Grief Due to Infant Loss, Miscarriage & Post-Abortion Syndrome

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Scripture:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 -
To every thing there is a season, a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, a time to die, a time  to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.

Psalms 22:24   -
For He has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one, He has not hidden His face from him   but has listened to his cry for help.

Psalm 23:4 -
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. 
For you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.

Psalm 25:16-18  -
Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. bring me out of my distresses. Look upon my afflictions and my trouble, and forgive my sins.

Psalms 30:5b -
Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

Psalm 31:9 -
Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress;
    my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
    my soul and body with grief.
My life is consumed by anguish
    and my years by groaning;
my strength fails because of my affliction,
    and my bones grow weak.

Psalm 46:1 -
God is our refuge and  strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

Psalm 55:22 -
Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Psalm 145:9 - 

The Lord is good to all;

    he has compassion on all he has made.

Psalm 147:3 -
He heals the brokenhearted
    and bandages their wounds.

Proverbs 3:5-6 - 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

    and lean not on your own understanding; 

in all your ways submit to him,

    and he will make your paths straight.

Isaiah 49:13b -
For the Lord hath comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted.

Isaiah 66:13 -

As a mother comforts her child,

    so will I comfort you.

Jeremiah 31:13 -
I will turn their  mourning into gladness. I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

Matthew 5:4 -
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Matthew 11:28-30 -
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Luke 4:18-19 (see also Isaiah 61:1-2) -

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

    because he has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

    and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 

    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

John 11:33-35 -
When Jesus saw her weeping….He groaned in spirit and was troubled. “Where have you lain him?”  Jesus asked. They said unto Him, “Come and see.” Jesus wept.

John 14:18 -
No, I will not abandon you or leave you as orphans in the storm-I will come to you.

John 14:27 -

I am leaving you with a gift-peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give is not fragile like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

John 16:33 - 

I have told you these things so that you will have peace of heart and mind, Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows, but cheer up, for I have overcome the world.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4  -
What a wonderful God we have-He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy, and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials.  And why does He doe this? So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us.

2 Corinthians 5:1 - 

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

Philippians 4:6-7 -
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Revelation 21:3-4 -

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Statistics/Quotes:

"Studies reveal that anywhere from 10-25% of all clinically recognized pregnancies will end in miscarriage. Chemical pregnancies may account for 50-75% of all miscarriages. This occurs when a pregnancy is lost shortly after implantation, resulting in bleeding that occurs around the time of her expected period."
-American Pregnancy Association

"A woman who has had a previous miscarriage has a 25% chance of having another (only a slightly elevated risk than for someone who has not had a previous miscarriage)."
- American Pregnancy Association

"An estimated 19% of the adult population has experienced the death of a child (this includes miscarriages through adult-aged children)."
- March of Dimes

"There are about 4.4 million confirmed pregnancies in the U.S. every year. 900,000 to 1 million of those end in pregnancy losses each year. Approximately 26,000 end in stillbirth (considered stillbirth after 20 weeks). Approximately 19,000 end in infant death during the first month. Approximately 39,000 end in infant death during the first year."
- March of Dimes

Resources:

March of Dimes: Dealing with Others as You Grieve
March of Dimes: Loss and Grief
My Angel Baby Foundation
National Memorial for the Unborn
Healing Hearts Ministries International

The Importance of Purity Before Marriage

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Scripture:

Repentance & surrendering our lives to will of Jesus is the only solution. Only then will we be able to "inherit the kingdom of God".

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 - Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.

We are to use our bodies for God's glory, for God dwells IN us once we surrender our lives and our will to what He has designed for our lives. At that point, we belong to Him.

1 Corinthians 6:13b-20 - You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.

15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

How does God expect me to avoid sexual temptation?

1 Corinthians 10:13 - The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

God himself understands the struggles & difficulty of standing strong under temptation. He can empathize with us.

Hebrews 2:18 - Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.

What happens if I continue to sin after it has been brought to my attention? Until we confess that sin and repent (discontinue the sin and run completely from it), we are choosing to refuse Christ. The bible tells us that light (God) and darkness (sin) can not have fellowship. They can have nothing to do with one another. But true, heart-felt repentance fixes all of that, and fellowship is restored.

Hebrews 10:26 - Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.

Hebrews 13:4 -
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

Statistics/Quotes:

Living together before marriage presents moral and practical dilemmas. Below are some statistics on the complications that occur due to living together prior to marriage.

"Affairs happen twice as often with individuals who are living together [and unmarried] than with those who are married."

- Journal of Marriage & the Family 62 (February 2000): 48-60

"The rate of sexually transmitted diseases among couples living together is six times higher than among married couples."

- A Profile of American Women in the 20th Century, 2000

"Those who live together before marriage are still less sexually faithful after marriage than those who did not live together first."

