A little girl with a broken leg .

The last week in my quite times with the Lord have been crazy.  He has been really speaking to my heart about teaching.  I always thought I wanted to be an elementary teachers.  I had a heart for children, but that is not the path God had for me.  After college I moved to Oregon to work with Mark 2, a ministry that supports adults with developmental disabilities.  It was here that God taught me that I am a teacher.  I am teaching them life skills and job skills.  To be honest they are teaching me to be the woman God wanted me to be.  Now I feel like the Lord may have bigger plans for me then I could ever dream of.
 Jeramiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord, "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future, and a hope."  He may be calling me to be a teacher of a different kind, of His word. 

In high school I really struggled with my appearance (as we all do).  As I got older, I realize that God gave a picture image of who I looked like. He gave me my identical twin, Brooke.  But in high school I could not see that.  She would get mad at me, because I would stand in front of the mirror and call myself "ugly."  She would say "Well if you are ugly, you are calling me ugly!"  I would tell her no that was not right.  She was beautiful!!   My other sisters would always comment how I had great legs.  I was a swimmer!!!  But I thought they were nuts!!  I had scares all over my legs from the surgeries, and my right leg and knee were crooked!!!  I was so broken inside, I couldn't see the outside. 

One day in college, my professor told me I needed to go see a counselor, because she could see how broken I was inside, even though I thought I could hide it with my smile!!!  That day I went!   I told my counselor that I hated my CP.  I said it wasn't fair.  Why did I get this!!!  He asked me if I believed in Jesus.  I grew up catholic.  I knew there was a God,but I didn't get the relationship, all my college friends were taking about.

As I kept going to see him, he told that Jesus gave me my CP.  I was open to what he had to say, but I believed that the Bible had nothing to say about disabilities.  Boy, was I wrong!!!!!  He pointed me to 2 Corinthians 12.  Paul had a "thorn" in his flesh.  My counselor told me that we have no idea what that "thorn" was.  I think a lot of people believe that Paul was blind.  But to me and my counselor we thought it could be cerebral palsy.  Paul asked God to take it away 3 times.  Oh, I think I have asked God more then 3 times to take it away!!  But each time the Lord answered, "My grace is all you need.  My power works best in weakness."  vs 9..
It also says in verse 10, "So now I am glad to boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ can work through me."

The Lord has really changed my heart towards my CP.  Yes I still struggle, but I know God is using my CP for His glory!

Another story I love is in John 9.  "As he went along, he saw a man born blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind."  "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, " said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."  John 9:1-3

For twenty years, I thought I did something wrong, to deserved to be disabled.  That I was my fault.  I didn't understand why nobody wanted to hang out with me, so there must have been something wrong that I did.  But the past 10 years of walking with Jesus, He has taught me that He has blessed me with cerebral palsy.  He touched my weak little body and has healed me from the inside out!!