Faith and Connections
Just the other day I met a lovely woman in a wheelchair. My first instinct was to smile but then I looked down, only to see that this kindly older lady was missing part of her limb. She was a below knee amputee.
She was being pushed around the store by a younger man, a caretaker, in her wheelchair when she noticed me and my prosthesis. She asked him to back up and push her towards me to talk about being an amputee.
Her smile showed she was a fighter. She also informed me it has been 2 years since her amputation, and now she was dealing with cancer. But still she smiled!
I knew that she was someone I wanted to know.
We talked for a bit, I told her we'd love to have her on our women's chat groups and I made sure she had my name written down before we parted ways. She was struggling with the phantom pains, something I know all too much about. We had that in common and our connection was amazing and immediate.
Before I chose amputation I had been fighting through ten surgeries in 5 years, plus a blood clot, before deciding on amputation.
I had 4 months to wait from the time I scheduled my amputation til the surgery, and in those 4 months I went thru every emotion know to humans. I was a wreck trying to navigate something so surreal and on my own.
That is, until I leaned into my Christian faith. I had met a nice pastor during my time in PT, as he was getting his shoulder injury worked on by my PT on many of the days I was there. We talked, I reflected, then on my birthday (which feel during my wait time) I decided to re-baptize myself at this pastor's church, which I started going to on Saturday evenings, just a month before. I needed to find connections, I need to find God in all of this mess I called my life.
The love of a puppy
The love from my horse
The love of my family
What I found, while attending the Saturday evening services, was amazing people who understood and stood with me during this time.
I sat down, on campus, with this pastor and we talked about life in general. Afterwards, when I got back to my car I had a life-altering epiphany, this whole thing, this journey I was on, was God's plan for me. I now, looking back, could see his fingerprints on it all!
I felt such a burden lifted from me at that point, and I can honestly say, I have never looked back.
I am embracing every high and low for what it's worth, and I know it is for my own good and all these moments were meant to build me up for something else. My mindset got positive. My view of my future became positive and my fears were muted.
When I connected with this lady the other day, I saw God working again, reminding me why He chose me for this journey. I connected in a way that helped and brought joy to this new friend of mine, and I walked away feeling joyful and fulfilled once again.
Connections; we, as humans, were created for connecting with one another and with the world around us. This gives us hope and joy, it fills us with purpose and passion for our life we are living, despite the circumstances.
This week I want you to give it a try.
If you have been staying at home, or are stuck at home find a way to get out.
If you can't get out then find another way to connect with people. Find a virtual chat room, like the one I have each Wednesday, or call a friend or family member. Reach outside of your own life and find out about someone else's.
When we connect either physically or verbally with someone else we gain perspective and can step back from what is disabling us.
It's never going to be a good outcome if you are at home only thinking about your own problems and issues. That is isolating and can destroy you, mentally and physically. You need to branch out and see that you are not alone in suffering or struggles, we all have them, day to day and even from hour to hour.