When we pulled into the hospital, we signed in at ER, and then my dad met up with us as soon as he could. They put me in my room and explained a few things. I took off my shirt and put on the hospital robe as they told me too. One of the first things they did was give me this lemonade type drink, so that when they gave me a CT, it would light up my insides and could tell if my appendix was inflamed or not. Also one of the first things that happened once in the hospital was, they gave me an IV. I have never had an IV up to that point, so I had no idea what to expect as far as pain wise. Although everyone said they don’t hurt, it was more pain than a regular shot. Later on I started feeling more pain, so they were going to give me morphine. I asked the nurse that gave it to me if I would hallucinate or anything like that. She said that it just depends on the person, but usually you don’t. One of the male nurses told me that he had a patient ask where his unicorn was, so after I had received the medicine, I joked around and asked where mine was. Something she did say would happen to me when she injected the medicine through the IV is that I would feel very warm, and heavy. And when the morphine entered my body, it was like heated bricks were placed all over my body. I felt really weird. My head started to hurt, and I couldn’t move very well. Despite the strange feeling, it went away very soon, and so did the pain of my side, thanks to the medicine.

I had to wait an hour and a half after the lemonade to get my CAT scan. So as a time frame, I got to the hospital at nine, had the lemonade drank by ten, and my CT was scheduled for eleven-thirty. During that hour and a half my mind was racing. I was reading my “Bible promises for you” to calm me down, texting Melena, talking to my mom and praying. I also used the bathroom several times in that time frame.

As time was creeping by, I just laid there; trying to sleep, but my side just wouldn’t let me. I was confused, tired, and worried.” What if I had to have surgery?” I thought. Aside from a small procedure to remove a hemorrhoid I have never had anything close to surgery. I was scared at the thought. “What would being put under feel like? Would I feel any pain? What about after? What about my recovery time?” So many things just ran through my mind. I prayed for peace.

The time came, that I was dreading the most, CAT scan time. I got up out of my bed and followed my dad into the CT room. I asked him what it would feel like. “You are going to get pretty warm, and you are going to feel like you will pee your pants, but you won’t.” Weird description of something, but he was right that’s what it felt like. Before the scan he put contrast in my IV. It hurt because it was thicker, and it also made my body feel cold. I have never had a CT before. I laid there, a stranger to the machine, feeling helpless as my body was shifted in and out of the gantry so that the x-ray tube could read my body. After about four times of holding my breath, the scan was done and I went back to my room.

When I got to my room, there was a pleasant surprise waiting for me. Joe, our youth pastor was sitting in a chair sitting beside my bed. It was really good to see him. We talked for a while about different stuff, and my mom and dad were in and out. About thirty minutes after the scan, my dad came in. He told me he got the results back, and my appendix was inflamed a little, but it was enough for it to be removed. When I heard those words, my heart dropped. My words were nothing, and my mind was blank. It didn’t hit me until a little bit later. I just couldn’t believe I was actually going to have to have surgery. I cherished the time talking, and didn’t want it to end because that would mean closer to time for surgery. Just about time for Joe to leave, he told me he was going to pray for me. Joe put his hands on my shoulder, I closed my eyes, and my mom bowed her head. He prayed, a strong prayer like he always does, with power and meaning, coming from God. But in this situation, the prayer was different for me. My eyes started to get teary. I told myself I wasn’t going to cry, but I couldn’t hold it in. I was overwhelmed by everything that was going on. I could feel my heart beating, and hear my nose sniffing, and feel the tears running down my face. When he finished, I said thank you the best I could, but words weren’t coming out of my mouth very well. I laid there with my arms over my face, trying not to cry, but it wasn’t stopping, I continue to cry an interrupted cry. My mom was sitting in the chair next to my bed, and put her hand on my arm and rubbed it, telling me it would be okay. The love from her made me want to cry even more, but I fought the best I could against the crying. As I settled it down a little bit, I went to use the bathroom. But as soon as I got into the bathroom, and looked in the mirror, I immediately started crying again. It was a helpless feeling. I looked in the mirror thinking, “Why me? Why did this have to happen to me?” I struggled to take control of myself again, but I managed too. After I gathered myself, blew my nose, and used the bathroom, I wobbled back to my bed.

