A sign can say so much. It can tell a story, where to go, what to pay attention to, what to remember, etc. Signs can be filled with words, very few words or no words at all.
I made this sign for myself. It tells a bit of a story.
In another life, I was a runner. I literally woke up one day and decided to start running (my very own Forrest Gump moment).
I pushed and kept at it until I absolutely had to stop. While this was a short lived span of time in my life, it was extremely significant. I’ll give you the abbreviated version of my running career before I get into why it ended:
- I started running with an old friend in 2007
- I began running with a training group in 2008
- I did a few 5K races, 10K races, Turkey Trots
- I was a leg of a marathon relay team in fall 2009
- I ran my first half marathon in March 2010
- I ran my 2nd (and last) half marathon in April 2010
As usual, life happened. I began having serious problems (when I say serious, I mean life-threatening-serious) with my foot. The abbreviated version of that drama is this:
- Surgery + therapy for an infection in 2010
- Total freak aneurysm at that surgery site which lead to an emergency surgery
- Yet, another “follow up” surgery in 2011
- Recurrence of the infection in 2014 which resulted in 7 week hospital stay (included extensive antibiotics, ICU for pneumonia, physical therapy, and about 8 months of post-op treatment)
- (The Crafty Ginger came to be - read here)
- Recurrence of the infection in 2016 which resulted in another surgery (partial amputation - and, I've never really shared that out loud with people other than my family or doctors), another stay in ICU with pneumonia and 7 weeks of IV antibiotics which I was able to do from home and continue working with a post-op boot and a scooter.
So, while the latter half of this story mostly sucks something serious, there is goodness that comes from all of this. You see, it is solely by the grace of God that I am here (one of my doctors told me that I was using up my 9 lives rather quickly - well, I’m not a cat).
I know God has been with me throughout these trials and He will see me through with these dreams I have. And, I know that when life gets in the way, God is with me, guiding me, healing me, getting me ready for what it is that He needs me to do next. It doesn’t mean I failed. It means I dreamt, I tried, I got knocked down, but I got back up and am moving forward... always.
These three medals are hanging on a wall in my home to take me back to the beginning of the story I just shared to serve as my reminder of how I am some part of God’s story.
So, what story will your sign tell?
