This last Friday I attended my ALS Clinic. I have recently started taking some extra supplements. They have increased my energy level so I was able to endure all the poking and prodding easier. The doctor saw improvements in my arm strength and even on my breathing test. I brought my own mask from home to do the breathing test so it it gave a more accurate reading of my lung capacity. Thankfully, the topic of having surgery to get a vent put it my throat is off the table for now.
In addition to the blessings there was one thing that required extra attention. Over the last two years an area of struggle has been my bobble head! The muscles going down the back of my neck are not able to hold my head up for any length of time. When my electric wheelchair is upright, in the driving position, my head flops forward. It is not very comfortable and, harder to greet people and I end up drooling. This visit I was fitted and given a neck brace. Now I not only have a neck brace but a device to hide my double chin.
I remember a specific time when I felt overwhelmed by how many personal issues I needed to amend. When I confided in my mom she wisely encouraged me to pick one and start working on that area. Later, I was seeing that in the process of intentionally working on one flaw that God had been helping me in other areas. He had been changing my attitude and my heart . My neck brace has reminded me that working on a solution to a problem can have additional benefits. Character progress and growth are lifetime pursuits that produce positive results ... God designed it that way!
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
II Peter 1:3-8