They were trying to get ahold of doctor Ofek, a doctor that I was very familiar with to do my surgery. No one could, so they called over to Ball Hospital, and got me a surgeon over there. His name was Dr. Cocco. So as I was waiting to be shipped to Ball I still lie in my bed, trying to gather my thoughts, and grasp what was happening. I took deep breaths, prayed, and at about one-thirty in the morning they shipped me off to Ball. They hauled in a stretcher to put me on. I could have gotten up myself and walked, or put myself on it, but they helped slide me over onto it and they pushed me out to the ambulance. Going through the hospital and out into the cold night on the stretcher, I examine my body, or what I could see of it. I had two blankets over me to keep me warm, and the rain off of me. They lifted me up and put me in the back of the ambulance. I have never been in one before, and I didn’t really plan on my first time being the actual patient.

The ambulance ride helped put things into perspective for me, I don’t know why, but it did. All the machines around me, needles in my arms, and numbers and ratios worked my mind more than I really cared. But being interested in the medical field and to pass time, I asked Brian, the EMT in the ambulance with me, about each of the machines. And he told me about them. I felt comfortable in the situation because my dad works there, and knows the people, so the conversation eased me a little. I stopped talking and just laid there for a while. Starring out the back windows, watching the lights fly past in the dark night, and tiny drops of rain stenciled on the window. I glanced at the clock, then back out the windows, and then closed my eyes. I prayed, and prayed and prayed. I had hope, because I knew my Lord and Savior was there with me in the ambulance and everywhere I went.

Then the ride came to an end. She stopped the ambulance and came to the back and opened the vast metal doors. The two EMT’s unloaded me and raised the stretcher so they could push me easier. We made our way towards the ER at Ball. Being pushed felt like I was flying. I was high off the ground, and while I had been so stressed, at this point I was relaxed and calm. When I rolled into the massive building, I saw patients all around me. I stopped and glanced around. I thought my situation was bad, but all these people around me, with tubes in places I couldn’t even imagine, and IV bags, and wheelchairs and several nurses. I realized that a lot of the people here had it a lot worse than me, but as I was being escorted to the waiting room everyone seem to look at me and smile, as if they felt bad for me, when they themselves had something much worse than I. We arrived into my room, where I, along with my mom, dad, and Grandpa Thiery waited for Dr. Cocco. I rolled/slid onto another stretcher so Blackford’s EMT’s could take theirs back. I thanked them, and they told me to get well and they hope it goes OK. When they left I had to use the bathroom very bad. I asked the nurse if I could go to the bathroom. She said, “Yeah sure, but you probably shouldn’t get up,” and handed me a portable urinal. It looked like a pitcher you pour drinks out of. So everyone stood outside and talked and did whatever they did as I sat on the edge of my bed, trying to urinate in a portable urinal. “I can’t pee,” I said.
“Does it hurt?” my dad asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well, take your time.”
“Alright.”

And so I did, but it didn’t take very long, and I felt so much better. I told them they could come back in, and at that time Dr. Cocco arrived. It was about two-thirty when he got there. He explained to my dad what would be happening, what medicine they would be was using, about how long it would take and some stuff about after the surgery. At that time the nurses guided me on my stretcher into the surgery room.

The ride to the surgery room was…powerful. There I was covered in blankets, IV in my left arm, mind going crazy, and I was about ten minutes away from my first open surgery. I thought I would be a lot more nervous during the ride than I was but that didn’t hit me until later. The nurse taking me to the surgery room made the trip fun. She actually pushed me kind of fast, and made it funny. We go into the elevator after someone politely got out of it for us, although he didn’t really want to, but rule is if a patient needs on, other workers must get off. As we rolled closer and closer to the surgery room, I became more nervous, and the more nervous I got, the more I prayed. Before the surgery room, we stopped off at some place where other nurses met up with us. They had the masks on like you see on TV and dressed just like them. I just never imagined me being the patient. The anesthesiologist, Dr. Costello, explained what all he would be doing to put me asleep, and he was preparing there. This was also the last place I saw my parents and grandpa before surgery. The place was calming though, it wasn’t a room really, it was just an indent off to the side, and above, it had blue lights, but they weren’t super bright to where you had to squint but yet they were a lighter type of bright. Now time was getting closer and the hour glass was running out of sand. I told my parents and grandpa I loved them one last time and they said it back and that they would see me in a little bit. The support from them really helped me get through the next part.

