Introduction: My Life Mission is to Glorify God.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord! Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
I have called on my heavenly Father and his divine intervention regularly because of the promise he made to us in the above bible passage. His presence will be here throughout this text. To begin with, I am the wife of a very devoted and loving husband, Jim, and a mother of two beautiful children, Katie and Andrew. My family has motivated me in my weakest moments. I am also a stepmother to Carrie Abbiehl and Dan Rydlund, and thanks to them, a grandmother to five beautiful grandchildren, who continue to bring me joy in life.
I share a bond of love that will never be broken with my husband, children, grandchildren, and siblings. I thank God for them every day. You all have a special place in my heart, and I cherish our memories together. Over the past twenty-two years, I have been a registered nurse and have encountered and befriended many special patients. I started my career in labor, delivery and pediatrics, and usually witnessed more joy than sorrow, but the sad times there were really sad because those situations usually involved the death of a child. I have bonded and shared one of life’s most painful experiences with the parents I met there, the loss of a child. Ironically, when my career ended I was doing home health and hospice care, so I was able to experience life at both ends of the spectrum, birth and death. I have come to realize that life is a precious and beautiful gift. If you have the gift of life, live it to the fullest and never put something off until tomorrow, because tomorrow never comes. We are in the here and now, without the things of yesterday and always looking for a tomorrow that never seems to come. This was never clearer to me than when I was knocking at death’s door on January 7, 2004. I was hospitalized for 16 weeks after that, and I never knew if I would see tomorrow. I have also been rehospitalized numerous times, but I continue to hold onto life through my faith in God. I have multiple medical issues due to the anaphylactic shock caused by an allergic reaction from intravenous medication, which was used when complications arose from an organ transplant, and each of these medical issues only serve to remind me of how blessed I am and how I need to keep my faith in God. I also had a very moving life after death experience that remains as vivid in my mind today as it was when it occurred. Many people have felt God’s presence in my hospital room over the years, and I have been aware of His presence in my life for many years now! It is my wish for you that you will also experience His presence within this book.
Throughout all of these experiences, I have been learning that God molds us into who we are through the events of our lives. The molding takes place through the trials, tribulations, and blessings in each of our lives. I learned that if you have not been walking with Christ, you cannot hold him accountable for your grief, and that the sooner one asks God into one’s heart and life, the greater the benefit. I was raised in a Catholic Christian family. I had a very dear uncle that was a priest, and he had a great impact on my faith. My maternal grandmother was also an important influence on my spiritual life, and she would faithfully seek God’s intervention on my behalf. Sometimes all it took was a phone call and she would be in her apartment praying the rosary. It seemed that everybody was always praying for somebody back then, and I think that continues to the present. As a child, I witnessed some of those prayers being answered, and at the time, I really thought this was some sort of magic. God’s answering of people’s prayers would leave me in total awe at times. More importantly, as my life went on, I learned to rely on God in my darkest hours. However, there were times I would be impatient with him and would decide to try and get the job done myself, which usually resulted in more suffering. I have learned that it takes total submission. I could not have peace in my life until I completely submitted myself to God’s will, and even though I still struggle with this sometimes, I know it really works.
God held my entire family together through the good times and the bad, preventing us from totally crumbling during many important moments. We are still a strong family that continues to grow in our faith because of God’s influence. In the end, my life carries out the mission of glorifying God, whether I consider my weaknesses or strengths. It is without a doubt that God has allowed, not caused, these hardships in my life. He has prepared me for the fight of my life. I am proud to say that I am a survivor!
Julie Rydlund
March 17, 2008
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