- Journal of Marriage & the Family 58 (1996): 33-47

"Only 1/6th of couples who live together [prior to marriage] stay together for more than three years; and only one in ten survives five or more years."

"Couples who [live together prior to marriage] have almost a 50% higher rate of divorce than married couples who do not live together first."

- National Survey of Family Growth, Dept. of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, 2002

"A poor cohabiting teenager using the Pill has a failure rate of 48.4%. Over 70% of poor, cohabiting teenagers using condoms, will be pregnant within a year."
- Physicians for Life

Below is information/statistics on sexually transmitted diseases & infections, as well as unplanned pregnancies.

"An estimated half of all new HIV infections occur in people under age 25. Most young people are infected through sex."
- Center for Disease Control

"When you have sex with someone, you are having sex with everyone they have had sex with for the last 10 years, and everyone they and their partners have had sex with for the last 10 years."
- C. Everett Koop, M.D. (Former U.S. Surgeon General)

"Most young people have sex for the first time at about age 17, but they do not marry until their middle or late 20's. This means that young adults are at risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for nearly a decade."
- Guttmacher Institute, Center for Disease Control

"Each year, 750,000 women aged 15-19 become pregnant, and eighty-two percent of teen pregnancies are unplanned."
- Guttmacher Institute, Center for Disease Control

Below is information, statistics and quotes on abstinence (refraining from sexual acts until marriage).

"The percentage of pregnancies that occur from abstinence is 0%."
- Physicians for Life

"Fornicating while single is an internship for adulterating in marriage. Singles, sleeping around before you marry is not a way to prepare for fidelity in marriage."
- Mars Hill Church, Pastor Mark Driscoll

The Sanctity of God-Ordained Marriage

Are there ever temptations placed in our path after we make the promise & covenant to be faithful to our spouse in marriage? The answer is a big "yes". Temptations are placed in our path daily, hourly, and sometimes on a moment-by-moment basis. Just a few of these temptations that can affect a marriage include:

Lust
Adultery
Homosexuality
Bisexuality
Pornography

The list can go on and on. So what does God's word say in regards to how we are to handle these temptations? How precious is the marriage covenant in God's eyes?

Scripture:

Genesis 2:18 -
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

Malachi 2:16 -
 “For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”

Matthew 5:32 -
But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.

Matthew 19:6 -
Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.

Matthew 19:9 -
And I tell you this, whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery—unless his wife has been unfaithful.”

Romans 7:1-3 -
Now, dear brothers and sisters—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living?  For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.

1 Corinthians 7:2-3 -

But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 -

 Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said:

“I will live in them

    and walk among them.

I will be their God,

    and they will be my people.

Therefore, come out from among unbelievers,

    and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.

Don’t touch their filthy things,

    and I will welcome you.

 

And I will be your Father,

    and you will be my sons and daughters,

    says the Lord Almighty."

Ephesians 5:22-23 -
 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church.

Ephesians 5:31-33 -
As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Hebrews 4:15-16

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

James 4:7

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1 Peter 3:3-4 -
Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.

2 Peter 2:9

The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the

unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

Statistics/Quotes:

"Affairs happen twice as often with individuals who are living together [and unmarried] than with those who are married."
- Journal of Marriage & the Family 62 (February 2000): 48-60

"Almost half of all marriages (41%) will be tarnished by the sin of adultery. That doesn't include the secret porn habits of who knows how many more otherwise "faithful" spouses. It also doesn't fully account for the adulterous desires harbored by the majority of all married men (74%) and women (68%) who would have an affair if they knew they would never get caught."
- Mars Hill Church, Pastor Mark Driscoll

"Before you cheat on your spouse, you have to cheat on God first. You can't break commandment #7 without first breaking commandments #1 and #2.: worship only God and you will not worship sex instead."
- Mars Hill Church, Pastor Mark Driscoll

"Marriage brings two people together under the authority of something bigger than themselves. Until a couple is married, their commitment to each other is a human commitment. Marriage elevates that commitment beyond human limitations."

"Married people have much higher levels of happiness than unmarried people."
- Journal of Marriage & the Family (Marital Status & Happiness: A 17 Nation Study)

"Marriage and divorce are both common experiences. In Western cultures, more than 90 percent of people marry by age 50. Healthy marriages are good for couples’ mental and physical health. They are also good for children; growing up in a happy home protects children from mental, physical, educational and social problems. However, about 40 to 50 percent of married couples in the United States divorce. The divorce rate for subsequent marriages is even higher."
- American Psychological Association

"Children of divorced parents are at least 50% more likely to get a divorce than those from an unbroken home. [Furthermore], when both the husband and wife come from divorced families, the odds of divorce are 200% higher."
- Mars Hill Church, Pastor Mark Driscoll

We Celebrate Our 5th Wedding Anniversary!!!

