GratefulOne

Looking back on 2017, some might say I have a lot to complain about- after being sick for an entire year, having to let go of all outside ministry/volunteer commitments for most of the year, missing many social and friend outings, depending on others for rides and even grocery shopping because I just didn’t have the energy, and focusing on simply surviving the work week as my main accomplishment each week; however, I choose to focus on the good that came from a trying year.  I choose to focus on how much I have to be thankful for because while it was one of the most challenging years of my life, I can now look back and say that it was one of the greatest years of growth and maturing in unexpected ways.

I thank God most that I am finally healthy again and pretty close to my “old self.”  November and December were the best months of the year health-wise, and I treasured every sign of improvement.  I officially hit the one year mark of sickness in late October, 2017, so I was thrilled to see symptoms improve by mid-November this year.  I read early in the year that Adrenal Fatigue could last 6-12 months, so I was prepared for a potentially slow healing process (tho continually hopeful for God’s intervention to speed that process up!)

For those of you who have been following my health journey, I did start to improve after Mayo in August, 2017, but we were still adjusting medications August-November which is often a slow and up/down process.

Some of the greatest signs of improvement from fall, 2017 are:

• enough energy to not only make it through the work day, but to also participate in an evening small group (fall, 2017)
• enough energy to be able to volunteer one day a month in one of my favorite ministry areas (Life Encourager at Vineyard’s Hope Center)
• enough energy to finally go grocery shopping on my own!  (This was a huge victory to be able to walk around the store AND have energy to make many trips up my stairs with groceries!)
• enough energy for the occasional long work day and especially long work days for special services/events.  (I couldn’t make it past 8 hours for most of the year, so I was thrilled when I made it for my first 10-12 hour day!)
• the ability to dream again about the future.  For a dreamer, this has been so satisfying to finally be past survival mode and be able to re-visit goals and dreams for the future!

Some of the main themes/lessons of 2017 that helped me maintain a growth perspective were:

• Be patient with the process
  • Marshall also added the phrase: “Be a patient patient!”
• Find value in the process
• Choose joy on the journey
• Trust Me with your healing journey
• Practice gratitude

Thank you, friends and family for your love, prayers, words of encouragement, and support this year.  I am so grateful to God for providing such a supportive family, boy-friend, work community, and church community to walk with me through this year.

For those of you facing your own health challenges or other life trials, I pray that you find a way to maintain joy and gratitude on your journey.  When trials, hurt, and pain come, we can always choose to complain, but I’ve learned that it takes the same amount of energy to start making a gratitude list as it does to make a complaint list.  May we all choose joy, regardless of what we’re facing on our journey.  It truly does make the journey sweeter.