"Joyfully you will pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation"

This last week was a very busy one for me. Baby Charlie was sick with an ear infection and upper respiratory infection, so he was more hands-on than a 5 month old baby usually is, and that's a lot anyhow as Y'all may know! We were getting over the violent stomach bug which hit almost all of us, myself included, and then with my immunities down a bit I was prime prey for Baby Charlie's "Bug" and I felt a cold/bronchitis settling into my left lung fields. I'm not usually one to go to the doctor easily but having had pneumonia several times because I waited too long to go to a doctor, this time I went on Sick Day # 3. Sure enough there was a deep bronchitis creeping into my upper lobe of my left lung, just as I recognized. Anitbiotics, prednisone and Teslon Perles are GREAT meds for what was attacking me. I am so thankful that I am NOT truly SICK, I have not lost my voice, have not gone into deep coughing jags which take away my breath, and thankful that I will not have pneumonia. There are some symptoms, but so much milder than when I try to ignore them and hope for simultaneous healing. I so appreciate the technology God has given to men and women of science!! God has healed me instantly and miraculously, well miraculous to me, but not to Him, healed me of a number of things , incuding a broken back. I know that God does heal instantly. For those times when he does NOT, I praise Him for the natural remedies, therapies, medicines and doctors HE has ordained for His use in His people. Blessed be the Name of the Lord Who does all things well!! My Sunday School class has memorized a passage in Isaiah 12 this month. It is the praise of my heart right now. One version even mentions Heavenly "plumbing". As I'll explain in a moment, we still have major plumbing issues. They are "baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaackkkkkkkkkk"
Regardless, God's Word commands us to Give thanks to God Call out His name Ask Him anything!!!! From THE MESSAGE it reads like this:

Isaiah 12:4 3-6 (Joyfully you'll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation ( I LOVE the plumbing reference don't you? We did not have plumbing issues when our class started memorizing the passage)
And as you do it, you'll say,)
"Give thanks to God.
Call out his name.
Ask him anything!
Shout to the nations, tell them what he's done,
spread the news of his great reputation!
Isaiah 12:5
5-6"Sing praise-songs to God. He's done it all!
Let the whole earth know what he's done!
Raise the roof! Sing your hearts out, O Zion!
The Greatest lives among you: The Holy of Israel."

In NEW CENTURY, which is how I taught it to my students:

4 At that time you will say,
"Praise the Lord and worship him.
Tell everyone what he has done
and how great he is
5 Sing praise to the Lord, because he has done great things.
Let all the world know what he has done.
6 Shout and sing for joy, you people of Jerusalem,
because the Holy One of Israel does great things before your eyes."

This on going plumbing thing has caused me to examine myself carefully so that how I live is what I teach, that how I respond to this very earthy issue is with a Godly response before my children, my husband, and the folks to whom I share the saga of the pipes, THAT is for sure!!! I was able to share with an older Christian friend yesterday that GOD has shown Himself to be such a Practical Comfort in this otherwise icky human thing. She was telling me about how she'd be so discouraged if it were her plumbing and her family with sickness, and didn't I think that maybe everything that could go wrong was certainly going wrong for us? WELL that has occurred to me, ( I say with a wink) but I am remembering that I know, remembering to remember, learning to remember better, remembering to learn better that I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me, and that I CAN be content .."whatever my lot"................. and WE ARE FINE. WE ARE BLESSED BEYOND THE CURSE and we are overcoming. WE WILL ENDURE! We've been reminded how important it is to share, and be courteous and considerate of each other (short showers folks, short trips to the toilet...NO reading or meditating allowed in there right now!!) This is also a very real reminder to us that plumbing is something that we SO take for granted, and which actually half of us started life without!
We have some plumbing , it is limited, with the functioning plumbing being from propane it is going to be super expensive again next month. its not like having or not having raw sewage in ones' bathtub should be a life-option.... While it was adoption and surgery money that our tax refund was designated for, PRAISE GOD, there will be money to pay for new plumbing. This will not be a debt-incurring situation. God will provide for the shortfall in the adoption /surgery fund if that should need providing for. We will get bids early this week and hopefully by next week or so we will have new properly installed plumbing and our systems will be rebuilt, restored, and greatly appreciated with a new appreciation for the wonders of indoor plumbing. Oh, WHAT IS OUR PLUMBING ISSUE? When our house was addedonto years before we ever moved in, a slab addition was connected to the old house which is on piers. Instead of installing the new pipes in a concrete "sleeve" to protect them from the weight of the addition, they just poured concrete around the new pipes and linked them to the old pipes. There is also a height differential which was not adequately addressed at that time. The result? Our pipes have been gradually crushed by the weight of the concrete and twisted into a sort of zig-zag where the two heights were not graduated together correctly (this is my total LAY PLUMBER explanation.IF you are knowledgable of these things and have better info,PLEASE SHARE WITH ME!!!!) What we thought was just stuff clogging the pipes was only a small part of the problem. The stuff of life was getting clogged in a shrinking diameter of jagged piping. We were doing OK till Friday after noon when a visitor didn't know we had issues and used paper. That one use was enough to be more than enough. The last plumber told us we might buy a week of time by not using paper, and using the system very sparingly. He was right. I am thankful for plumbers. I have no desire to BE a plumber, I am pretty sure most plumbers would not want to be a mom to 17 children or be nurse -midwives. Blessed be the Lord,Who daily loads us with benefits,The God of our salvation! Selah Psalm 68:19