Name: Lindsay Ann Westerfield
Genetic Orientation: XX
Height: 5’4″
Weight: You don’t need to know that!
Favorite color: sea foam green
Favorite word: rarefaction
Favorite parasite: Schistosoma mansoni
Number of broken bones: 0
Statistics are a great way to get some quick information about someone. They’re easy to read, not too hard to remember, and quite simple for the subject to write down. But, what statistics don’t tell you is the story behind them – so let’s start from the top.
Lindsay Ann Westerfield – named by my parents, Lisa & Rick Westerfield. Middle name honors my Memaw, Phyllis Ann. “Westerfield” is the English equivalent to the Dutch surname “Van Westervelt.”
XX – born with two X chromosomes, thus making me a female. Did it happen by a 50% chance? I choose to think it happened because God created me that way!
5’4″ – resulting from a combination of parental genetics, not eating enough veggies, and the sovereignty of the Lord.
seafoam green – 21 years of color searching led me to this final answer. Why you ask? Because its a shade between green and blue, both of which I love. Seafoam green is super mellow and it’s one of the most common colors you’ll find at the beach, which is BY FAR my favorite place on earth. (And I love to meet with God at the beach!)
rarefaction – not only is it fun to say, but it’s a pretty interesting phenomena in sound waves. A force triggers air particles to compress, and as they do, the following air particles are compressed until they reach a barrier like our ear drum. But, following each compression of particles is the rarefaction, the decompression zone where the particles are now less dense than before the wave came through. I love this imagery of compression-decompression and stress-relax cycles, because much of life is experienced in this rhythm. It happens hourly, daily, weekly, seasonly, and yearly. We are compressed and stressed in times of performance, but then we’re given a time to decompress and relax. I love that God brings us through these times to push our little hearts, souls, and minds, but He is always gracious to lend us a wonderful time of reprieve and reflection.
Schistosoma mansoni – no, I’ve never been infected with this little critter, but out of all of the parasites I’ve studied, this one is the coolest! It’s an amazing example of God’s intent for relationships. As the male and female schistosomes mature, one of their first objectives is to find a mate. Neither one will be fully functional until they’re in the presence of the other – in fact, the female won’t survive without a mate. But, upon meeting, the male scoops up the female and envelops her in his muscular body. Once they mate, they are partners for life and the male will continue to cradle the female for the entire duration of their partnership, which can last up to 50 years. How cool is that?! Even in the smallest and oddest of creatures we see the beauty of God’s creation.
0 – broken bones, currently. And you want to know why? Because I’ve been healed. No matter when or where or how terrible I’ve been broken, both physically and spiritually, I’ve been blessed by the healing power of the Great Physician. And what’s great about it is that everywhere that I have been “broken,” He has made me stronger than before. It’s the perfect example of “in my weakness, He is strong.” And one day, my earthly body may be broken past the point of necessary function, but I know that my spirit has been made full and healthy by the Lord and one day I will get to see the face of my Healer.
So now that you know you a little more of my background story, I’ll let you know that for much of my life it’s been easy for me to seek my identity in labels and stats: athlete, president, grade point average, pre-med, class rank. But as I have matured spiritually, I’ve learned that all of these things are secondary in life. Yes, they are important – the passions, talents, interests that God has given me cannot be discounted, but they will never be as significant and life-changing as my most important identifying factor: Child of God.
