A New Month, New Mercies, Different Milestones
From a personal glance the first three months of 2023 felt like a complete trial and error. Taking a moment for health/selfcare, working through brain fog and debating on what to share seemed to create a lapse in blog content. Yet, April 19, 2023, is here. Mixed emotions and a heart of gratitude…since January it seems loss and life attempted to command attention in delicate ways. But God still extends strength by faith to keep pushing forward with hope navigating the balance of highs and lows.
Whether entering a new month or a new season, there have been consistent reminders that God remains an ever-present help. No matter the need, concern, desire. . .God is and forever will be present to extend His grace in love. Reflecting back, toward the end of February everything in me wanted to avoid remembering a significant milestone date. The date was a signifier and moment of awareness to recall a medical milestone. Perplexed, thankful, and survivor’s guilt were emotions that started to arise when pausing to acknowledge a decade long journey. A journey with reminders that many people don’t look like what they have been through nor what one could be working through in their life.
Transparent Moment: By now, I thought I would be done with various “restrictions” and even claiming back some feel of “normalcy” without certain limits. Yet in it all God has provided grace to embrace every emotion, fear, milestone moment and growth. Sometimes we want to suppress or fast forward to the next without fully going through the process. But the journey can yield patience and perseverance in a keen way. A type of perseverance that allows your soul peace to acknowledge “it’s okay, to not be okay” for whatever life calls one to navigate. Encouraging myself, I had to learn it’s okay to not be okay with limits, restrictions or new processes for a quality-oriented livelihood. . .but also propelled to embrace it is okay to honor those quiet moments to rest, recharge and reset for my well-being. Even in “dropping the rope” God gives moments of laughter, grace with connections and the confidence to “just be”. Survivors guilt is real. But it is a refreshing sense when you have a posture to no longer over explain the “what” of “why” things had to change for livelihood and well-being. This was different for me, but it was good and necessary to focus on the total person concept.
“Embracing it All” looks different for each of us. The truth is every person you encounter maybe overcoming something be it visible or invisible. Reality is the journey of survival mode can seem like a blur. Aiming to be conscious and alert but trying to process what is happening while living can feel like one is walking through a complete fog. Moving and making decisions, yet you can only see where you are going up to a certain point. Here comes God with a gentle notion to pause, pull back or recalibrate to readjust. My word has been “new normal”. . . Just when I thought things were settling down, here comes a “new normal”.
Reflection: Some have heard me share my journey with “B-12”. Sometimes life hits in an unexpected manner “beyond our control”. One may find there is no other option but to “work your way through it”. The experience to “bounce back” can be accompanied with good, bad, confusion, hurt, disappointment, disbelief, questions of why, tears, and sadness. Personally, I recall those emotions and reactions. In the area of medical health, a gamut of scenarios seemed to surface all at once without warning or explanation (Kudos to Hubbs who rides the wave with me). But God has not allowed me to look like anything that this body has endured, overcome and gone through! For that I am grateful!
“Embracing It All” brings a sense of clarity to grasp where God is able to restore strength, faith and the peace to be okay with not being okay with a journey of “new normal”. Yet, trusting God is ever-present and with us every step of the way. This is grace and comfort. . . to witness how God sustains us. . .to know there are so many who share their own story of endurance is a calming reminder God is with us as we navigate every area of our life.
Embracing it All, comes with the sentiments maintaining my “C.O.R.E.” (Courageous Overcoming Restored Encouraged). Keeping a posture of faith beyond what I see, experience or feel (in body or emotions). What’s your “C.O.R.E.”? My prayer with this blog entry is to extend hope to all who have faced any form of unexplainable life moments beyond what looked or felt normal. That your “C.O.R.E.” would encompass the faith to not discredit your vulnerability, while unapologetically riding the waves of anything that has brought a “new normal” to your life. Let the changes and adjustments open your eyes to new beginnings and new mercies.
You are the example of fearless “C.O.R.E.” at work. . . Know that God is with you. Believe that God is strengthening your spirit, mind, body and soul to know you are built for whatever life brings your way. More than anything, remember, God waste nothing and No-Thing that happens to us or around us ever catches God by surprise nor defines our life.
Sails ADJUSTED! Faith EMPOWERED. . .Don’t neglect your needs! Advocate for your total well-being! EMBRACE IT ALL! Maintain the “C.O.R.E.” Keep shining bright!
Psalm 15:5-6
~Corri-Rose~