April 24

Today's sermon had my name written all over it. Pastor John was talking about the difference between regular sunglasses and polarized glasses. You can go your whole life with regular sunglasses and not know what you're missing, but the moment you try on a pair of polarized sunglasses, you can see so much better. (Seriously, you gotta try it!) You can see things that were there all along, you just didn't know because you weren't seeing as clearly. 

"The lamp of the body is the eye." Luke 11:34. If we see the goodness, we'll be filled with light. I've had so many people ask me how I can be so positive or comment on how big my smile is, but I don't really see another option. Of course I have my moments, but focusing on the positive is way better than being negative and letting the darkness consume me. "He who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion." My story is far from over. I feel like I'm not back to 100% yet because there's something more to come. That's hard to handle, but there's just got to be something more to come. Like this "chapter" of my story isn't over yet. I wish it were, but my only hope is that what is to come is so great that it's worth all this. 

Psalm 23:6 says God's goodness follows us all the time...no matter what we're feeling or what we're going through. That goodness is still there. 

We were all asked to write down something good God has done then bring that paper to the front. I think they're going to read some of those papers next week. I wrote about how sick I was and how God used that as an opportunity for me to strengthen the relationships I have, build new ones, and be an example of His love and goodness.im looking forward to hearing what other people wrote down next Sunday. 

We made a GoFundMe page, like people requested. 

https://www.gofundme.com/2474bup8

My friend, Christin, shared it to a group we belong to- ODs on Facebook. A woman from Florida whose husband is an optometrist and part of that page sent me a message after hearing about that post. Her 11 year old son, Hunter, had ADEM. It's so rare and I've obviously never met anyone else with it, so I messaged her. We talked for a little bit and she shared photos of her son who is now back on his feet without an assisted devices. It was inspiring and helped keep my hopes up. I told her I hoped to be back on my feet like that again and she simply replied with "you will." She also said "God has a purpose for you too, Kelly. Sounds strange to say but you will come out of this stronger than ever. Keep fighting hard. Never give up. Have your tears but then dry them and keep going. I can already feel that you are going to make it through this storm!"

I don't think I got connected to her by accident. I think those were words I needed to hear and God was showing me that I just need to remain faithful.