Blessings in a Simple Life
I know, I know...two blogs in one week after no blogs for over six months...don't pass out on me! I have been thinking a lot about what all has happened in the past ten years. My ten year high school class reunion is this October fifth and sixth. I had looked forward to it over the years, but am unfortunately unable to attend. I am not going for a couple reasons, one of which is my dad's big 50th surprise party is the weekend prior in Pigeon Forge. Another is that Wes can't take the time off, so driving or flying to Florida with two toddler just does not seem like the wisest thing to do. So, I was a little bummed, but it is ok. I had looked forward to it mostly because of how much I have changed in the past ten years. According to the Bible, you cannot grow spiritually without trials, and boy, I have had some growing pains since graduation. My faith has been tried and stretched time and again. I have been down the wrong road, only to realize how much more I belonged on the right road, even if it was the more difficult to take at the time. I have been to four colleges. I have worked quite a few jobs, even owning my own business very successfully for four years. I have been engaged three times, married once, and heartbroken countless times. I have given birth to two beautiful children, despite the odds. I have lost two children...and what felt like a piece of my own soul with each of them. I have found new people to "adopt" into my friend-family, to love tremendously. And with each new friendship, my own being has been shaped a bit. Iron sharpens iron, you know. So, over the past ten years, I have become someone that is nothing like the person who graduated from Evangelical Christian School on June fifth, 1997. I am not at all catty, so don't think I want to go back to "show off" or anything like that. I wanted to go so that I could meet the new people that all of my classmates have become. I was very interested in seeing how much everyone had grown and changed. I have kept in touch with a handful over the years, and am proud of them all. I love them for who they were and who they are now. It is an amazing thing, the transformation of Christian teens into adults. Both figuratively and literally. And our reunion comes at such a crossroads in my own life. I am in the middle of forming another chrysalis, and am waiting to see if my new wings are prettier than the last ones. It has been a little difficult for me to hear that my life expectancy is drastically shorter than average. Mostly because I hate to not see my kids fully grown. It has been very hard to work out for four hours a day before and after my kids rise so that I can lose the 60 pound total my doctors want me to lose. (As you can see in my photo, I have lost 32 of the 60 thus far.) It has been difficult for me to close my business - something that I worked so hard to grow. It has also been hard because it was the only part of me that was still me. Massage had always been natural for me, a part of my being. Having to not do what I felt like was God's plan for me was very challenging. I had a bit of identity crisis...I was a business owner and Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapist with additional certifications in pregnancy, fertility, labor/delivery, and other women's health specialties. Now I am "just" Wes' wife and the A-team's mom. I know that raising two children for God's glory is one of the greatest things possible. Much greater than making $100,000 a year or buying a new house. I know that my reward in heaven is going to be much more amazing for teaching my children God's truth's than it would be for pampering strangers. (Although, I DID witness to every single person that ever climbed onto my massage table.) I am going to look at the next five years, until our next reunion, as my time to grow even more, to discover parts of my being that I had never recognized before, to learn more about life and our Lord, and to let my wings bloom a bit more. Please keep my transformation in your prayers.
Labels: transformation
