These days social media can take us through so many ups & downs. I was talking with a friend over coffee this past weekend about social media and how sometimes we are reflected as a certain way. I was laughing with her about how I brag so heavily on my Dad's heart journey & how people are probably like, "
Okay, we get it, he had heart surgery, he survived, he is good, move on.. stop talking about it"... but just as I state that fact & we were giggling about how
some people & society see it as just that, well-
it wasn't as just that for me & my family. It's something that I don't take lightly and something that I don't think I will ever just be able to get past because it's something that bettered me for my future- who just gets over that?
Sometimes in life tragedies hit; whether big or small we all go through a time or season in life that we are hit head on with something that changes us. During the time of my Dad's heart issues I also had 2 friends that dealt with losing their husbands tragically. It all didn't make sense and to be honest I don't think ever will; but God's purpose is real even in the midst of a storm. I think 2012 will forever be my hardest yet most "growing" year; because it was the year He taught me about life, and my soul meaning for purpose through tragedies. I learned that life isn't just perfect & flawless. I learned that in those easy moments sometimes he takes us "off road" and shakes us up a bit- to open our eyes.
I am thankful even during the midst of these moments of our lives that we have a hiccup or "interruption" as I am learning in my new Jonah study in my woman's Bible Study this fall. It's so crazy how God's timing is ever present. The day I started my woman's Bible Study on September 5th last year was also the day before my Dad went into a major surgery for his heart. These woman grasped me, prayed over me and loved me yet knew nothing about me. I learned that fall & winter all about the book of James- a man for Christ who struggled in so many areas of his life. Now this fall a year later I am learning about Jonah & the "interruptions" in his life that bring us to where we are today. There is a season of everything in life, and I didn't know how to write that out for myself a year ago, but look at the great things God had in store for me now today, currently in my life after all the things that have gone on. He knew my purpose and literally wrote out my story for me all in the midst of the storm that I was battling!
I am so serious about how I feel in things we went through with my Dad because it's a situation that became a life altering thing for myself, my family, and our lives. Yes people go through everyday battles in their lives whether it be cancer, losing jobs, depression or even losing someone that they love. But do we not all have the same stories and the same endings to our story? The complete center of it all is Christ & that is all that should matter and why I am so passionate about MY story, MY life and where I am today.
If I have to spend the rest of my life telling my story of my Dad to the world I will. Because we were an everyday average family living life happily. We were a family that had everything made in the shade with health, wealth, food, clothes, & happiness. And then in that same breath our lives changed in a second with my Dad's life being altered. I could have lost my Dad that day in July when later they diagnosed him as a "tombstone" patient. He was lucky he survived that Saturday when he happened to call me to come be with him that same day my Mother so happened to be out of town vising her Mom. I don't take a moment of any of that lightly and know that God spared his life for a soul purpose!
We celebrated his new heart this past Friday with the family. I love this man so much. The treasure he has given my life has no price tag on it. He has given me the reason for being on earth, the reason for wanting to be a Mom, a wife, a friend. He has taught me about taking the high road & being a woman of Christ. So thankful for God for giving him a new healthy heart a year later, going strong!
I will never be sorry for telling my story over and over and over and over again.
