Thank you again for all those who are praying.

It's an interesting thing to see how life changes when there are those among you who are ill.  I guess it helps us to remember what is really important.

Dad is still in the 'healing up' stage, though it looks to me as though his wound is all but better now.  He is due to go for 'switch on' next week sometime.  It is more obvious now that he is deaf as he is unable to control his tone and volume.  On the plus side, it seems to me that he is better able to lip read than I remember him being last time!

Mum has had her biopsy done and had a couple of polyps removed.  The surgeon told her that there was nothing 'ominous', though we are still waiting for the full biopsy report. 

In the midst of all this, I also had some tests done.  Bit long and complicated... but the upshot is that the doctor looked at me in total disbelief and told me I am disgustingly healthy!!  Sadly, I don't feel 'disgustingly healthy'!  What he actually meant was that all the tests he had done had come back good or very good.  It was the first time I'd had my cholesterol done and it came in at only 3.3.  His mouth actually dropped open on that score (below 5 is considered excellent) and asked twice if I was sure I wasn't on medication to get such a result, especially as I don't do enough exercise.  No!  (He had my medical history on the screen in front of him.)  And, yes, I do eat butter and red meat and probably a load of other things I'm not 'supposed' to eat, but I also crave fruit and veg and eat a LOT of it every day.  Oh, and I get to go back to the doctor in 6 weeks time to see 'how I'm getting on'.

Anyway, it made me think about our perception of things.  How much of illness is down to stress or what goes on in my head?  I have always considered myself to be fat.  I cannot remember a time when that wasn't true.  Even when I lost a ridiculous amount of weight in Africa after months of sickness and then being caught up in a civil war (so, not because I was dieting), and to my family looked painfully thin, I still had a 'tummy' and thought I could lose more weight without looking too bad.  Perception - funny thing.  I was NOT fat then, or during the majority of my childhood.  I did have a slight mobility problem, like LJ has and I now think that was where my wrong thinking came from.

Now, I am actually officially 'overweight'.  My BMI (body mass index) is too high and I need to do something about it.  I want to do something, but though the spirit is willing, the flesh is (very) weak!  I think I would improve my overall health if I got a bit of weight off and maybe I'd then feel 'disgustingly healthy'!!

How important it is to see ourselves as we ought.  I could have saved myself years of stress about my weight if only I could have seen myself properly.  I remember that song from some years back that went something along the lines of, 'Whose report will you believe?  We shall believe the report of the Lord!'  The Bible teaches us to think on these things - the true, the pure, the lovely, the honest, the things that are excellent or praiseworthy  (Phil 4:4-9)  Does this change my perspective?  Oh yes!