Writing a Beautiful Testimony.....

Today, Gretta's beautiful 7-year old daughter Sidney, is having a big surgery on her ear. And Gretta has asked that we spread this story so everyone can be praying for her beautiful daughter, Sidney. So please go here to read her story and to see a picture of this beautiful girl.

In this post, Gretta said something that really struck me. "I told Sidney the other night at bedtime when we were talking about her upcoming surgery, that God was just writing a beautiful testimony for her to tell later in life and help others see Christ through what all she has been through in her short 7 years."



You know I must tell you, I can relate to this. You see I had my first knee surgery at 7 years old. My knee locked up and stayed that way at home for a week, so when they took me to the doctor, he put me right in the hospital and on traction (which is very painful, by the way) to try to get this knee to go straight. Yes, you read that right, in those days, they tried to force a locked knee straight. OUCH!!! I was in traction for a WEEK!! And then when that didn't work, they stuck a HUGE needle in my knee and it swelled great big and turned orange and then they took me to x-ray. They found in x-ray that I had torn cartiledge that would require surgery. So the next day it was off to surgery for me.



I was in a cast for 6 weeks and couldn't go to school. YAY!!! ahem..... and had to have a tutor. double YAY YAY!!! ahem......... and wow what a cast that was. It went from my hip to my toes, and man did it itch. I remember sticking butter knives and various and sundry other things in there to scratch. Of course, my mom kept getting on to me, but that baby itched. =)



When the cast came off my little leg looked like it had shrank. I had a hard time with it for a long time. I remember my dad taking me to school in the mornings and carrying me up the flights of stairs to my classroom and then picking me up in the afternoon and carrying me back down, because I wasn't allowed to do stairs and elevators were not required back in the day.



So I can truly say that God has been weaving a beautiful testimony in my life with these knees since the tender age of 7. One that keeps pointing back to Him. I have many people ask me, especially in PT, if I've had a TKA (Total Knee) and when I say yes they look at me with the look (you know the one) and say I'm so young for that, but then when I explain about all my knee surgeries (7 now) and that the first one was at age seven, they just look at me and ususally say something like, "You poor thing", which totally opens the door for me to say, ahhhh but God has seen me through and I am a well-Blessed woman because of adversity.



Pain is hard. Pain hurts. Hurt is the nature of pain, but God in me is my strength and He gives me strength every single day to endure this pain. I am learning so much. This pain is a Blessing in my life. It has taught me to be sympathetic toward others and it has taught me humility. Yes pain is a Blessing to me.

I have not always been able to say that. I have thrown myself many a pity party over these knees, but that ship has sailed, and now I am on the ship headed toward the mountain of strength. I know I still have a ways to go to get there with these knees, but God is with me every beautiful and painful step of the way.

So head on over to Gretta's blog and love on her and her precious daughter and family as they go through this crises.

Thank you so much ~~ I love you so,