Grounded!

If any of you have teenagers, or did at one time, then you know this phrase well... "You're grounded!" One of my sons (won't say which one) spent a lot of his teen years grounded. While, being grounded is a pain, it also gives you time to think, reflect, hopefully figure out why this occurred, and try to prevent it in the future. Well, for some reason, God has grounded me. About 6 weeks ago I hurt my knee, and I just kept walking on it, doing my normal stuff. When my friends were here from the states, I ran all over Paris (and other places) even though it was hurting a lot. I ignored the clues that I needed to slow down and pay attention to something that wasn't right. The result- I have a severe stress fracture of my right tibia, and now per Dr.'s orders I can't put any weight on it for 6 weeks. Wow, talk about getting grounded. I am only allowed to walk up one flight of stairs twice a day for class, and that is with crutches. Otherwise I am to stay seated with my leg up. As you can imagine this is a difficult thing to swallow. I love taking my walks everyday. I like riding my bike on the bike paths here in Albertville. I like being able to walk to the store, bank, etc., to take care of necessities. Suddenly, I can't do any of that, and I am completely dependent on others to shop for me, do my laundry, go to the bank for me, get my mail, etc. etc. etc.!!! A frustrating place to be! So, I've been asking the Lord why He has grounded me for a time. I don't have the whole answer yet, but I have seen some positives come out of this situation. The first positive is seeing the body of Christ here at the Center rise up to meet my needs. They have grocery shopped for me, done my banking, done my laundry, carried things up to our class for me, taken out my trash. You name it, they've done it. What a joy to see how we can be the hands and feet of Jesus. I am usually on the other side of this, so it's humbling to be receiving the help, but also wonderful. Secondly, I have a lot of time for reading my bible, praying and reflecting on what God is teaching me through this trial. Sometimes we just need to "Be still, and know that He is God". If you're like me, it's so easy to get busy and neglect the really important things, like time with the Lord. Lastly, I have beaucoup time for study, which is really needed. We are going through some particularly heavy weeks of course work, and I need to be hitting the books more than normal. I definitely have time now! So, that's what is going on with me. I'm thankful I have a great view from my window so I can look at the beautiful mountains, even if I can't get out and hike up them. Please keep me in your prayers, that I will endure this time of grounding, that my knee would heal quickly, and that I would continue to seek God for the things He wants me to learn through this. Signing off from my little studio apartment with the great view!