The Basics

Now that you all know the gist lets get into some details... 

I started having pain in my back five weeks ago, which was followed by my knees two weeks later. Soon to follow came a mass amount of joints and random symptoms. Some of the weirdest one which is organ pain, most of the time they all hurt I can't specify which organs they are (which I am usually pretty good at). The rest of the pain is mostly joints; ankle, hips, wrists, elbows and things of the like. We are pretty sure that there is one root cause we are just trying to find that root cause amidst the other issues. 

I went to a new Doctor today, the appointment went well, she found some things that were of concern ex/ my spine is rotated, some of my joints don't like to move and things of the like. She believed she can help but we are not sure if this is where we will be staying. 

I have been recommended to get a pass to the YMCA and go to their location which offers therapy to help build up my joints by doing exercise in the pool. I am excited for more swim time :) Katelyn and I went swimming on Sunday and it felt amazing (the heat helps a lot with pain). In the meantime I am still pressing through classes and have decided to take some time off of work. I haven't been able to sleep at night which makes work especially difficult due to other circumstances. 

Now to the good stuff :) 

Leviticus 26:13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

I was thinking today about how detail oriented God is, just looking at the Hebrews and how they became enslaved is amazing to me. All the way back to Joseph whose brothers decided to sell him into slavery because he was favored by their father. Joseph became a slave for Pharaoh, he ended up in prison due to lies and one day he was asked to interpret a dream for Pharaoh. After this everything changed, Joseph was placed in charge of everything, even higher than Pharaoh in areas, Joseph was reunited with his family due to the famine. All of Joseph's family moved to Egypt and after Joseph and the Pharaoh died the Hebrew family became very strong in numbers and that is when it was decided that the Hebrews needed to be fenced in so they did not over power Egypt. Thus they became slaves.  

That is a long paragraph for a complex story, all of those things it made me wonder why the Hebrews needed to be enslaved in the first place, why couldn't they just remain free?  

Exodus 14:4 ...I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. 

By the Hebrews being enslaved the Egyptians had the opportunity to see the power of God, Gods desire was that not only the Hebrews but also the Egyptians would know Him as He is and this was the way of doing so. 

I love to see the path the Lord uses in individual lives, there are a lot of times I think why did that person have to live through that? Wouldn't life be easier if that had not happened? I believe that sometimes the answer is yes, life could have been easier but maybe the Lord is using that struggle to wake you up. The Lord desires what is good for our life and not only ours but the lives of others around us. God does not willingly bring us pain but He molds us like a father disciplines his son even if sometimes we may not understand it, if we saddle up and brace for the ride one day we will.