Woke up this morning thinking about orange/cranberry chutney with pork tenderloin, something I had at a friend's home several years ago. Why I woke up thinking about this succulent dish I don't know. Most of the past 37 mornings I have woken up itching and thinking of bed bug tyrrany. So chutney is a glorious change, and I am giddy and grateful. Last night I went to sleep thinking intermittently of The Iron Lady, a movie I was watching just before bed, and Psalm 103, my lifeline and a satisfying catalog of my benefits as God's child. I memorized this Psalm twenty years ago in the midst of panic attacks and have fled to it innumerable times since. Reading truths like "[He] forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, [he] redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, [he] satisfies your mouth with good things [aah--chutney!] so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's";"he does not treat us as our sins deserve";"so great is his love toward those who fear him";"as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us" and "as a father pities his children so the Lord pities those who fear him" is like sipping hot cocoa by the fireside on a wintry night. The words sink deep and warm into my mind and gush into my soul. They have rescued me from anxiety, despair, depression and insecurity. God delivers me because He delights in me (Psalm 18)!
I wonder if Margaret Thatcher ever had bed bugs. Her meditating on Psalm 103 would probably have been precipitated by matters more important.
Today I will clean the study for an hour, check bedsheets for spots, check traps under bed legs for bugs, and do the daily load of laundry with hot water (and a color catcher sheet) then a high-heat dry for 80 minutes. Peter can move study furniture for me when he gets home from golfing with our youngest. (Please, dear, help me quench this violent need to attack every nook and cranny in our home with the vacuum cleaner.) I put the ozone generator in the study on high for 90 minutes last night. It's a small room so it got blasted with ozone.
This afternoon and evening will be fun. Peter, our youngest son Keaton, and I have a little game competition spread over three nights going on. Then we get to watch the Boston Celtics beat the Heat (hopefully). It's a big night. Not all business and bed bugs.
On that note, sometimes I get overwhelmed when I think of ALL I should be doing to be rid of bed bugs. Then I remember that God isn't asking me to do in one single day ALL that I should do. He's only leading me to do what I can do now, today, and He's giving me the grace to do it now, today, and then to trust Him, the one who never slumbers or sleeps, to take care of the bugs. (I already do that when I'm sleeping, right?) When I look back at the past 38 days, I am astounded at the amount of work God's allowed me to do. No wonder those internet stories were overwhelming to me. My perspective when I read them ignored time and God!
I wonder if Margaret Thatcher ever had bed bugs. Her meditating on Psalm 103 would probably have been precipitated by matters more important.
Today I will clean the study for an hour, check bedsheets for spots, check traps under bed legs for bugs, and do the daily load of laundry with hot water (and a color catcher sheet) then a high-heat dry for 80 minutes. Peter can move study furniture for me when he gets home from golfing with our youngest. (Please, dear, help me quench this violent need to attack every nook and cranny in our home with the vacuum cleaner.) I put the ozone generator in the study on high for 90 minutes last night. It's a small room so it got blasted with ozone.
This afternoon and evening will be fun. Peter, our youngest son Keaton, and I have a little game competition spread over three nights going on. Then we get to watch the Boston Celtics beat the Heat (hopefully). It's a big night. Not all business and bed bugs.
On that note, sometimes I get overwhelmed when I think of ALL I should be doing to be rid of bed bugs. Then I remember that God isn't asking me to do in one single day ALL that I should do. He's only leading me to do what I can do now, today, and He's giving me the grace to do it now, today, and then to trust Him, the one who never slumbers or sleeps, to take care of the bugs. (I already do that when I'm sleeping, right?) When I look back at the past 38 days, I am astounded at the amount of work God's allowed me to do. No wonder those internet stories were overwhelming to me. My perspective when I read them ignored time and God!
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