OK, call me behind the times and backwards, but I've never understood the big deal about spas, especially because I had never been to one. I just figured it was like a hotel but they call it a spa and just charge you more or something. One of my very best friends for the past 25 years, Holly, had a gift card for a couple of nights at a spa in Safety Harbor, and she invited me to join her Thursday night. So, I was excited to get away, but didn't know what was really in store. Well, she picked me up Thursday around noon, and we checked in where we promptly took some pictures of our room (see below). We then donned our bathing suits, grabbed the robes from the closet, and walked down the hall to the spa. I finally got an understanding about the big deal about spas, but I don't know if I could adequately explain it! There is just this atmosphere of rest, relaxation and convenience that is incredible! I mean, here we were, walking around the hotel in robes, which is pretty much what everyone does! We went in the ladies' locker room and visited the steam room. Next to the steam room was a sauna and then a plunge pool, surrounded by about a half dozen bubble bath tubs with jets and any kind of fragrance bubble bath you could want. I had never been in a steam room, but right after we walked in I felt like I couldn't breathe! Holly instructed me to hold the towel over my face, which definitely helped, but I decided the steam room was not for me. So we went out of the locker room and jumped in one of the jacuzzi's. It was then Holly looked at me and saw that evidently I looked a little like Santa Clause because the towel I had held to my face in the steam room must have been a fairly new towel so I had a beginnings of a white beard and mustache all over my face from towel particles! We got a good laugh out of that one! We went back to the room and used the lounge chairs on our porch to relax some more, looking out over the bay. When it was time for showers, we just put our robes on taking nothing with us and walked back into the spa to the showers where you could grab as many towels as you could possibly want, jump in the shower, and use the soap, shampoo, and conditioner dispensers right there in the shower. After months of having to pack everything in a backpack and drive to the YMCA when I want to take a shower, this was a real luxury! The spa had an excerise room, a weight room, and an aerobics room, Friday morning the aerobics room was empty, so I went in there with my dance music and danced to my heart’s content. Holly and I prayed together several times during our stay, and I just felt like I experienced incredible rest. A few days ago I was struck with the thought that God was so desirous of His children getting rest that He created manna that lasted 2 days once a week so that the Israelites wouldn’t even have to gather manna (and how hard could picking manna have been?) on the Sabbath. That’s how much He loves us and wants what is best for us. I hope and pray all who are reading this will experience a full day of rest this week, whether today or sometime this week. It may not be a spa experience, but it can still be rejuvenating! :-)
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