29He gives power to the faint, and
strengthens the powerless.
Isaiah 40:29 (NRSV)
In late February or
early March, some four months after the major abdominal surgery I underwent
last fall, at a time when I felt that I had been returned to full health, I
discovered just how wrong I was in that assumption. (Please bear with me. This
will be a longish post, but I guarantee the results will be worth your while!)
Of the hats I juggle,
the most physically taxing is that of hobbyist farmer. Although my operation
has downsized to practically nothing, it still entails covering several acres
of hilly ground on foot, and moving hay bales, grain bags, and fence posts,
rolls and panels.
Immediately after
surgery I was forbidden to lift anything weighing more than a gallon of milk.
By February/March I was again moving grain bags (50-pound sacks) short
distances…even though I had been instructed to get help whenever possible.
To me, asking for help
is something I can do when I feel the need. But, if I can do the task without
effort, why ask someone else to help?
I was reminded of the
answer when I tried to move some fencing in late winter. I call this type of
fencing round pen panels because that’s where I first met these 12- and 16-foot
tubular metal panels that stand nearly 5 feet tall, are easy to move, and lock
together simply with metal pins.
Smart farmers with the
appropriate equipment load panels onto flatbed trailers and haul the lot from
site to site. Such luxuries are not available to me, so I move panels one at a
time, on foot. Now, for a fifty-something woman to move these panels up and
down hills, over uneven ground, can provide a good workout. I enjoy the
physical exhaustion at the end of a session of panel-moving.
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| Liam watches Cinnamon from behind fence panels discussed in this entry. |
I thought I had perhaps
missed the fulcrum point, and that an uneven load had thrown me off; however, I
soon discovered this was not the case. Indeed, as I continued the task, I
quickly learned that my body allowed me only two (rarely three) steps at a time
before I had to stop, set down the load, lean on the fence and breathe for a
couple of minutes before continuing. Each time I started off again—for about
the first dozen tries—I expected that this
time I would make more progress, and perhaps move a couple of fence-lengths
before needing to stop again. Each time I discovered I was wrong. Very wrong.
Even though I soon
realized that this task was perhaps beyond my physical capabilities, I did
continue until the panel was moved. One panel. Moved from leaning against a
fence to leaning against a shelter. Not useful on its own, but a small project
begun.
That afternoon I spoke
with a good friend who’s about 10 years my senior, and decades wiser, who
advised me that this was to be expected, and that I ought to stop pushing
myself and allow my body a good year to heal. A year?! Even with but a small
handful of animals, I did not see how I could manage that long if I had to get
help every time I needed a new enclosure. Exhausted and discouraged, I admitted my powerlessness and took a
long, restorative nap.
New Dietary Additive
Fast forward ten weeks
or so. In the interim I had discovered MyFlexFactor™ and
begun taking it (at the lowest recommended dose) regularly. This bit of divine nutrition, with its 13 all-natural, organic, active ingredients, had reduced
inflammation such that worrisome patches of eczema on my palms had completely
healed, and nagging middle-of-the-night limb pain had vanished. In the interim
shearing day had come and gone, an annual event that required a small enclosure
(four panels would do). Although I had approached shearing day with
trepidation, I was able to move four of the lightest panels downhill over a
two-day period, to create a suitable enclosure. The remaining pair of
fleece-bearing ruminants helped by willingly following a scoop of grain into
the enclosure the morning the shearer was due. Phew! A necessary farm chore
accomplished without having to recruit assistance. I could be self-sufficient,
I realized, if I continued to break larger chores into the smallest of tasks
and allow time (days) over which to complete them.
Results
Not three weeks after
shearing day, I spent a day outside and active. My first chore was spraying an
herbicide over one of the back pastures. (Yes, I use the stuff now—very sparingly—to
combat one highly toxic weed that overtook our geographical area last year.)
The sprayer holds about 3 gallons—or 24 pounds. Filling it requires gearing up
(long pants, long sleeves, hood, mask and gloves) starting at the faucet on the
side of the house, lugging the mixture uphill and over to the gate, then
spraying along a hillside before returning to the house to refill.
After discharging some
five loads of herbicide (three more than I had been asking my body to do on one
day of late), I encountered a hole in some woven-wire fencing that required
patching. That lead to patching the fence, yes, but also moving a cattle panel.
(Cattle panels are welded wire steel panels, 4 feet tall by 16 feet wide. They
are light but awkward to move alone.) I unfastened the panel from its location,
heaved it over one portion of fence, walked downhill to cross through the gate
myself, and then returned to pick up the panel, maneuver it through some woods
and uphill across a grassy pasture before heaving it over another section of
fence. There it lay—the beginning of what would become a chicken enclosure…another
weekend.
 |
| "Mmmm, Johnson grass. My favorite!" |
That panel was
maneuvered uphill and passed over the fence easily enough. By golly, I would
finish this one task that day. Three more panels needed to be moved up hill and
through a gate, but luckily the distance was short.
Between the light
panels used for the alpaca enclosure on shearing day and the other panels I had
gathered that morning (two of which were of heavier stock, but manageable), I
was able to create an enclosure around a good patch of overgrowth, slide a
large Rubbermaid water trough into the enclosure to serve as a bit of shelter
from sun or rain, and get a couple of containers filled to provide water,
before moving Liam—our remaining goat buck whose behavior that morning mandated
he be separated from the two pregnant does—out to his new work site.
 |
| Liam Goat at work. |
Only later that evening
did I realize the magnitude of what I had accomplished. The work was like a “normal”
day for me a year ago. Now, not two months after having been able to move only
a couple of steps at a time without long pauses and total exhaustion, I was
functioning again! The difference? Time and MyFlexFactor™!
Thank you, Lord Jesus,
for introducing this remarkable healing agent into my life! You gave me strength when I was powerless. I praise your holy
name with much gratitude, and absolutely adore having another divinely-inspired, all-natural
powerhouse in my personal stores to recommend to others in need. May your
will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.
With Gratitude,
Cynthia
31May 2017
