Menopause, Premonitions, and Soup

"what can we expect?"

Jeremiah 5:4

Let's start with the soup.  The Apple of my Eye is mostly over a cold, but his cough has continued, as coughs are wont to do.  And he came home for lunch today, looked in the soup cupboard, and found nothing.  So he sighed a little and said, "I was really wanting soup for lunch."  I said, "We've got some tomato soup out in the garage." (We have a sort of "back-up" pantry out there.)  But he just kinda said, "Nah..."  So then I pulled a packet of cheddar and broccoli mix out of the cupboard, that I'd been saving for a dinner.  He didn't respond.  Then I pulled a veggie and noodle combo, that I had previously prepared, out of the freezer, and said, "All I'd have to do is add some chicken broth to this, and it would be soup."  But by this time he had settled on something else, and I teasingly said, "So, you didn't really want soup, did you?"  Truth was, he had something a little more specific in mind than just "soup".  His mouth was expecting something.

Next, the premonitions.  A friend of mine emailed this morning, wanting prayer.  She said last night she got the feeling that there was something coming in her life.  It's not an ESP thing; she's very spiritual, and feels that God might be strengthening her in advance of a difficult time ahead.  The same thing happened to her shortly before the deaths of her father and her mother, and also before the birth of her daughter.  So she wanted a few friends to be praying alongside her, for peace and strength as she readies herself for whatever might be coming.  Though she doesn't know specifically what to expect.

Thirdly.... well, let's just say I haven't been feeling well lately.  It's been several weeks, and I'm not sure if it's allergies, or not enough exercise, or eating too much or not enough of something.  Could be I need a visit to an eye doctor, or an ear doctor, or a chiropractor... And it's frustrating, cuz I'm not sure what the solution is.  And naturally a couple of friends of mine have blamed hormones, because we're all about that age.  I'm a little young, still (most of my friends are a few years older), but I also have a friend who, several years ago, was in full-blown menopause at age 37.  So it could be.  All I know is, I don't feel well.

I mean, I don't really know what to expect on that subject, there are so many variations in the way it affects women.  But if that's the case, it's not what I was expecting.

Expectations are tricky things.  Misleading, sometimes.  We get trapped between our personal hopes or beliefs, and what the world around us has taught us to look for.  They can keep us from recognizing the truth when it shows up right in front of us. 

I like the approach my friend has ~ the one with the premonition.  She feels that God has warned her to be expecting something, and she is content with that.  She's just going to concentrate on being ready; on being strong, and then let God's plan play out the way He intends.  If we're expecting anything, we'll be ready for anything.  That's how we should be.  We are the clay; He is the potter.

~ "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God...

that the man of God may be prepared,

thoroughly equipped for every good work." ~

2 Timothy 3:16,17

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