Talk, talk, talk...

I love to write, but I like to talk.

With friends and family mostly, but on occasion, I'll talk to people I don't know. That happened yesterday. Don't get me wrong...they asked me to talk to them. As in, I "gave a talk" at a local church yesterday afternoon. The pastor had invited me to come and talk to a women's group about "Don't Waste the Pain".

Since I was actually IN a lot of pain, it seemed the thing to do. (Side note: the ongoing pain of this ridiculously slow recovery is, yes, still torturing me daily.) However, if I keep busy enough, I can get through it without much effort. Distractions are welcome. Hint, hint.

My friend Leslie introduced me. Well, not me exactly, but someone I'd have loved to listen to myself. She made me sound great! (Leslie and I love each other, so it wasn't really a surprise to hear her gracious words.) So I got up and said, "Well, that Linda couldn't make it, so I came instead."

Then I talked about the book I wrote with David, discussing pain and how we get through it. Not having any option is one good way. And I've had few viable options the past ten years. Still, the pain has led to so many wonderful things, that it's almost... no, it's definitely been worth it.

You never know when something horrid is going to directly lead to something wonderful, maybe something that actually saves your life. I had a customer once who knew I had ovarian cancer. She told me this story: She was in a terrible auto accident. Many bones were broken; she suffered much pain and her car was totaled. BUT, during her surgery, the docs discovered extensive ovarian cancer in her body. They quickly changed course and operated on her as a cancer patient.

Her bones healed but even better, she was saved from a cancer she didn't even know was there. She lived to tell the story. Her awesome words to me were, "That horrid accident saved my life." I could certainly understand her attitude.

In some ways, my cancer saved my life too. I was not on a good path when it struck. I was not following the Lord in any certain way, and I was falling into a period of deep depression. The cancer and the support of Steve and all who loved me was what turned my life around. Yeah, the cancer saved my life.

Don't look at the bad or horrid things that come into your life as in and of themselves simply being horrid. Maybe they're just there as a precursor to things that would not otherwise happen. Wait. Live. Look around. And perhaps you'll see the blessings that come out of disaster and pain. It sure worked for me.