Surgery time. I was a few steps away from the surgery room and didn’t know what to expect, I was still praying. When the doors opened, the whole room grabbed me by the neck. The place had so many things and equipment I have never seen before, and just the looks of it made the situation scarier. As I rolled closer to the table, I continued to pray. That’s all I cared to do at the moment. I prayed that the surgery would go well and that the doctors would be calm and do what they do best, and that God’s Will would be done. I was transferred onto the surgery table. The table was a table and a chair combined. It was almost in the shape of a really big square person without legs. The table had arms to place your arms on, and they adjusted so that the doctor and nurses could adjust me in just the right position. I asked a few more questions that I already knew, but asked again just for the peace of knowing everything would be alright. The nurses were very nice and very reassuring about everything. I could hear Dr. Costello getting everything ready and doing a few things with my IV. He said, “I’m going to count down ‘3,2,1’ and when I get to 1, I’m going to inject the anesthetics . Then I’m going to have you do some counting of your own.” He did as he said, he counted down and when he got to one he said, “Using prime numbers count up starting at one.”
“One.. three..fiivve..se,” I thought I got off seven, but I was told I didn’t, I must have just thought it. After it was all over and still until today it amazes me how fast anesthetics work. I was put completely under. It wasn’t just conscious sudation, I was completely paralyzed.
The next moment I remember was in the recovery room. I opened my eyes one time to see, and all I saw was two nurses, and a white wall, and the whole image was super blurry, and it made me dizzy so I closed my eyes and kept them closed. I don’t really remember this part very well because I was still pretty out of it. All I remember is talking to the nurses, not sure about what, but I remember hearing my voice, not so much moving my mouth, but my voice and hearing other voices as well.

