This weeks subject is candy.  I had all these ideas like taking the kids to a candy store and such.

However, those ideas didn’t pan out.

As I was thinking of what I was going to do about this word.. I decided to share a personal story with you.

It’s long…But it is awesome!

When I was born… I was very very sick.  My mother struggled for awhile as I wouldn’t eat anything.  As a first time mother the doctors shrugged her worries off.  I was gaining no weight and cried constantly.  My poor mom got no sleep.  This went on for weeks and the doctors just kept telling her not to worry.  One night my mom finally slept… She said she awoke and knew something was terribly wrong as I didn’t wake up once that night.  She went into my room and my body was lifeless.

I was barely breathing….  As a mother now…I can only imagine how frightening that must have been.

The ambulance arrived and took me to the hospital.  I was in the hospital for awhile for malnutrition.

Immediately my mother was under speculation.

If it hadn’t been for all the doctor visits and phone calls my mom had made…it could have been bad for her.

That was a start of the journey of my health.  At the time the doctors didn’t know what was wrong with me.  I was diagnosed with milk allergies and put on soy.  I began to finally thrive but I would still get sick.

Years went by without any answers.  Finally when I was like in First Grade I was diagnosed with a sugar intolerance.

My body could not handle any sugar at all.  It was like poison to my body.  And it was effecting my kidneys the most.

My diet began to change and my parents were very strict and vigilant.  However, it was me who was not.  I was a kid who liked sweets and would always find them at school or even home.  My parents always knew because I would immediately be sick.

By the time I was 8 I had lost about 40% of my kidneys.

The doctor said by the age of 16 I would be on dialysis and I probably wouldn’t make it to my graduation.

I didn’t really understand it then.  Yes I was scared but I didn’t understand.

We became more vigilant but my health was still deteriorating.

I want to say I was in 5th or 6th grade.  I was very thin.  The doctors weren’t anymore optimistic and my mother was on her last wits end.  My dad was deployed at the time.  I remember clear as day my mom coming downstairs in the morning and handing me a chocolate chip granola bar and telling me to eat it.  I didn’t know what to do…Was this a trick or something???

 Was I in trouble???  My mom reassured me and told me to eat it.  I remember eating it very slowly and very scared.

 I thought for sure I was in some kind of trouble.

My mom was calm and told me that all was well.  We waited and waited.  The normal side affects and sickness did not come.  We did this for some days and again nothing came from it.

I asked my mom why and she said she knew I was healed.   My mom never told my dad what was going on.  When he came home a couple months later we were in the kitchen and she gave me again a chocolate chip granola bar.

My dad was alarmed and asked what she was doing.

My mom then explained that we have had no symptoms and that I was healed.

And literally from that time I have never had anymore issues with sweets.

My body can now absorb the sugar and my kidneys are in great health!

As I got older I asked my mom what happened and why she knew I was going to be okay.  She told me that she was at the end of her rope.  My mother is not religious but she does believe in God.  God was her last hope in saving her child.

She said that she had went to bed that night and for the first time cried to God and called out to him.  She said she doesn’t know how long she cried and prayed but when she was done she was reassured that I was going to be okay.

She knew that this chapter in life was over and that we could all move on.

That is why she was so confident in giving me that chocolate chip granola bar.

Today I am healthy.  I am not a big sweets person however, I do enjoy them time to time.

When holidays come around like Valentines Day is right around the corner,

I am reminded how something so little brought so much pain and suffering to my family.

I am also reminded that through a mothers prayer God touched my life and made me whole.

 So today I am thankful for these pieces of candy that bring such an awesome reminder of God’s love and God’s faithfulness.