Heeding Apostolic Counsel

…adding my few droops to the flood.

I was walking the local high school track this morning, trying to beat my 5k personal best with my best friend Meredith, when our conversation turned to the talk that Elder Bednar gave at BYU on social media.  That was the moment that a few things in my life that I had been feeling and prompted to do came to light for me.  Both Meredith and I have been reading a blog by a man named John Pontius, who has now passed away, but before he did, he shared some of his amazing life events and his testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ. John's wife Terry had taken over the blog and continued to post stories and testimonies of people who had read the blog and wanted to share their own stories, all in a community of sharing and lifting one another's souls.  Terry shared this talk by Elder Bednar and encouraged everyone to start their own blog as part of the "flooding of the earth" with the Gospel.  

Now, I have not lived as full and incredible life as John has, not even close! However, I have faith that the Lord will guide me as I share some of my own experiences, and that someone out there in the whole wide world will be uplifted by something I say eventually.  

Let me first do a little catch-up on my life as it is currently situated:

It's actually pretty funny that my last post ended with me hoping that it wouldn't take another broken bone to teach me new things and take me to new places in my life…cause that's exactly what happened!  I was in school for two years, and it was great, but the whole time, I had some major issues with my back.  I saw every health care professional I could find, I paid more attention to every inch of my body than I even knew was humanly possible, I consumed about six large bottles of ibuprofen (over a two year period)  as well as multiple different vitamins and supplements along with the application of many different varieties and blends of essential oils.  I prayed, pleaded, bargained, and threw many fits with The Lord to make the pain stop or go away, or at least  help me figure out what it was so that I could make it go away.  Nobody could tell me what it was, and the pain was only ever dulled but never completely gone.  Finally, in January, the chiropractor I had been seeing suggested I go get and x-ray.  He had done all he could think to do, and had a feeling that the problem was more serious than what he could take care of. The results came back that I had a grade 2 spondylolisthesis, or in layman's terms, my back was broken.  Well, to be honest, the last vertebrate was fractured and had slipped forward two centimeters, and that vertebrate was rubbing against the surrounding bones with every movement I made that required any of my core strength. 

To make a long story short (I'm sure I will expand on the rest of the story in due time), I got back surgery on July 7th and feel so much better!  It's amazing to feel this well after two years of constant pain.  Of course, I'm still recovering, and will be until January, but almost immediately after surgery, I felt 100% better.  I have learned many amazing things, witnessed incredible miracles, and feel much closer to my Heavenly Father because of this experience and I can honestly say I wouldn't change a thing.  I would go through it again if I had to, because it was worth it!

So, for now, I'm putting school on hold, I'm putting work on hold, and I am focusing on healing.  I'm able to spend some quality time with friends, devote more time to calling, and chill with my two adorable cats Tigerlily, and Archimedes.  And, of course, I have more time to devote to blogging:)