How God Turned My Trial into a Blessing

I was diagnosed with a back disorder at a very young age. At 12, I was put into a back brace for 23 hours a day, 7 days a week. For a teenager who is already awkward and going through a tough time in school anyway, this was devastating! Losing friends because of this terrible affliction was he icing on this bittersweet cake and not having a lot of money, I was forced to wear my mom's clothes (who bless her heart, was not much of a fashionista!)

For years, I endured being picked on and feeling out of place all the while, worrying about this disease that I had. For a child, this is not the ideal life, but then you grow up. During these difficult years, I felt as though I would never get out. Being angry and emotional is par for the course when you are a teen, but being confined to an uncomfortable "tiny jail" as I would call it, seemed unfair and cruel. Until one day, when I had a particularly rough morning, I threw my Bible on the bed and ask God "What are You doing? Why won't you heal me? Don't You know how hard this is??!?" It was then that I looked at where the page in my Bible had landed, my eyes went straight to "Who can straighten what God has made crooked?"

From that moment on, I never questioned God's plan. Of course, I still had days when I wondered why He was allowing this, but my mind would always come back to that verse and how we do not know God's ways, be HE knows what He is doing. We are to trust and have faith in all circumstances. Each of us is dealt a different hand and what we do with that is up to us. 

No matter what we go through, we CHOOSE to be hateful or grateful. This glass can be a full or as empty as we want it to be. It is up to us.