June 20th, 2014 blissfully marked the 5th anniversary of my & my husband's marriage. This year, I decided to write our 5 things in each category below that I wanted to celebrate about my amazing husband.





























5 Things that Have Changed in the Past 5 Years:

1. Growth in Our marriage
2. Growth in our spiritual life as individuals and as a couple
3. 2 additional pairs of feet pitter-pattering (sometimes stomping ;) ) across the floors. And oh, how it fills my heart with joy!
4. I have started using a wheelchair, which changes things slightly, but you have met those changes with a smile and a positive attitude the entire way, even when the situation was challenging.
5. We are now partners in ministry, and 5 years ago, I wouldn't have thought we would be in this place today. I love where God has brought us and how He blesses us through others. Thank you, Rence, for being a supportive husband of a wife who is a ministry leader.

5 Unforgettable Events that You and I Experienced Together Since our Marriage:

1. Honeymoon: we went on a 7-day cruise to the Caribbean Islands with excursions and had a blast!
2. Your graduation for your masters degree (mathematics) & my graduation for my bachelors degree (music education) - both from Jacksonville State University in Alabama.
3. Looking at an ultrasound screen and anxiously waiting to see our 10-week old miracle baby. Well...we got double the blessings, and got to see 2 miracle babies at 10-weeks gestation! :) (No IVF, no fertility meds - ALL prayer, and ALL God!)
4. Buying our first home together (when I was 5 months pregnant with the boys).
5. The birth of our boys at 34 weeks, followed by our month-long journey in the NICU.

5 Things I Absolutely LOVE About You (it's hard to stick to just 5):

1. You do the laundry, dishes, and other chores daily after a long day of work.
2. How you extend grace and mercy to me just as Christ does to us - you forgive my shortcomings.
3. You look past my physical inabilities and see me for who I am inwardly.
4. How you love your wife, first and foremost, and secondly, your children in such a special way. They know they are loved by their father. You are setting such a great example for them, as they will follow your positive and loving example when they become fathers in the future.
5. You support the cause & needs of the Chronic Illness Ministry (Sufficient Grace Ministry). You take care of the boys for meetings and other events and sacrifice your Saturdays so that others who are in need may be reached with the message of God's hope and comfort. Thank you for seeing beyond yourself.










5 Things That You LOVE to do:

1. Make your wife happy
2. Take care of your family
3. Be silly
4. Play games & strategize
5. Be social with people that have similar interests as yours


Rence's Anniversary Gift:

For Rence's anniversary gift this year, I went to the creative side of my brain - Pinterest. ;) I found a cute quote with our last name at the bottom made out of the element abbreviations (periodic table of elements). Rence is a math instructor at the local university and also loves science. I thought this would be perfect for his office. When he saw it, he lit up, then giggled. He loved it! :)

 

Forgiveness

1 Samuel 16:7

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

I believe, on too many of occasions, we (myself included) sadly get caught up in believing what others say about us, how they present us, and the judgments of spiritual maturity based on physical struggles. Through those hurtful times, it can be hard to forgive, especially when one may not realize his or her fault in the misinterpretation of another. However, we must forgive those that wrong us or make mistakes that affect us, including the times that one does not realize the effects of his or her judgment(s). We must demonstrate the attitude of grace and forgiveness, just as Christ forgave the most appalling acts committed by man. We find forgiveness so extremely hard at times because, on the contrary, un-forgiveness is what is engraved in our human nature. This, I believe, is one major reason that the act of forgiving another is so extremely powerful. Through forgiveness, we will find freedom and healing. Christ forgave the murderer, the adulteress, the child-abuser, rapist and molester. And he extended that same forgiveness, love and grace on me...someone who makes mistakes daily, yet I strive to live a life of encouragement to others. I pray that others see my heart for ministry, my goal to inspire others through Christ's hope and joy that has radically changed my life....not as a means of human praise, but praise to my Heavenly Father for using even the toughest, oddest circumstances for His glory. I am absolutely nothing without my Lord, my King, my Precious Redeemer & Romancer. He has the power to turn every tear into joy...it may take a time of healing, but with God, all things are possible. 

Mark 11:25

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Matthew 18:21-22

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven."