My surgery took about forty-minutes and when I completely woke up and was conscious I was in my pediatric and teens patient room. So by the time my surgery was done it was about 3:10 a.m. I remember waking up, looking at the clock and at the nurse giving me medicine and don’t remember going back to sleep but I did, and the time was somewhere around five. I can’t really remember my first feelings or thoughts when I woke up, and was able to function, because I didn’t really have any. I just remember seeing my mom, dad and Grandpa Thiery. I also noticed the dressing on my right side where my surgery was. It looked like a white football thigh pad, with tap around it. One of the first things I asked my mom was where my phone was. I got my phone and texted Melena and told her everything was OK and that I would text her later when looking at my phone didn’t give me a huge headache. She said that was fine and told me she loved me and is praying for me. I fell back asleep. When I woke up, I had to use the bathroom very badly. The nurse suggested that I just used the urinal I had received prior to surgery, and that I used clear up until I was released from the hospital. But I said I rather get up and use the bathroom myself, because urinating sitting or lying in a bed was not going to be an easy task. I thought I was going to be fine, just not able to walk real well. I had to have help sitting up because my abdominal muscles were shot, I couldn’t use them at all. So the nurse helped me up, and told me, that I have to start finding a way to get myself up and not always relying on someone else. When I sat up I felt very dizzy and very nauseous. She asked me if I was alright, and I did not respond because I felt like if I spoke I’d throw up, which would not feel good considering i was just five hours out of open surgery . I tried to stand up, but the sensation to vomit just got worse, and my head span and cringed even tighter. So I told the nurse that I would just use the urinal. My mom, dad and grandpa stepped outside, and my grandpa Thiery said he was just going to go ahead and leave because he had to work later that night and needed to sleep, so I said it was fine and thanked him for coming and staying through it all. Then the nurse asked if I wanted her to step out with my parents. To me it sounded like a stupid question, and then I was proven wrong. After I told her yeah, she responded with an “okay well just making sure you didn’t need help holding the urinal or anything.” I guess previous patients have had some troubles going, but I was fine on my own and said, “I’ll be fine.”
The time that all this happened was around eight. I finally decided to text Melena, headache or not. This was Sunday morning, so I also knew they would be leaving for church around nine. We go to the same church, so it was an advantage to me because I knew when they would be leaving. We talked for a little bit, but then I started getting a really bad headache and started getting tired, so I told her I’d see her later after church when they came. I fell asleep for about an hour and a half to two hours. When I woke up it was a little after ten. My mom had told me that Melena had texted her and told her that they weren’t going to church and going to come see me. I was very excited; I really wanted to see Melena. My mom had told me they would be there around ten, so I woke up just in time.
Melena and her mom got to my room at about 10:20. When I heard the knock on the door I smiled. I saw Melena walk in with her precious and cute smile she always has towards me, and in her hands she had a stuffed dog, and a pink toy that you squeeze and air bubbles come out the sides and it lights up. Already I felt better. Something else special about this day was that it was my brother’s birthday. I felt kind of bad because everyone’s attention was on me instead of him. So around eleven, my mom and dad went and took Blake out to eat, which was fine with me because Melena and her mom stayed back with me and kept me company. When I think back to the surgery this is the time that I think of first, and one of the most special times to me.
I spent eight hours with Melena. She and Carmen took such good care of me, helped me in and out of my bed, got me food or anything I needed, and gave me someone to talk to. I was still very tired, so they sat through a lot of it just watching me sleep or sleeping themselves. Every time I would wake up, I would roll over, look at Melena and she either was already smiling at me or smiled right back at me after I smiled at her. She sat there, talking to me, holding my hand almost the entire time. My mom even got a picture of us, we both fell asleep and we were still holding hands. I still thank her very much for sticking through that time with me, and making me feel as good as she did.
Around twelve my grandma and grandpa showed up, having them there meant a lot as well. I was still very tired, so I didn’t talk a whole lot, but I still enjoyed them being there. Then my dad told me that Mrs. Glaze was coming. She was my eighth grade English teacher, and I was very glad she coming. It wasn’t long before she got there. Then before I knew it my Grandma Sheena and Grandpa Ben showed up and they brought me balloons. I also received balloons from my Uncle Chad and Aunt Tracy, but they live out of state so they couldn’t make it. As everyone talked it was about 12:30, and one of the best surprises of the day, our pastor, Pastor Tom walked in the door. He stayed for a little bit and visited, and asked how I was just like everyone else, and then before he left he asked me if it was alright if he said a prayer for me. I told him yes, so everyone bowed their heads and he placed his hands on my shoulder and began to pray. It meant so much to me. Every word he prayed just hit my heart, and it was a huge boost for me. Still to this day I remember his prayer, as do I Pastor Joes prayer for me after getting the results of the CT. Prayer played a huge role in this whole process, even now, I still pray about it, and am thankful it went the way it did.
Slowly everyone started leaving after staying for about an hour. The last people to leave were my grandma and Grandpa Holloway. We all talked about how I felt on certain things and at certain times, and even joked around about a few things. It was just about time for them to go, so as I did with everyone else I thanked them for coming. They left at about 1:30. Melena was supposed to leave around three because of a church event, but her mom let her stay longer. So Carmen left and Melena stayed the rest of the time with me and my mom.
Eating was a hassle, but thanks to Melena, not so much. She would adjust my tray to where it was best for me and hand me my food and hold my drink up so I could take a drink of it. She even fed me a couple of times just to goof around. My diet was pretty strict. I ate only Jell-O and drank grape juice and fruit punch.
Another hassle was getting up to use the bathroom. I had to roll over on my left side and try to use more of my legs to sit up. I also grabbed the edge of the bed and used as much of my upper strength to sit up as I could. I also had my dad or whoever was there to pull up a little to give me help. When I was finally sitting up, I stood up and headed to the bathroom. But I had to take my IV pole with me, so I had to drag that behind me, and when I got in the bathroom I ended up doing circles to get myself positioned to use the bathroom so I wasn’t all tangled up. I had to pee in the urinal so that the nurses could see how much I was going. Bending down to throw away the toweling was a challenge as well. Everything that was easy before was made hard. It made me really realize how important your core is. Then getting back into bed once I slid my feet back to my bed was the hardest part. I sat down, and then had to have someone lift my legs onto the bed, and then I adjusted myself so that I could just fall back and land on my pillows without easing myself down and using muscles.

So while Melena was still there I was showing her how my bed worked and everything. It was pretty cool. Both to my right and to my left I had buttons to where I could raise or lower the upper or lower half of my bed. I also had buttons to turn on/off, up/down, and change the channel to the TV which I didn’t use until later on. Also at the end of my bed, I had these paddings that wrapped around my calf and shin area. They compressed and then released, to make sure that the blood was flowing and moving through my lower body properly. It felt really good.

As time went on, I continued to have a really good time with Melena and my mom. She was going to have to leave around five, because that’s when my mom was going to go home, and my dad would be coming over, but she didn’t leave until about six or seven, which made me very happy. When it was that time, she hugged me good-bye and I thanked her again for staying and she was off. Although almost as soon as she left, I texted her.

