Cheers to the Women

Here’s to the women in our lives–those who support us, challenge us, encourage us, and inspire us.  Here’s to the women who are strong, the women who are dreamers and to those who are doers.  Here’s to the adventurers, the creative women, the intelligent and wise women.  Here’s to the women who make us laugh till we cry, let us cry on their shoulders, educate us, carry us when we can’t make it on our own any more, and the women who love us.  Here’s to the world changers, the home makers, the rule breakers.  Here’s to you, women.  You are incredible.

 

 

Here’s to all women.

Cheers and Happy International Women’s Day,

The pain that you’ve been feeling can’t compare to the joy that’s coming

“The pain that you’ve been feeling can’t compare to the joy that’s coming.”  This lyric rains such truth down on my heart and helps me through the rough times.

I can’t claim to know what it’s like to live in constant pain.  I can’t even begin to understand the trials of people struggling with chronic pain.  But I can empathize.  For a few years now (I’ve lost track but I know it hasn’t been very long) I have been in extreme pain for about 2 weeks every 2 and a half months it seems.  Sometimes it’s bearable.  Sometimes it’s incredibly debilitating and walking is difficult.  No amount of Ibuprofen helps—it barely touches the pain.  I’ve been to the emergency room in the middle of the night and spent several hours at an urgent care only for them to take a blood sample with no results out of the ordinary.  No one knows what’s wrong with me.  I began to think I was imagining it.  There’s no way it can be this painful for this long and not have a root cause.  Nothing helps, nothing seems to cause it, and nothing makes it go away.  I always have felt horrible for having to deal with it and people around me knowing it’s a thing.  I feel like a burden or an annoyance saying the words “I am in so much pain right now,” because there is no way I know of that I can stop it or anyone can help.  But this pain is real.  It’s brutal, exhausting, annoying, and strenuous.  But at least I have around 2 and a half months of relief before it starts up again.  For that, I am thankful.  Again, I cannot being to imagine what it’s like to be in chronic pain and wake up every day dealing with this in a more severe manor and feeling how exhausted your body becomes from constant pain.  I find myself praying for those who do because they must feel completely overwhelmed.  But for as often as I feel annoyed by my pain and as often as I feel like a burden to those around me who have to watch me grimace—finding out someone I know experiences the same kind of pain brought such relief.  I’m not making this up—it’s real.  Even though there is nothing to help it, I feel strangely validated in my curling up in bed wondering how long the wave of fire will last this time.

We are not meant to struggle alone and isolated whether we’re in pain, dealing with loss, navigating life’s issues, or really struggling with sin.  That’s why we have the church to surround ourselves with prayer warriors to intercede on our behalf to our Intercessor.  Struggling alone is lonely and makes you feel crazy.  Even if people can’t help in a physical way to ease your pain they can help by acknowledging your struggle and simply being there.  And who knows–there may be just one other person who is experiencing the same thing and just knowing that can ease your mind.

While I feel validated in knowing I am not alone, I also feel hopeful—this body is imperfect and not what I was meant for.  I am meant to struggle in this life and if God is teaching me how to be patient and long-suffering through this specific pain then so be it.  As long as it’s me and not someone else—I’ll continue to breathe through it because I know where I belong and look forward to the peace and comfort I will one day experience in a body not broken by sin.

Here’s to the long-suffering, the brokenness of this world pointing us to Heaven, and the incredibly strong people surrounding us in support who never get the credit they deserve.

Cheers,

Friends for always

How beautiful is this season of life.
The way God works is mind bendingly and soul revivingly perfect.
As I sit here returning from probably the most exhilarating and fun packed white water rafting trip down the Ocoee, I’m thinking about the people surrounding me. I’m thinking about the first time I met each of them, my favorite memories with each of them, and their futures. These thoughts bring both unreal levels of joy and happiness and laughter but also such hypothetical sadness. I cannot imagine my life not knowing them. I almost went somewhere else for college. I took a year off before starting undergrad. God worked everything in my life up to this point to create these relationships specifically. The same can be said of any relationship I hold with any other human being. I start to think back to my growing up years in Winston-Salem, my time in Florida and Massachusetts. Then I could never imagine my life growing apart from or not being around those sweet friends I spent most of my waking minutes exploring with. Truth be told I haven’t seen them in years and that breaks my heart. But thank God for Facebook and social media because I get to see how their lives have turned out and cannot be more proud and genuinely happy for them. I’m back thinking about these friends in my presence in this moment. We get to share this specific and fleeting time of life and walk together through storms and have the absolute times of our lives adventuring through college. But what about when we graduate? What then. These are my friends for life.