Serendipity

An unexpected blessing. A moment of clarity. A euphoric experience. All of these moments contribute to the pure joy that humans have been lucky enough to experience. Though these moments are rare, their impact lasts a lifetime.

Most days life is mundane. We wake up. We do what society expects of us. And while this stability is nice, we were not created just to exist. We were given a life so that we could fill it with memories that make us feel warm inside, memories that will go on to fill scrapbook pages and one day will be presented in the form of stories that we tell to our grandchildren.

Some of these stories will be depressing. Some will be joyful. Some will be bittersweet. I don’t know what the crowd favorite will be but what I do know is that my favorite stories are the ones when I’m in a time of despair and God slaps me in the face with the greatest blessing when I least expected it. 

There are two specific instances in my life that follow this trend of serendipity.

The first time happened in the fall of 2014. I had spent the past year battling cancer, losing my leg, not being able to walk for four months, isolated in my house because I did not want the hassle of having to be in a wheelchair every time I left my home, my freshman year of high school was cut short and the term “normal life” was a goal instead of a reality. While early 2014 was very promising, I still felt isolated. I did not have a lot of friends when I came into high school and not being in school hindered my ability to make new ones.

It was not the worst thing on the planet though. I watched Netflix for two months straight before being home schooled until the end of the school year. I got to eat whatever I wanted because my parents were at a point where they would do anything to make me smile. Despite the things that made my life seem hellish, I knew that there was something greater coming.

I was still sad of course. I remember being so frustrated with walking because I could barely move without feeling an ache in my hip or a sharp pinch in my leg. I remember the looks I got when I first stepped out into public with a prosthetic. I remember hearing about how everyone else’s freshman years played out whereas mine was spent healing emotionally, spiritually, physically and mentally.

But that year changed me for the better.

I have been asked before if I had to go through that experience again, would I still choose to? And the answer is yes. Without that experience, God would not have made me the person that I am proud to be today. 

Somehow through all of that, God gave me confidence and an appreciation for the second life that he blessed me with. When my sophomore year of high school came around, I made friends instantly and I blended in so well with my peers that people forgot that I disappeared from school for nine and a half months.

I still look back at that school year with fondness in my heart because everything was truly perfect. I finally had the friends I prayed for my entire life (it only took 15 years LOL), joining youth group was the best thing that happened to me, I was back to playing music and I never expected that the day of my diagnosis would ultimately lead me to the happiest time period of my life (at the time).

It is crazy to think that within a year, I went from locking myself in my bathroom and punching the ground nearly every day because of how broken I was to waking up with a smile on my face every day because my life was just so damn good.

The same thing happened during my senior year of high school.

When I was ten weeks away from graduating high school, God hit me with a multitude of blessings. It was as if life effortlessly fell into place. At this point in my life, I was wishing away high school because I was “ready to move on,” but He blessed me with an enormous amount of clarity that taught me to appreciate the present because at the end of the day, all we have is right now. 

Although there are days where I wonder why my life did not fall into place sooner than that last semester of high school, when I look back I know that He picked the perfect time to make my life even sunnier. I spent those last ten weeks more in love with life than I had ever been before. I finally quit the obsession with counting down to graduation and even found myself begging for time to slow down. 

The thing about serendipity is that it never comes according to our timetable. It arrives when God decides that we are ready for the magnitude of the blessing that He is thrusting into our lives. God is molding you and I to become the people who are ready to receive his next perfect gift.

I hope you will be there with me when we get that present.