Is God refining me?

We had a wonderful time at the very first Indiana Area Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. The week started with Adam Hamilton leading the conference in a time of teaching, training and visioning. Both Stephen and I were very eager to hear what he had to say and we kept coming back from breaks/lunch with high anticipation of what we would hear/learn.
The second day was similar to every church conference - business. We had alot of "junk" we had to deal with as we merged the north and south indiana conferences together this year.

The third day was spent doing something we had never done before at conference. We divided up into our new districts and went into the community of Muncie to do mission projects. Stephen and I went to a Muncie Church and served about 150 people lunch, bagged groceries for them to take with them and handed out clothing, toys, shoes, etc... It was 96 degrees, no air conditioning and dirty and smelly. But what a wonderful time of serving the community.

The day after Annual Conference was a lovely day. About 6:30 Monday night, I opened the front door to take out the trash. I stepped off the first step and caught my foot on the edge of the sidewalk and down I fell right onto my left foot, went sprawling into the yellow daylilies and promptly broke my foot in three different places and tore a ligament in my ankle.

Now I am grumpy. So here I sit in Stephen's chair with my leg lifted high over my head waiting for a cast to be able to be placed on my foot. I keep asking the Lord just "why" I am laid up, especially right now as there is so much to do with Steph and Dan moving back to Indiana, a new associate Pastor as been appointed to Grace UMC, Stephen is SO busy with Conference work and it is gardening season. (I think the gardening thing bums me out the most!)

So, yes, I am grumpy. However, the Bible tells me to rejoice in every day. So, it is my goal to not grumble. It is my goal to make the best of what I can do...which you ought to see this 53 year old woman crawling around the house on her hands and knees because her upper body strength can't handle the crutches. . . Or what a pretty sight to see "Grandma" hopping on one foot from kitchen counter to the refrigerator. . . Or sliding down the stairs on her bottom. And honestly I try not to grumble out loud. Well....that is not exactly the truth...since my knees were scraped up and bruised with the fall, I do wince a little when I'm crawling - sometimes out loud!

I'm laughing at myself all the time. I know I look foolish. I was worried at first that my life would be wasted sitting here in the house, but with emails and telephones I have still been able to do the Lord's work. Everything takes 10 times longer but it is my prayer that ministry will still go on and the Lord will be able to use me right where I am.

God has placed in my life some very very good friends. The body of Christ is so beautiful and whole. I am amazed that my flowers get watered, my floors get vacumned, my trash gets emptied, my meals get prepared and my feet are not being used to get the job done...the feet of others are blessing me. Thanks be to God.