Shared Odyssey

Well, I've been very busy with the move. My apartment is practically empty and a bit cold, but I am looking forward to going to the new place with the nice beams. I think they make the rooms look warm. Eventhough this move is taking a lot of time and energy, I have only had one thing on my mind... well, maybe two, but one in particular. Yesterday when I was taking a little break from packing, I sat down at the laptop where my blog profile was open. I remembered putting Transverse Myelitis as one of my interests, and I clicked on it. I then realized that I'm one of three people here with this same interest. I then started to read one of the blogs called "Odyssey" and... I think that it's perhaps the first time in my life I have felt like I was reading part of my own life. It's a blog about a gentleman that writes about his recovery from Transverse Myelitis. Now, even though this person is older than I was when I got sick (I was 17, and he has two grandchildren), and even though we come from completely different backgrounds, family situation, environment and the way we got hit with T.M. was very different, we have one important thing in common. We were both Christians at the time we got sick and I think this is what most likely made all the difference in the way we dealt and still deal with it. It really blessed me to read about how he was dealing with it in his faith. I know it made all the difference for me. I was just a baby Christian at the time, I was very confused, didn't know what had just hit me or what was happening. For those who don't know me or know what T.M. is.... I'm not really going to get into it, but suffice it to say that in a matter of minutes I went from being a normal 17 year old, to being paralyzed and completely numb from my waist down, and well... my life has never been the same. When I first started my blog I wasn't really thinking that I would share much about T.M., because eventhough it might be hard to imagine that I could feel normal even if I do have a handicap, I don't feel handicapped on a regular basis. By God's grace I can walk... not perfectly, and my balance sometimes seems like a 2.5 year-old's, but I have a great life. I love my family, the friends that I have are great people, I have a job that I love, and I have found a church that feeds me and were I feel at home... best of all... my walk with the Lord is an exciting adventure. Yesterday when I was reading this blog and I remembered what it was like for me, I had to get up and cry and cry. Not because I was sad, but because it is still hard to believe that this even happened to me and that I actually went through this at 17!!! Then to think of where I am 11 years later. After I was told that I would never walk again, after I was told that my arms would be my new legs, after I was told that I was being too positive for even thinking that I might ever walk again, after I was told that I might not be able to go to school again let alone graduate from university. God is good. Getting Transverse Myelitis was at the time the worse thing that ever happened to me, but after all, I believe that it is one of the best things that ever happened to me. I wholeheartedly believe that by God's grace I will be made strong in my weakness as Christ's power rests on me. II Cor 12:9-10

31. But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
- Isaiah 40:31