so that.
It seemed to be an innocuous Saturday morning walk through the neighborhood; yet angry red chigger bites appeared that evening on the legs and torso of everyone involved. I searched the local drug stores with much desperation for that balm in a white container with red letters that can only be Chiggerex. I was told it's a seasonal item and it wasn't that season yet.
Oh I beg to differ. Finally I found a Walgreens in the area that had some hidden in it's pharmacy storage. We rejoiced and went through a container in a day. Going back for more.
I googled "how long do chigger bites last"...I only had to google the first few words to get the beginning of that fragment...and I felt some comaraderie with other google users who were also scratching their bites and wondering how long they would continue to do so.
I found some fascinating information. When a chigger bites you it's not a quick deal. It uses "tiny feeding devices" to pierce the skin. The chigger's saliva makes your skin itch as it kills your skin cells. Then the chigger feasts off your dead skin until it's had it's fill. Then it drops off of you.
The effects of the bite can last longer than this process of the chigger finally leaving you alone. Especially if you itch your skin so much you tear it, like I do. I like to make tiny x's over the bite with my fingernail...as if that has some power to stop the itch. It makes me feel better.
I was thinking about all this, knowing in a week's time my family and I will be free of the itching and marked skin. It's irritating. It's kind of like when you sin. Or are attacked. There is that first sting, and then the fall-out. Whether it's the enemy biting away at you or your own consequences, we go through that hang time of waiting for the pain to drop off. Our wounds remain, and healing does come. We may not have the scars, but we know what we've been through.
This morning as I sat in my car before going into work and read my twitter feed, I saw this tweet from Beth Moore:
"Reflecting on 2 Tim 4:16-17: 'no one appeared in my support...but the Lord stood by me & strengthened me so that________....' if we feel very alone for a while like only the Lord seems to be standing with us, let's take advantage of it. A 'so that' is coming."
Waiting for the drop off and the "so that" that always comes to follow. Jesus is faithful and good and fights for us when it comes to things that feast off our flesh and soul. So I always stand in his safe embrace and let him do the fighting.
Oh I beg to differ. Finally I found a Walgreens in the area that had some hidden in it's pharmacy storage. We rejoiced and went through a container in a day. Going back for more.
I googled "how long do chigger bites last"...I only had to google the first few words to get the beginning of that fragment...and I felt some comaraderie with other google users who were also scratching their bites and wondering how long they would continue to do so.
I found some fascinating information. When a chigger bites you it's not a quick deal. It uses "tiny feeding devices" to pierce the skin. The chigger's saliva makes your skin itch as it kills your skin cells. Then the chigger feasts off your dead skin until it's had it's fill. Then it drops off of you.
The effects of the bite can last longer than this process of the chigger finally leaving you alone. Especially if you itch your skin so much you tear it, like I do. I like to make tiny x's over the bite with my fingernail...as if that has some power to stop the itch. It makes me feel better.
I was thinking about all this, knowing in a week's time my family and I will be free of the itching and marked skin. It's irritating. It's kind of like when you sin. Or are attacked. There is that first sting, and then the fall-out. Whether it's the enemy biting away at you or your own consequences, we go through that hang time of waiting for the pain to drop off. Our wounds remain, and healing does come. We may not have the scars, but we know what we've been through.
This morning as I sat in my car before going into work and read my twitter feed, I saw this tweet from Beth Moore:
"Reflecting on 2 Tim 4:16-17: 'no one appeared in my support...but the Lord stood by me & strengthened me so that________....' if we feel very alone for a while like only the Lord seems to be standing with us, let's take advantage of it. A 'so that' is coming."
Waiting for the drop off and the "so that" that always comes to follow. Jesus is faithful and good and fights for us when it comes to things that feast off our flesh and soul. So I always stand in his safe embrace and let him do the fighting.