the rash

Greetings all you wonderfull people,
Sometimes the Lord speaks to us in unexpected ways.
Have you ever gotten a rash from an allergy or poison ivy? How it itchs soooo, how it distracts you from everything you are doing. You try salves on it, or even make the mistake of taking a hot shower because it just feels so good emotionally and makes you forget about the rash for a little while, than when you get out of the shower to your great dismay you realize that your efforts to soothe have made the rash worse with the heat! As I have been going through this myself the last 5 days or so, as I am laying on my bed (after 2 doc visits), refraining from scratching the rash that now has consumed me from head to toe (never, I repeat, never take hot showers when you have a rash of any kind) and even asking the cat and dog to join in with me, since they are trained professionals at this scratching business, the Holy Spirit reminded me of Romans 8:28-30.
Time to refocus!
So I am determined to find the things I am so grateful for in this circumstance:
1) I was grateful for having short fingernails for no amount of botox was going to fill the possible craters that I could have inflicted upon myself.
2) After nearly starving myself for 3 days I found out it was not a food allergy! ( pass the bread !).
3) That the Lord was giving me His strength and grace to not fall into the temptation of scratching. That even though the rash was extremely distracting to me I must keep my focus on Him.
4) Just like the rash how often times I have tried to fix, soothe, cover with balm through my own strength the things about myself or circumstances. How often my ideas about the way things should be handled often can make more of a mess. How no amount of my good works can wash away my blemishs. Only He can.
5) How our loving Father will use the struggles of this life ( even a rash) to chip away and bring to the surface the flaws in our character so that the end product ( thats us!) will look like His Son! He takes what is inside our heart that is not like His Son and gets rid of it. How awesome is that?!