Happy Thursday, y'all!
Yesterday I was cleaning out & organizing some of my *stacks*...
(Do you have stacks? How do you keep them from turning into monsters??)
...and came across my medical records, correspondance, and information from The Grand Life Challenge of 2005.
I was 25, we had been married almost a year, and it was crazy. Skimming through the paper work yesterday was strange & surreal. A flood of memories came back and before I knew it I was crying.
For those of you who don't know about it, or would like to refresh your memory, I refer to the old bloggity blog:
Here is a pic from the beginning of that summer.
Here is the post about the hospital stay...
...and here is what happens when you take 100 mg of prednisone/day.
Though we refer to the experience in normal conversation (in our lists of 'we lived through this', in our lists of 'we are so grateful', in our lists of 'things we check on regularly in fear it *might* happen again', in our lists of 'wow that was crazy', in our lists of 'this is how we can be more compassionate to those suffering', in our lists of 'miracles', in our lists of 'things to tell the dr when asking medical history'), I don't normally FEEL what I was feeling yesterday.
And so today after the emotional swirls of yesterday,
I am feeling grateful.
I am grateful for the experience itself--that has molded me into the person I am today, and has given me stronger ground to stand on. I am grateful for the feelings of peace and love that came directly and swiftly from Above. I am grateful for amazing family & friends who let me rest on their shoulders, who looked at my eyes and saw the ME inside the moon face mask. I am thankful for a successful 'recovery'. I am thankful for an above-average husband who loved me and overflowed with sweetness, and made me feel better in ways no one else could.
And, as time pulls me further away from that summer, I am thankful for every day that I don't see little purpura spots or have to have blood drawn--wondering if the numbers are good enough.
Is there a Life Challenge that you are thankful for?
3 comments:
Do I have a Life Challenge I'm grateful for? Yes. As I continue to wade through it with the Lord ever-present and all of my family and friends supporting me and comforting me along the way, I am concentrating on God's purpose for me. This experience has made it more obvious than ever that I define my worth by what I can do for my family, for my church, and for my work. When I'm not able to do those things, my self-worth dissolves. I KNOW that's not how God looks at me or measures my value, so I'm in prayer to better see what that is.
And my dear, sweet friend, when I saw your prednisone picture, I stopped and thought, "She SO did not look like that!!!!" You were so strong and have battled back to your beautiful, impeccable, stylish self, and I thank God that your faith continued to grow with each challenge. You were an inspiration then, and you're an inspiration now. I love you!
Susan Y.
Thanks for sharing your story, it brings tears to my eyes...
You're a great sis, sis! I remember being pretty scared about your medical emergency that summer. It seemed pretty dire to me, and it was!
I remember being a teenager once. I was cleaning out the fridge one day just meditating as I do. My mind just wandered to the idea that life was pretty good. I had the things I needed, school was going well, and my life felt organized. I remember thinking to myself, "Alright, Father, I'm ready for something else. Add something." For the next week I had a HUGE zit smack on my nose. It was amazing. During that week I had my senior picture. I chose to print the picture that was taken from the OTHER side that somewhat obscured the blemish. At the time, I remember thinking, "Hey, He's good!"
I know that trial is somewhat trivial. I kind of lump all of my trials into the trivial category. Mostly because I remember Who is the Boss. We even had a Sunday School lesson this week on adversity, and to my mind, I had a flood of awakening thoughts about just how good these situations are for us. I don't want to take a "bring it on" attitude, but I do want to keep the "With God, nothing is impossible" attitude. After all, Someone has already been there before.
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