It was getting later, well to me it felt like anyways. My dad stayed with me Sunday night, so that my mom could go home and get a good night’s rest. For some reason I remember this night pretty well. My dad and I just talked, and I asked him questions about my side and a few other things. One of the things I remember best is my walk around the hospital. The nurse said that someone would be there that night to get me up and walk around, so I asked my dad if we could go ahead and do that ourselves. I wanted to see how well I could get around, and because I wanted to do something besides lay around. My dad said that would be good for me if I did. So we did. I got up, and grabbed ahold of my IV pole and slowly stepped outside my room. The struggle with walking was, that I couldn’t stand up straight very well. I had to ease my body straight, and keep it there even though it hurt, otherwise my back would hurt from being bent over so much. I took it very slow. Step by step I made a circle around our floor. The neat thing about it was that I was the only patient on that floor. It was night time, so the lights were dimmed, it was peacefully silent, except for my dad and I’s whispers and some from the nurses. I could take all the time I needed. The nurses were pleasantly surprise to see me up and around. As much as it hurt, it also felt good to conquer the pain. Pretty soon after making my round, at about eight, I was ready to call it a night. That much movement took a pretty good toll on my body. I told Melena good-night, and struggled to use the bathroom again just one more time before I went to bed, and then I was out. I had a hard time sleeping though. I woke up again around nine, rolled over looked at my phone and read a few messages Melena had sent me after I fell asleep. I looked over at my dad, and he was on the hospital’s laptop on Facebook. Just something about the darkness, and the light of the laptop and my dad being there brought me peace, so I fell back asleep. This time I didn’t wake up until about twelve. I didn’t wake up on my own this time. A few nurses had come in to refill my IV bag, check a few things and give me some more medicine. I glanced towards the front of my bed, where right in front of it was a couch where my dad was sleeping. He wasn’t bothered by the nurses being in there, from what I could see he was still asleep. Blurry vision from being tired masked the room and made the darkness seem greater, so before the nurses were done, I fell back asleep. The next time I woke up it was bright morning. I forget what time it was when I woke up, but it was around the neighborhood of seven. Almost as soon as I woke up, they brought my breakfast tray in: Jell-O. I was getting pretty tired of it.

Around eight my dad decided he was going to go down and get some breakfast himself, except real food. Not eating doesn’t really bother me, but eating the same thing over and over gets really old. So my dad said that while he was down there he would pick me up a piece of bacon if he thought I could handle it. I jumped right on that suggestion, I didn’t even care if I could handle it or not, so he left to get the food. I was pretty bored, and didn’t have a whole lot to do because Melena was already in school, so there wasn’t anyone for me to text. I got on the laptop my dad had used, and got on Facebook myself. I logged on to a lot of notifications and e-mails telling me to get better soon and that people were praying for me, which was nice. As I was browsing, the next thing I know my dad is back. I was excited! He carried his box of breakfast over to his seat, and then handed me my piece of bacon. I wasn’t hungry, because I didn’t really have an appetite, but I ate it anyways. I love bacon very much, but at this point, I loved it more than I ever have because it was something hard, and not Jell-O. When I took the first bite, it was like getting home from school the first day of spring break. It was so good, but yet at the same time, I knew the ending results wouldn’t be the best. Just like during spring break it’s always on your mind that you have to go back, but at the same time, during the break, you enjoy it. Sure enough very shortly after I ate the bacon, my stomach started hurting, but not too bad, so it was definitely worth it.
It’s Monday, the day I am supposed to be released. I wasn’t as tired that day as I had been Sunday. I was more alive, and “with it” on Monday. I was hopping Melena would be able to miss school and come see me, but that didn’t happen. I kept telling myself it would though. My mom planned on coming over around nine, so I was hoping that she was going to surprise me and bring her along. But as I was using the bathroom I heard the door open and my mom talk, I hurried to wash my hands, and when I opened the door: no Melena. But it was alright because I was glad to see my mom as well. Something I did get amusement from, was the TV. The remote was huge. It was about four inches wide at the top and two at the bottom, and the top fanned out. There was a TV power button, two channel buttons to go up or down, and two light buttons that turned on the room light, or the over-head light so a patient could read a book better. Then on the side was a scroll wheel so that you could turn the volume of the TV either up or down, or turn it all the way down until it clicks to turn the volume from the remote off. But to hear no sound you’d have to turn the speakers on the bed off as well, because there were two different spots where the sound came from, the remote and the bed.

We watched some cartoons, and then later on they brought me a list of movies I could choose from and they would bring them to me. There was a ton to choose from! I ended up watching Superman Returns and part of Rush Hour 3. I only watched the first thirty minutes because I started laughing and it hurt to laugh, so I told my dad to turn it off. Something else I remember well, and that I find funny is that, my IV machine went off twice. I guess the tube got pinched off and it started making a loud annoying noise, but at the same time it was funny. So I had to buzz in the nurse and tell her it was going off. The second time, she already knew what was happening because she could hear it. Another machine went off that day. There was a little clip on my finger that kept track of my pulse. I found it very annoying to wear, so at different times I’d take it off and then forget to put it back on. The times I didn’t put it back on the machine buzzed at me, so I’d put it back on and then take it right back off.

