It's probably necessary to give a little bit of background information as to why I feel that my journey to rely on my faith is so important to me. I grew up in a home where we attended church regularly, I was involved in the youth group, and my parents conveyed the importance of following Christ. As I get older, this principal becomes more and more important, especially as life throws curve balls. Over the past two years, I have faced several frightening experiences in which I had no choice but to pray and put my fears in the hands of my God. The first was soon after I became pregnant with Connor. My mom had elective eye surgery and as a result had at least six ( I lost count) post surgeries to repair a torn retina that was likely a mistake made by her original doctor. As my mom went through this, I worried. I worried that she would lose her eyesight and that she wouldn't be able to enjoy her first grandchild that I knew she was eagerly awaiting. BUT, God is good, and after many prayers, my mom's retina has stayed attached. Her eyesight in one eye isn't great....but she can see! And most importantly she is able to be an amazing "Nana" to Connor. The second piece of scary news came the very week that I delivered Connor. I'll never forget a visit that my family received from my Aunt Donna, and cousins, Caelyn and Carrie. It was about the second day I'd been home from the hospital and my aunt revealed that Caelyn would be undergoing back surgery because she had been having severe pain and "something" showed up on an xray. At the young age of 17, my cousin Caelyn was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma cancer (only like 1 in 200 people are diagnosed with this type of cancer every year). Wow......I thought, how could this be, she's young, vibrant, and has her entire live ahead of her. So once again, feeling desperate, I turned my fears over to my God. I prayed daily for her health and her strength, as well did many others, and I can happily report that now, at the age of 19, she is cancer free. God answered another prayer. The third scary event occurred when Connor was a little over a year old, and my father had to have surgery to correct/fix a heart aneurysm. Talk about scary.....my father, who has been nothing short of amazing to his family for years was going to have major surgery. Once again, I hit my knees and begged my God to take care of my father and keep him safe during surgery. God answered my prayers. Finally, a fourth recent experience that has taught me how to rely on my faith was when I received an email from a friend of 16 years, saying that he had been diagnosed with Stage 3c colon cancer. He is 34. Once again, I questioned, tried to understand, tried to think of what to say to him but in the end, all I could do is pray for him. And I continue to do so. His most recent blood work, although still going through extensive chemo, shows not signs of cancerous cells.
Why have I chosen to share all this with you? It's simple! I am working on building my relationship with my God and learning to praise him during the good times and rely on him in the scary ones. I attended a Buckhead Church service several weeks ago, and Dr. Andy Stanley talked about five ways God grows our faith in him. One of these ways is pivotal circumstances. I truly believe that God used the above circumstances for both myself and the individual actually going through the difficult time to teach us how to trust him even when we don't understand.
So that's it. That's the background information that is important for you all to know as I continue to blog about my journey and share the daily happiness and struggles that life brings. It is my hope for myself that I'll continue to trust in my God, in both the good and the bad.
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