By His Grace

   "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

    When I awoke from surgery and was told that my arm had been taken I knew I had two options I could cry, be depressed and angry at God or I could take the other path. I chose to give my struggles to God and trust.. in Him. I knew that He chose me because He knew I was strong enough to handle the road to come. God tells us that He will not give us more than we can handle, all we have to do is trust in Him and simply have faith. It was very hard; don't get me wrong. I thought about my future of things I may miss out on or just simply greatly struggle with; such as wanting to have a family of my own one day, feeling less of a woman, the daily struggles of life and I'm a big hunter (that was a major worry). My only solution was just to think of it as a daily challenge as something to conquer instead of letting it conquer me. It is a whole new world out their you would not normally think of and luckily I have been blessed with some amazing people to help me along my journey.

   

    The power of prayer is amazing, and the support my family and I received while in the hospital and still today has been unbelievable! We could not thank you enough. I saw how much it meant to my family just knowing how much support they had and they were not alone dealing with this heavy burden. I believe that is important to remember, and I know I always will, is to utilize these social networks for great purposes to serve God's work whether it be prayer request or what. But I just wanted to say from experience how much it meant from my family. I received cards from people I did not even know; from children's churches to my favorite basketball team Coach Calipari praying for me! It was awesome and uplifting! Needless to say my room was the room other nurses wanted to go due to all the gift baskets! You also helped feed my amazing family and friends who never left my side. I found that humor goes well with healing. Although mom often times could not believe my jokes at times she would still laugh. One of her favorites was when I was weighed when I checked into Lourdes. Being a girl of course were all about our weight, right? Well I got on the scale and said,"you mean I aint lost any weight and I lost a whole arm!" The nurses face was priceless she didn't know what to say, whether to laugh or console me. I just busted out laughing.

    I believe it is important to feel comfortable in your skin, and if you cant laugh and make jokes, other people will just feel uncomfortable. I'm not saying let people make fun of you; there is a difference. There is a new beauty you will find in your new skin and confidence is key. Humor just breaks the ice always in any situation and allows people to feel comfortable. You will find that people will not know how to handle the new you and that can be very hard to handle. Hold your head high, be confident, trust in God and He will get you through anything.