Six Months

Six months ago I never planned to be writing about headaches. I had no idea the headache I got that day would be the reason I'm now in a research study for chronic headache sufferers. I didn't know that my life would be so drastically different. Shows how much we know! :) But really, isn't life like that for all of us? Of just my friends and family I can think of people who, six months ago:
- Had never been parents and are now caring for two little boys
- Had no idea God would send him to Africa instead of a college campus this fall
- Were wondering if they would ever get pregnant and now have pictures of a tiny person inside
- Was praying for God to prepare her to meet her husband and now she's planning a fairytale wedding (actually I know TWO of those! Both in my Bible study group!)
- Celebrated Christmas with their grandmother, who is now partying with Jesus in person
- Had a vision for a Statewide Swimsuit and Towel Drive - are now praising God for accomplishing it!
- Prepared to walk for May graduation at the University of Alabama, only to have cancelled after a devastating tornado
- Was still crawling on the floor and now he's running laps around BigHouse (that's Anderson, not Joe - in case you were confused!)

This morning I chose to be grateful for things I have learned, gained, experienced, avoided, and let go of in the past six months. Here's part of an email I wrote to Julie this morning - my treasured friend here in Opelika who has seen the good, bad, ugly, painful, joyful, faithful, doubtful, anxious, angry, peaceful....and everything in between these last six months.

"I'm celebrating today! It seems like today might be a good day to be angry or sad or whiny, but I am defiant! I'm choosing to be grateful for the 296 months of my life without chronic pain. The dozens of storms that I've seen that DIDN'T hurt my head. The fact that God prepared me to give up clogging and Six Flags and every other aspect of my life before it could be 'stolen' by headaches. The ways that God is making me more like Jesus in suffering. That I still have hope for NDPH to resolve on its own. That I'm not dealing with something worse. That I have you for a best friend. That I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! That because of Christ, God can use this pain for my good and His glory. That His Word is true and trustworthy. That when I do the body scan (meditation) practice, nothing in my body hurts other than my head. That God loves me, even though there is nothing lovely in me. That I can enjoy life today. That I don't have to do shots today. That God sees what is in store for me six months from now just as clearly as He sees today."

What are you celebrating today? :)