Toward the beginning of my journey I had a few friends send me a song by Matt Redman called Never Once. I listened to it then and was brought to tears, of course. This weekend I listened to it again and was brought to tears again but I was also incredibly inspired. It made me think back on my entire journey thus far and the one overall message that my journey has taught me. If someone were to read all of my journals, I hope the following would come through loud and clear. We were not made for this world, which means that life is not guaranteed to be easy. And when God allows hard stuff in our lives (“the Lands Between”, “the Bends in the Road”, “Disruptive Moments”), He is there to hold our hand through it and our relationship with Him is bound to never be the same.
I am preparing for the second phase of reconstruction this Wednesday morning. As I mentioned, this is the procedure in which the expanders will be replaced with implants. The pectoralis muscles and skin have been stretched over the last 6 months in preparation to hold these long-awaited implants. Although I am quite excited for this big step, I am also struggling with having to put my trust in the plastic surgeon’s hands to determine how my body will look from here on out. Fortunately, I know the Lord also has a hand in how things turn out. I definitely appreciate your prayers for this surgery on Wednesday and the next few weeks of my recovery.