year-old son begged for someone to go down the "BIG" slides with him.  Now these are long tube slides that actually leave the building and then weave back in.  Though I have been to this water park in the past, I have NEVER ventured onto them.  I stick with the kiddie pool, the lazy river, and occasionally the smaller slides.  I thought my son was satisfied with having his big sister ride these with him. She wanted to, she did, and everyone was happy.  My daughter liked being able to ride with her little brother, and I liked playing in the water with my beautiful little granddaughter.  I had no desire to ride the big slides because, other than plain fear, I had this little nagging voice telling me, "you have a heart condition; read the sign - it clearly says that anyone with a heart condition should not ride this..."  OK, so I had an "out".  But my son wouldn't stop asking.  He wanted so badly for me to experience the rush that he was enjoying.  I told my daughter, "No, I can't ride that."  "I didn't even go tubing this summer when we went to Texas.  The tow ropes would have pulled on my pacemaker incision."  I thought this would satisfy everyone.  But, oh no, of course not.  My son reminded me that I DID, in fact, go tubing with him, and liked it very much. Darn, how did I forget that?  So finally I relented and, against my better judgement, told him I would go with him.  Just walking to the top was several stories up and I truly didn't know if I would even make the climb.  But thankfully there were landings and I made it without too much heavy breathing.  The very first ride was, I admit, scary.  But the pure joy on my son's face was worth it.  When we made the long climb back up for another ride, he wanted me to try one of the other slides.  One of them was a dark tunnel and one was translucent.  I said I wanted to take the one that had light coming in.  He assured me I was on that one, and he took the dark one.  Little did I know that the tubes actually cross each other outside the building and I was, in fact, in the one that sends you hurling through the darkness.  Ha ha - very funny joke, son.  He was so pleased with himself. After that, it was "on" as we raced down the slides a few more times.  So much fun and I would have missed it all.

When I made the decision to go ahead and try to walk up the stairs, and slide down the first time, I was listening to another voice.  Not the nagging one that said, "you can't do that...you're a heart patient".  I was listening to a mother's heart wanting to please her son.  But I learned something yesterday from that little guy.  Don't quit too soon.  There will be plenty of time to sit on the sidelines when you truly don't have the strength and energy to run and play.  Until then, go and and "take the plunge".  It's worth it.

To your health,
Tari

Dreams and Visions

Yes, I know the Bible talks about dreams and visions given to "old men, young men, etc.".  What I am speaking of here is when God gives YOU something personal just for your life, not for anyone else.  It happened to me over 15 years ago.  Living in a rental apartment, having lost my house in a very ugly, messy divorce (is there any other kind?) and wondering just who loved me, who was my friend and who wasn't, what my future would look like, etc. etc.  I was at a very low point in my life.  Though it was hard to believe it, I felt like God was showing me my future.  It was a vision of a little modest home in a neighborhood, with a decent sized kitchen (nothing like the apartment), a back door, and a great window to see outside in the yard (again, not like an apartment).  My child(ren) could come in from outside playing in their yard and perhaps bring their friends in for Kool-Aid.  You know, just like the commercials...hahaha  It was very similar to the home I had grown up in as a child.  Honestly, I thought to myself, "by the time we get out a rental, my child will be grown....and besides I see no way I will ever be able to own a home again.  For goodness sake, my child  right now can't even safely ride her bike in the parking lot and I worry about the weirdos around here!  I truly didn't see why God was giving me this "dream" of the future but I held onto it.  I kept that "vision" in the back of my mind for many years.  Little did I know how God would fulfill it.  

Just this morning I was standing at my kitchen counter making my mom's coleslaw recipe and looked out through the row of windows and back door(s), at the beautiful yard and God brought that "vision" back to my mind.  He definitely has fulfilled the dream He gave me.  A new child now plays in that yard and comes in hot and thirsty for Kool-Aid.  Did I think that along the way to this new life I would end up with dilated cardiomyopathy?  Of course not.  I hadn't even heard of it 15 years ago.  But do I thank God for the "valleys and the mountains and the things He brought me through"?  You bet I do!  You take the "good" with the "bad" and you trust God every day because He always has your best in mind.  Hold onto your dreams and visions.  God has it all under control.