I don’t know about you but 2016 has had a very interesting start for my family and me. It seems that we’ve survive one storm after another.
Let me share a little about my story with you…
About 26 years ago my love of my life, my husband Miguel, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) before our 2nd year wedding anniversary. We were a young couple with more questions than answers, with more doubt rather than faith. I was a very young bride with a one year old staring at a very uncertain future. Fast forward about 26 years and here we are today.
Miguel is a walking miracle and we thank God for all He has done in his life. His MS has been relatively stable and for that we are grateful!
However in February of this year, I was on my way to a Women’s Conference our church was hosting when I get a call from my husband. He usually calls within 5 minutes of me leaving the house to go anywhere just to talk about... well….anything! However, this call was different. He said, “I’ve fallen and there is blood everywhere and I am not sure where it’s coming from.” I have to tell you that we were both relatively calm about it. He then tells me, “I think I should call 911”—to which I agreed and told him that I was about 15-20 minutes away from the house but would try to get there as quickly as possible. He then asks me the dreaded question “Did you lock the front door?” To which I responded…”Yes”. Now we both knew that this was not a good thing for the paramedics. We both knew this would mean a much more difficult task for them to be able to get to him. God was good to us and although that day my bathroom looked like a crime scene, Miguel was fine and walked away with only 7 stitches to his head.
A couple of weeks later I go to the ob/gyn for my annual exam to which I am told that I need a biopsy of the uterus, full blood work, sonogram of the thyroid and oh yeah, an MRI of the pituitary gland because my prolactin levels are elevated. I couldn't help but think.....seriously?!?!?!?!
The last few weeks of testing have been overwhelming on my body, mind and spirit.
You see none of us are free of life’s challenges. No one! However, not everyone is willing to share their story, challenges and defeat with others. If we only knew how sharing helps others in just the right time in their lives.
In the middle of all this I found myself losing my JOY. I had noticed my JOY starting to decline and while there were short-lived moments of happiness and joy—most of the time I was empty! I thought to myself I need to get on the journey back to Joy. This is not going to happen accidentally, I will need to be intentional about it. I started listing things that bring me joy because when we are going through the ugly its hard to figure out what those things are.
As a result of this I created The Joy Experiment. It is 30 days of intentionally doing things that I know in the depths of my heart bring me joy. Your Joy Experiment may look different than mine but in the month of April why don’t we walk that journey together…our journey back to finding and experiencing joy?
Starting April 1st I will post one activity or thing a day that brings me joy and you can follow my thread and post yours. There is power in knowing that there are others joining you, let us gather the sisterhood and empower one another with JOY! Let’s not give into what we are going through and let us be intentional about doing what makes us smile.
I look forward to walking this journey with you and i hope you are as excited about this as I am. Hey, you can start working on your list today and be ready to post your item this Friday, April 1st.
Here is to experiencing intentional Joy......Here is to The Joy Experiment!
Cheering you on my friend,
Coach Silvia