Hol
01-17-2005, 09:13 AM
Hi Guys! It is so good to come here and see old familiar faces... and new people, too! I spent some time just now trying to figure out better how this forum format works, and I see that it is easier than I thought. I'm not too bright, you know! Or at least, I am easily discouraged.
Wanted to let you all know that we are doing really well. I'm pretty sure I'll be in grad school for biology in the fall; I start calculus (Pray for ME!) tomorrow to fill that gap in my requirement. I should hear if I am accepted at the University of Southern Maine sometime in the next few weeks. I think I'm a strong candidate... I hope strong enough to get an assistantship to pay for it.
I've had an interesting experience that has shown me God's grace and wisdom these last few months. Woke up one morning in late November unable to walk from severe sciatic pain. (Ended up having to take my GRE test in great pain, but I did pretty good anyway.) An MRI showed a badly herniated disc. It got better enough for me to walk, but the weakness and numbness in my foot didn't go away. I started physical therapy Jan 3, and while I still have some numbness, it has started to go away, although my foot is still weak. The cool thing is that the PT has strengthened my back so much that my old back problem and chronic pain is gone! My back feels like a different person, so to speak. I've had a weak back since I was 18. And if it wasn't for the pinched nerve, I don't think I ever would have found that there was a solution for it. So I thank God for this 'trial' and its benefit, and I encourage all of you who have back pain, even low-key, to see about finding out how to strengthen your back.... the exercises are much easier and faster than I thought they could be, too.
Don has been studying to teach forgiveness here to the kids he is chaplain for. In the process, he read about how to "retell your story" so that you aren't the victim anymore, but the hero who survived. We've heard that before, I guess. But it went on to have the person imagine what they lost and then to realize that they have the power to restore what they lost. It was powerful for him, because part of our spiritual abuse experience was when our pastor talked him out of going to UMF to study history so that he could be a history teacher. Now tomorrow, 20+ years later, Don starts classes at UMF to get a BA in history.
What a circuitous route! It would be so easy to blame that pastor for messing up the 'best' years of our lives, as we struggled financially (still do) waiting for God to 'bless' us for doing 'His work'... If only we'd listened to God as He was speaking to our hearts, as surely he was, back then. But He has been faithful, and He has used all the crap from those 20 years to make us who we are today. Free people...
This forum and you folks were so important to my recovery process... like a handhold on an otherwise smooth rock wall I was trying to climb. This forum is truly a wonderful expression of God's love. God bless you all, and thanks for being there. Maybe now that I understand how this site works better, I'll pop in more!
Love, Hol
Wanted to let you all know that we are doing really well. I'm pretty sure I'll be in grad school for biology in the fall; I start calculus (Pray for ME!) tomorrow to fill that gap in my requirement. I should hear if I am accepted at the University of Southern Maine sometime in the next few weeks. I think I'm a strong candidate... I hope strong enough to get an assistantship to pay for it.
I've had an interesting experience that has shown me God's grace and wisdom these last few months. Woke up one morning in late November unable to walk from severe sciatic pain. (Ended up having to take my GRE test in great pain, but I did pretty good anyway.) An MRI showed a badly herniated disc. It got better enough for me to walk, but the weakness and numbness in my foot didn't go away. I started physical therapy Jan 3, and while I still have some numbness, it has started to go away, although my foot is still weak. The cool thing is that the PT has strengthened my back so much that my old back problem and chronic pain is gone! My back feels like a different person, so to speak. I've had a weak back since I was 18. And if it wasn't for the pinched nerve, I don't think I ever would have found that there was a solution for it. So I thank God for this 'trial' and its benefit, and I encourage all of you who have back pain, even low-key, to see about finding out how to strengthen your back.... the exercises are much easier and faster than I thought they could be, too.
Don has been studying to teach forgiveness here to the kids he is chaplain for. In the process, he read about how to "retell your story" so that you aren't the victim anymore, but the hero who survived. We've heard that before, I guess. But it went on to have the person imagine what they lost and then to realize that they have the power to restore what they lost. It was powerful for him, because part of our spiritual abuse experience was when our pastor talked him out of going to UMF to study history so that he could be a history teacher. Now tomorrow, 20+ years later, Don starts classes at UMF to get a BA in history.
What a circuitous route! It would be so easy to blame that pastor for messing up the 'best' years of our lives, as we struggled financially (still do) waiting for God to 'bless' us for doing 'His work'... If only we'd listened to God as He was speaking to our hearts, as surely he was, back then. But He has been faithful, and He has used all the crap from those 20 years to make us who we are today. Free people...
This forum and you folks were so important to my recovery process... like a handhold on an otherwise smooth rock wall I was trying to climb. This forum is truly a wonderful expression of God's love. God bless you all, and thanks for being there. Maybe now that I understand how this site works better, I'll pop in more!
Love, Hol