This is my six word story.

At a recent Bible study at work a question was addressed to the two of us in the room with younger children, “How do you manage to bear the cross of having younger children at home?”

My colleague and I looked at one another to see who would speak first.  My colleague hesitantly began to speak.

He didn’t speak of the cross he had to bear with three young children at home.  He began to talk about how blessed he is.  He spoke about his supportive wife.  He spoke about how his parents live around the corner and how his wife’s parents also live close by.

I was blown away, not by what he was saying exactly, but that he was expressing the same feelings of being blessed that I would have expressed had I been the first to speak.

But what is most remarkable is that our situations could not be any more different.

I am a single mom.  I don’t have family that lives close by or even in town.  I don’t have the stability or the same support system he does, but I am just as blessed.  I could relate exactly to what he was saying about being blessed because I experience that same blessed feeling every single day.

Being blessed by God has nothing to do with our individual situations, but everything to do with our relationship with God and how we allow Him to work in our lives.

And this is the beginning of the story behind my six word story.

Please visit She Reads for information about the She Speaks Conference scholarship.  She Speaks is a conference for women who want to share with others their experiences with God through the written word, the spoken word, or through leadership in their community.

Over the past few years I have removed barriers that I had placed between God and me.  The removal of these barriers has allowed me to continue to develop my relationship with God and has, in turn, made life much simpler.  

This change has taken place and continues to take place in my heart over and over again, but I have longed to physically feel and experience this change.  I was sure that eye surgery would be the physical experience I have been longing for.

Unfortunately, although the surgery went well, the healing process has not gone as smoothly.  My vision is worse than it was before the surgery and does not seem to be improving.  My ultimate prognosis is unknown.

So, in fact, this surgery has turned out to be symbolic as well as physical, just in a different way than I expected.

Joshua 3:4 says, “…you have not passed this way before.”  No, I have definitely not passed this way before.  I don’t know what my future holds – in regard to my sight or in any regard – but I continue to turn it over to Him and know that He will be with me through it all.  

This experience continues to be a true test of faith.  I know that this experience, although I may not understand it now, is a valuable part of my story of how God is working in my life.  

I will continue to follow the regime that the doctor has prescribed, but it is ultimately in God’s hands.

Please go to A Holy Experience and find out more about the She Speaks Conference scholarship.  She Speaks is a conference for women who want to share with others their experiences with God through the written word, the spoken word, or through leadership in their community.  

I know that attending the She Speaks is in my future.  I just don’t know if God has it in my future for this year.  In this, as in all things, I am doing my part, but I am ultimately turning it over to Him.