Reaching my 68th birthday with better health than my parents and still being able to take care of myself is a milestone. By all accounts, I should not be alive and this healthy at this point in my life. I was always the 'sickly child'. Severe childhood asthma, eczema, and multiple allergies plagued me for much of my life. Most of the time I had overwhelming fatigue and usually felt like I had the flu. I was also weak and hurt all over. I was often absent from school due to illness and had virtually no social life. My last two years in high school were spent in homebound instruction where a teacher came to my home to teach me. It was twelve years after my high school graduation and after giving birth to my daughter, that I learned that had systemic lupus erythematous. After my diagnosis, my entire life seemed to make more sense and all of my random symptoms seemed to fit together. But when I was diagnosed the general prognosis was that most people died within five or ten years. With a newborn, that was not what I wanted to hear. So I became a lupus warrior and chronicled my journey in my podcast, Waltena Pride: My Story available on Spotify, Apple, Google, and other podcast platforms.
https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/vFadqxbwGub
Recently I attended my 50th class reunion. It was a joint reunion for all of the high schools that existed in the district at that time. Even though I had attended the 40th and 45th celebrations this one felt different. There were more people present than the previous two. And for me and many others it was an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for simply being present. Just being there was a blessing to see so many familiar and unfamiliar faces, but so many were also missing.
So today, I praise God for being 68 and being able to celebrate my 50th high school reunion. I guess a part of me never expected to reach either milestone, yet here I am. I now understand what the deacons meant as they prayed for 'a reasonable portion of health and strength.' My health isn't perfect, but I am alive and can take care of myself. I love my life. I am active and involved with the people and things that I love, and I am financially comfortable. Because I am still here, that means that God still has s purpose for me, and a part of that purpose is my ministry, Facing Issues Grace-Fully. I am blessed! And I don't take it for granted!