Lyrics to the Song

Forgiveness by Matthew West 

It’s the hardest thing to give away

And the last thing on your mind today

It always goes to those who don’t deserve

It’s the opposite of how you feel

When the pain they caused is just too real

Takes everything you have to say the word

Forgiveness

It’s always angers own worst enemy

Even when the jury and the judge

Say you’ve got a right to hold a grudge

It’s the whisper in your ear saying, “set it free”

Forgiveness

Lord, show me how to love the unlovable

Teach me how to reach the unreachable

Help me now to do the impossible

Forgiveness

It can clear the bitterness away

It can even set a prisoner free

There is no end to what its power can do

So, let it go and be amazed

By what you see through eyes of Grace

The prisoner that it really frees is you

Forgiveness

New Treatment Plan

Last Wednesday (April 23rd, 2014), I went for my monthly appointment with my specialist in the "big city" (1 1/2 hour drive from home, one way). I was prayerful and hopeful that there would be some more options put on the table for treatment of my newly-diagnosed chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). (CFS was a diagnosis confirmed after the initial diagnosis of adrenal fatigue, stage III.) CFS also exasperates my chronic pain syndrome (CPS), fibromyalgia, and other neurological and pain conditions. It has also affected my mood...you can imagine how you would feel if your body forced you to stay in bed for the majority of the day, despite many needs that must be attended to.

I have been on the first step of treatment for CFS since I was diagnosed in late February. This includes a type of hormone therapy that attempts to re-format the functions of the adrenal process, which is the cause of the CFS. Patients that have this type of CFS (caused by adrenal fatigue in the later stages) really need to go through with an effective treatment for the condition. The consequence for not going through with an effective form of treatment is Addison's Disease, which is a more severe form of hormone and adrenal insufficiency.  When Addison's Disease plagues the body, you lose almost all ability to produce these hormones, which help you respond to stress (including illness, injury, emotional responses, etc.).

So my options were somewhat limited. We stuck with the first step of the hormone therapy and kept building up the dosage over time. It left me feeling even more fatigued as my body fought the purpose of the therapy, which meant that the treatment was working (fortunately). My doctor even warned me that it would be a difficult phase of treatment, and that I may have problems tolerating it. I did, indeed, have those side effects. The doctor said, however, that he had never heard of someone's fatigue levels sky-rocketing like mine had done during the course of treatment with this medication. I was hardly able to climb out of the bed in the mornings before treatment....it felt 10 times worse after we started this first phase of treatment of hormone therapy, and the fatigue lasted throughout the entire day. It didn't help that I had the responsibility of taking care of two little guys. My solution was to drink a lot of caffeine. I didn't feel like this was a very healthy alternative, but I did feel that I had to take care of my boys. Therefore, I did what I had to do. It is very common for fatigue levels to increase by a decent amount during the time of treatment; however, it is not common for fatigue levels to increase this drastically. The doctor took note of my extreme fatigue levels due to treatment and my concerns, and decided to add an additional medication to help with energy and begin the second stage of treatment (to move things along).

Once the dosage was built up high enough (2 months time), the doctor was able to add an additional form of hormone therapy to my regimen. He and I both were very hopeful that this would boost my energy to where I could begin to get out of bed more easily, stay out of bed during the day, do a few chores here and there, play with the boys (instead of napping in the floor while they play), and simply being driven to do a few things again. The medication was prescribed three times per day - two in the morning and one around noon to 2 p.m.

I got my prescriptions filled and was very anxious to get the treatment started. From the first dose, I noticed a difference in my pain and fatigue levels! Was it a coincidence? The next day came, and I took my dose of two pills in the morning and one around lunch time. Once again, I found myself able to get out of bed and stay out of bed! Over time, the dosage has built up and become slightly better. This week, I sewed the boys 2 super-hero capes, 2 super-hero masks, 1 doctor's vest, 1 police officer's vest. You have to be in this body to realize what a miracle it is for me to have pulled out my sewing machine and actually have finished several projects. And the act of sewing is so therapeutic for me.

I have felt more up-beat because I am no longer "bound" to the bed. I still have fatigue, and I still take my naps when I can. But overall, I feel like God has granted me a small miracle through this second medication in the process of hormone therapy.

Needless to say, there was initially a lot of discouragement down this road (for the last 3 months - up until this new treatment option). It may seem like a silly thing to some of you, but when you add this on top of my chronic pain issues and other medical problems, it becomes a much bigger issue. This is not a simple problem that a cup of coffee can fix (I've tried several cups...lol). My sweet Lord has been teaching me more and more about leaning on Him always. I've been utilizing a few verses this month in particular. Isaiah 41:10 is hanging in our dining room as a constant reminder - it's been a very useful tool and a timely reminder on many occasions. Romans 5:3-5 also serves as a great reminder that every hardship we experience in this life is for a greater purpose. I have definitely been learning further patience, endurance, and trust in my Primary Care Provider ;) (the Great Physician).

Isaiah 41:10
Don't be afraid, for I am with you.
Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Romans 5:3-5

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

_________________________________________________________________________________
*This is a post that is meant to inform friends & family of my condition and the facts surrounding my condition. Any information in this post is NOT meant to be supplemented as medical advice.