When I reflect on the last year and my own journey back to health, I think Buddha described exactly how I feel:

“Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.”

Health is the greatest gift that isn’t a given. Whether it be a car accident, covid, a rare diagnosis or cancer you never know if you might be affected by a life altering health event. I’ve had my share of health issues throughout my life. You could even say it started when I was in my mother’s womb. I was eager to come before my time and she was forced to take medications that made her worse in order to keep me in. Throughout my childhood my immune system was never the greatest and at one point I was having my blood drawn bi-weekly for my pediatrician to monitor me as I was constantly sick. Strep 12 times in one year lead to a tonsillectomy and I had to have an emergency procedure in the ER when I hemorrhaged. Toxic mold was found in my bedroom in our home when I was growing up, which probably had something to do with me getting sick very easily. Mold is so nasty….. I had an anaphylactic reaction to shellfish & penicillin at 18. A life threatening car accident when I was 19, that included me having my own “white light” experience with God. My provider diagnosed me with arthritis after this event. Many years of pain to finally get diagnosed with endometriosis in my mid twenties, along with Raynaud’s Syndrome. These were my first 3 autoimmune issues that I knew about. Over the years I continued to have weird reactions to foods, medications, and struggled with infertility. During our years of trying to get pregnant I had the 1% chance reaction to a medication that ended me up in the ER. Then when we attempted IVF, all 9 eggs fertilized only to have none of them make it to blastocyst. I had at least one known miscarriage at 18 weeks, another sign of something being off in my health.

In 2020 I learned I have celiac disease, and we are watching my blood work for a few other autoimmune issues as well. I also began having lots of histamine intolerance issues and I keep my epi pen near by just in case these days. I share all of the above to be vulnerable about my own health experiences over the years. Many people walk around with struggles we can not see. I’ve tried to stay positive over the years about my health hurdles but it’s never been more important to keep that mindset than now. This last year has kicked my booty. As I’ve taken strides towards a healthier me, I know that my health each day is to be seen as a gift. I have had several days where my pain is so bad I don’t want to get out of bed but I know I have to show my kids that everything in life that is worth anything is worth fighting for…. especially our health.

I don’t share for attention - I share to build community because if you are reading this it’s probably because you know me or you or someone you know is struggling with their own health and you stumbled on this website. I want you to know you are not alone. I want to be vulnerable enough to share my health journey so that maybe I can impact at least one person’s life for the better. Your/Our illnesses may not be viewable to outsiders but those who live with you/us see your/our everyday struggles. I want to encourage you to keep taking one step closer to your best version of health.

I want to remind you that your gift of health won’t be the same as others so don’t get stuck in comparison. Roosevelt wasn’t wrong when he said “comparison is the thief of joy.” When I think back to our years of struggling to get pregnant, I did a lot of comparing as I watched others get pregnant. I’m so glad I never got stuck in the mindset of comparison because my greatest joy is our children who came to us through an adoption plan with their birth/first mother. She too knew a thing or two about gifts. I remember standing next to her when the ultra sound tech came into exam her, they asked if she wanted to know the sex of the baby to which she replied “You don’t peek at a gift from God before it’s received.” I loved this so much and the wisdom in this is profound. She had chosen to never find out before any of her pregnancies the sex of the baby. That day when Cora was born and we got to hear the doctor say “it’s a girl”, the joy of that gift received was all the more precious because we hadn’t peeked!

So, I challenge myself and others not to try to peek at your gift of health. Don’t try to predict what tomorrow will be like or make expectations for yourself or those you love who have health issues. Instead take each day as a gift and find the joy in that day. One day the gift may be being able to stomach solid foods, another day it may be running a 5k, and another day it might be being able to get out of bed to use the restroom without falling down because you’ve struggled to feel your own legs. All of these have been gifts to me over the last year at some point. Each one is different and each is a gift that can bring us joy - if we keep the mindset alive and well in our mind & soul no gift will go unrecognized! God will bring healing through our efforts to be healthy. Prayer, meditation, exercising our body & mind, and feeding ourselves good nutrition are all great things to help in our healing.

If you’d like to share your story - let me know. I’d love for you to be able to share it here for others to learn from your personal experience. Together we will build relationships through our faithfulness as we fruition through this life!

Comment below if there is something that stood out that you’d like to learn more about in my story and I’ll be sure to address it in a later post.