Have you ever had plans that didn’t work out? If you’re reading this, I’m sure you have. Sometimes it just feels like someone pulled the rug out from under you. That’s how I felt in November of 1998. I had ran a home daycare for about twenty years and was ready for a change. A friend had a cleaning business and had asked me if I would be interested in cleaning with her. So I had given notice to my daycare parents and after they had found new caregivers, I decided to help my friend and see if this was a change I wanted. After a week of physical activity that I wasn’t used to my back was aching. My oldest daughter was 18 at the time and she had offered to give me a back rub. I was laying on the floor and after she had finished, she stood up, lost her footing and her knee came down on my spine. Then a month later, I was in an auto accident. Someone had attempted to beat me through an intersection and we collided. It totaled my car and left me disabled. I was optimistic, and thought I would heal. In the following years, I went to several doctors, chiropractors, naturopaths, a Chinese acupuncturist, drastically changed my diet, and tried many different things 
(which I’ll discuss another time) and here it is May of 2019 and I’ve been diagnosed with multiple health issues. Fibromyalgia’s chronic pain and fatigue are the biggest obstacles to living the life I had planned.
Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has plans for us. When a chronic illness strikes, what direction to go can become a major crisis. Life still goes on and when you’re unable to continue with “your” plans, it becomes difficult to know what God wants. Sometimes the only thing you can do is to take one minute or one day at a time. Faith in God is what motivates me to get out of bed every morning. I may wake up most days not wanting to get out of bed, but by golly, I’m still alive and able to get up, unlike many people. If you’re unable to get up, focus on what you can do. Learning to accept what is, is one of the most positive steps we can take. Acceptance allows us to see what steps are possible. Sometimes that next step may be too big of a step and we may fall flat on our butts. However, we always have a choice as long as we’re alive to get back up and try again. So where do I go from here? The next step for me is to hopefully give someone else hope through this blog. What will your next step be?
Wishing you Faith, Hope and Love, 1 Corithians 13:13
Cindy