Sunday, July 22, 2007

The Gift

In Jan. having abilateral mastectomy and starting chemo. in Feb. It was a hard blow needless to say, I lost the main things that make you who you are, right?

I mean we all want to look good, don't we? Well, good was far from what I looked like! No boobs and no hair, I looked like an alien!

And then one day I stepped out of the shower, which was now scarrier than ever! Who was in the mirror? Was it still Melanie? Was there any beauty there? Was I still a women, now that everything that made me a women was gone?

All of these questions went through my mind as I stood there and almost immediately, the answer came!

These things have absolutely Nothing to do with what makes you, You!

What an amazing gift to get at such a trying time in my life.

I have learned much about my identity in the past few years, after loosing my three year old, then loosing my father, and then my boobs and hair!

Talking about a reality check!

My identity was not completely being Hunters mom, or Joe's daughter, or the girl with nice hair and boobs!

The gift I was given in loosing all of those things was ME!

Not that I am not still all of those things, God made ME and he loves Me and He thinks that I am beautiful, and he knows every tear I cry over the loss of my precious baby boy, and loosing my dad, and that I would face cancer.

He has and will continue to carry me through all of the trials I have been through and will go through.

Because of the gift of his son Jesus Christ I am able to keep on keepin' on.

Perspective

Isn't that what it is all about? It being life. Perspective is all you need to survive in this crazy world. It has taken me some time to get to this place in my life. It comes from the last three years. I have learned more about myself and God than I could have ever imagined or prayed for in this life. But, if you are a Christian and you know you will be in Heaven for eternity the things that happen here in this life have a whole new meaning. And your perspective is completely different. It's amazing to see how much easier it is to handle the trials of this life when you have an eternal perspective.