Hi all,
Today I'd like to talk a little about God, Our Lord and Savior. I don't want to tramp on any ones toes, but I am a Catholic and I have a very strong faith in God. I've been a Catholic all my life. I was born to a Catholic Mother, but my Dad was not Catholic. Actually, I don't remember him every attending any church except the times he went along with my Mother and us kids to church. Usually this was just on special occasions. Although, for the last ten years or so of my Mother's life, my Dad always went to Mass on Sundays with her.
Upon his death, I never doubted that he was welcomed into our Heavenly Kingdom. He was indeed a good man. He had great respect for God, for the sanctity of marriage, for my Mother and for family. He worked very hard all his life, working two jobs for many years while I was growing up. As for my Mother, she was a devout Catholic and she had great faith in God. Those are the things she passed on to me and my siblings.
I went through twelve years of Catholic schooling. I love God with all my heart and soul and I know, positively, that He is with me now, and always has been, every minute of every hour of every day of my life. How do I know this? The answer to that is so simple. I made it through every single painful and sad time in my life. Sometimes, just barely making it, but those were the times He carried me. Boy, of boy, He must have been tired of carrying me sometimes. But, He never gave up on me.
By all right, almost sixty-five years ago, I should have died at birth. You see I was born with a heart defect and I was birthed breach. My Mother once told me that she heard the doctor say that they only had a few minutes to get me birthed before I died. At that point, she was put under. So, when she woke up, she didn't know if I lived or not. Obviously, I did. Thank you, Lord!
In June, that will be sixty five years ago. I've lived all these years with a heart defect, which I could contro, somewhat, l until I reached my late thirties. At that time, my heart got worse and within a few years I had to depend on a pacemaker to live. That was almost twenty one years ago. Then almost seven years ago, I took a turn for the worse. My heart had become extremely enlarged and wasn't working very well. I ended up with a defibrillator with a built in pacemaker.
I'm not expecting anyone to feel sorry for me. In fact I don't feel sorry for myself. I feel blessed. I can't ever tell you how much God has blessed me over the years. Back in 2006, after I got out of the hospital, I learned that my life was now changed. If I wanted to continue living, I needed to change everything about my life and I did. Living was more important to me than doing things with family or friends. My life is very sedentary now. Please don't misunderstand me, I AM NOT COMPLAINING! I love my life just the way it is! God has been so good to me. I have the best husband in the world, the most beautiful and wonderful daughters, very responsible and loving sons-in-law, the most spectacular grandsons I could ever ask for, a loving extended family and truly loving friends. Tell me, what more could I possibly ask for? I have everything I need, so when I say that God has truly blessed me, I am being very sincere. I love that I wake up every morning and have another day to give back to God for all His blessings. I try to do that through my writing, art work, creating home-made greeting cards and other creative things.
I suppose I'm being spiritual today because my closest friend had an encounter and fell on Sunday. She ended up in the hospital for two days. She's home now and she's doing well, but I think this misadventure will make her start putting herself and her health first in her life. I do realize that as women, putting ourselves first seems selfish. For many, many years a women puts her husband and children first. She's always last. It's just the way it goes. God has truly blessed her and I pray that she'll start living every day with Gratitude and Acceptance.
All I know is that my life became easier to accept after I learned to be grateful to God for everything going on in my life, including my illness. Also, to accept my life and to embrace my illness and everything about it. Depression comes from time to time, but I refuse to dwell on it and push it aside as soon as possible.
I don't know, maybe this is part of the way God wants me to give back. Maybe I'm to share with all of you because perhaps someone out there is struggling with illness and depression. If that might be you, my advice to you is to learn all you can about your illness and then try to embrace it with both arms. Take control of your health and your life. Put yourself first and do what the doctors tell you. Don't ever let anyone else talk you into doing something that you know will cause you distress. Once you accept your illness, the gratitude and acceptance comes easily, trust me.
Good luck to all of you out there. You may not have an illness now, but I have learned that things can change in a second, making your every day life disappear. Praise God and trust Him, always!
Susan
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