When it was time for lunch, they brought my tray in again. I’m sure you can guess what I had; Jell-O. But I was in for another little treat, when my mom and dad came back from eating their lunch at the cafeteria they brought me back a chocolate covered strawberry. Again, I didn’t think or care about if it would make my stomach hurt, I ate it. The strawberry didn’t hurt my stomach though. As they brought in my tray and cleaned it up after wards, they told me that my next meal would be a “soft foods” meal, but it would be real food because it was my meal to test and see if I was ready to be released or not. I was set to be released at three-thirty that day, so it would be considered my early dinner. The time seemed to go by pretty fast, oddly enough, and when the meal arrived at about 2:45, I was pumped! For two reasons: 1: It was real food, and 2: Once I ate this, and kept it down for about half an hour I could go home. The meal consisted of, pulled pork, mashed potatoes, a brownie, peas, and I think that’s it, but I only ate the first three, and not even all of them. I ate enough to where the nurse said it was fine. I even ate off the brownie until it was almost gone. I waited so see if I could hold it down, and I had no doubt that I could. During this time my mom and dad got the stuff filled out that they needed for me to be released, and I just kept thinking how ready I was to go home and not to be at the hospital. After they got everything cleared up and signed, sure enough right on time we headed out.

First, we had to take care of my IV. Pulling the tube out wasn’t the painful part, getting the tape off was. I had had tape on my arm, where there was hair for two days, and it didn’t come off easy. The nurse doing it was new, and she did what the older more experienced one told her to do, and ripped it off fast. The quick sharp pain about brought tears to my eyes, especially since she had trouble taking it off and did it a couples times. After that fun session was done, I put on a shirt and they asked if I could walk down or if I needed to be taken down in a wheel chair. In all honestly I probably could have made it down there just fine, but to save the pain of walking, and because it feels cool to be hauled around, I decided to be wheel chaired down to the entrance. My mom pulled around the van, and I was pushed right up to my door. I stood up, got in and slowly and carefully buckled up. It felt very nice to not have something in my arm, not be hooked up to different machines, and to just have freedom. For my souvenir I kept the blue, sticky socks and white smooth leggings they gave me, and wore them on the way home, but quickly took them off because my legs were very itchy. As soon as I got home I threw them in my dirty clothes basket, washed my hair and sat down. In that moment I got goose bumps. I had just been through surgery for the first time; something I never thought would happen to me, and it all went by in what now seemed like a flash. I was free from all the hospital stuff, and now had to wait out the recovery time, which was what I dreaded the most. For the next six weeks my once, very active life would turn into a life I never thought I would live.

That was a small part of my experience and it was a very new experience for me. I didn’t like having it all done, but it needed to be, otherwise I could have died, and I thank all the doctors, medical workers, family and friends that were there for me. One of the things that you probably noticed through the whole story was that, I prayed a lot, and still do for and about that experience. If it wasn’t for prayer and God, I would have been a total mess. I also wouldn’t have been positive about it, nor would I have seen the positive parts about it. I prayed a lot to find out what God’s reasoning for all this was, and I didn’t get an answer right away, but after about a week’s worth of prayer I did. His reasoning was for me to become closer to him. One of my favorite verses in the Bible, and a verse I looked at and read over quite frequently comes from 1 John: 2:17, it says; “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” Before, my schedule was always so busy with sports, friends and exercising that I didn’t take much time out for Him. Something else I thought I would never had said or thought of it is; I wouldn’t take back anything that happened. Yeah I’m bummed I didn’t get to do much for six weeks, but that isn’t near as important as me growing closer to God, therefore, I’m happy all of this happened. As I’m glad I came to realize it was for a good reason, it helped me bring out good things in other situations as well. It also brings out the truth in; everything that happens, happens because God wants it to and to better help us in life.
I finish this with just five days left in my six weeks. I had my ups and downs through it all, but I definitely feel closer to God, and have a strong story to tell. If there is one thing I want you to remember from this, it isn’t what I went through, but how I went through it. Always remember that everything happens for a reason and what we want in life isn’t always the best. Pray to God about everything, and He will help you through life every step of the way! Ephesians 1:11-12 “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”

May 15 2:40 a.m. 2011