Freezing

I never in a million years would have thought that i could be cold........... me cold............. it is almost unbelievable, everyone who knows me knows that i am the Ice Queen my air conditioner is on summer and winter, there have been times when people will not come into my office because it is just too cold, they stand at the door, and talk to me at least that way they are getting the warmth from the heaters in the main office. My children when i used to drop them off for school in the morning, used to be dressed like they were preparing for the crossing to the North Pole......................... in fact people just did not want to ride with me in winter because the inside of my car was just too cold. I think i am the only person in the world, whose car mists up on the outside, because it is warmer outside the car than inside the car. Well yesterday i was cold.................................yes as unbelievable as it sounds i was cold................. freezing, freezing cold.....................
I was up early yesterday, we had a leaders retreat at Emseni in Benoni, and i was the taxi driver, we had to be at the church at 7.45, so i was on the road, be 7.15, and i was fine, nothing that warned me for what the day was to bring, because it was raining, i had taken a rain coat along, which was my saving grace, as i am sure the headlines into days paper, would have read " Woman freezes to death in Church Service" as the trip began i started to get heart burn, and then i started to sneeze, and sneeze and sneeze, one of the ladies , who is in fact very clued up on medical matters, advised me that heart burn could be a sign of a heart attack, and i should just tell them if i am not feeling well................. as she really did not want to land up in a ditch, somewhere, that of course made me feel much better.......................... i know she was really concerned, because i really was in terrible pain.
When we arrived at Emseni, it was cold and windy and wet, wet , wet, and i must admit my first impression was that it is nothing like the advertising pamplet, you see, we are holding a woman's retreat here in October, so i was very interested to see what the place looked like, and braving the cold, to visit the ladies, which was probalby about 30 metre way, but in that weather if felt like you were on the way to climb Mount Everest, i could see the potential of the place, and obviously in summer it would be green and pretty, i was very impressed with the rooms, and i know that we are going to be blessed at our retreat.......... or as my praying partner says God's retreat
We were having our meeting in the church, a massive church, with no heaters, windows all around, and a high thatch roof, nothing which gives you the warm glowing feeling of warmth.........., in fact there was no where you could sit, that you weren't blasted by cold winds.....................
Well i froze, froze, froze, jokes aside my hands were blue, and i was shaking , it was like all my insides had come loose and were going to fall out, i could imagine a pile of bricks, and you pull out one and everything collapses, i had on 4 long sleaved pieces of clothing, shirts, jackets and coats and i was still freezing.
I am not sure how much went in because i am sure my brain was frozen, what i do know was my running nose was frozen and blue, i looked like i had been on the bottle for years. What i do remember is as i was looking out of the window, at the rain, there was some roses around the dam, and some of the branches had grown much faster than the rest of the plant, it was almost as though they were trying to get away from the rest of the rose bush, and i knew that sometime in the next week or so someone is going to come and prune them all back to the same size to grow again............... and i realized that my walk with God is like that, when i go out on a tangent, when i try and do things on my own, without consulting him and praying for guidance, he trims me down, and brings me back to his flock where he wants ume to be ...............................
In the car on the way home i had the HEATER on, yes the HEATER on, i don't think it has ever been used before, i came home put two HEATERS on in the bedroom and got into bed, i woke up at 9.30, starving. I then had a headache of note, but i am sure it was because i was holding myself so tense so that i could stop shaking.................
Today i am coughing and sneezing and am sitting here writing this with the HEATER on............. i will never, never mock people for being cold again............................ and then it got me thinking, can you imagine, those poor people with no homes, no blankets and not enough warm clothes..............................are we doing enough, what more can we do, no one should be cold ever...................... how blessed we are.