As a part of my fundraising, I have been selling t-shirts. My first order actually just came in (YAY!) and they look like this…
I sold about 40 shirts my first round which was an amazing response, so thank you all who bought one! I wanted to share a little about how I came up with the design.
It starts with love…I was born to be loved, to love God, love myself, and love others. This is something that was instilled in me while I was at G42 in Spain. The whole purpose for us on Earth is love. To be loved by our heavenly father, to love Him back, to love ourselves (HUGE), and then to love others. Everything we do in life should be fueled out of love. Now before you write me off, I have personally tested this theory. I had heard “Jesus loves you” my entire life, but the first time I actually heard it was during a class at G42. I immediately started hyperventilating and crying (Dramatic, I know). It did not make any sense! How on God’s green Earth could His only purpose for my life be to be loved by Him?! I wrestled with this notion for the entire 6 months, but came to the conclusion that it was undoubtedly true and maybe the best news I had ever been given. I found later on that my doubt came from my inability to truly love myself. Once I discovered I was worthy of love, then I was able to work my way back, and truly rest in this beautiful plan he had for us.
The heart beat…I have a funny device called an ICD (Internal Cardiac Defibrillator). I had it implanted about a year and a half ago. When I was 18 years old I collapsed while I was babysitting. I woke up on the floor with the children sitting on the couch, staring at me. I made a few awkward phone calls, and then my parents took me to the emergency room. That night was the start of about a million and one doctors visits, but we came to the conclusion after some genetic testing that I have a condition called Long QT Syndrome. In short, my heart beat is a little slower, making it irregular. This makes me susceptible to dangerous arrhythmia’s where my heart can begin to beat irregularly, causing me to pass out. The problem with this is that depending on the episode, I could not wake up, go into cardiac arrest and die. Needless to say I was upset. I felt as though my body had betrayed me, and even God had betrayed me. I was an athlete most of my life and it felt as though I had been handed a whole new, broken body and was told “Here. Learn how to live with this.” I wrestled for four years with medications, but we decided the best thing for me was to go ahead with surgery and get the implant, which would allow me to keep living my life the way I desired and do things like the World Race. In the past year and a half, I have been discovering the lessons God is teaching me through all of this and trust me, there are many. One that is most important to me is changing my perspective. I do not need to look at this condition and my ICD as a burden, although it can feel that way some days. I see it now as more of a promise. God will not let my heart stop. I realize now that He knows me and loves me for me. And He knows how hard I love and care about the people around me. He has equipped me with reinforcement, if you will, and I am grateful.
The mountains…The mountains represent the Sierra de Mijas. While attending G42, I lived in a tiny white mountain village in Spain called Mijas for 6 months. This village posed it’s challenges, but it provided me, along with G42, the close nit community I had desired my whole life, but never knew I wanted. The relationships that were made, and the lessons I learned in that village have changed my life for the better.
Joy…But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23) Something I have been told most of my life is that I am joyful. People can see the joy in my eyes. For me, I get my joy from an everlasting source inside of me, Jesus Christ. Happiness is fleeting, but joy is something you can carry with you, no matter your situation. I want to be the kind of woman that can find joy in any situation. Sometime I am better at it than others, but that is okay with me.
These experiences mean so much to me that I actually go it as a tattoo. A few of my girlfriends drew it out for me since my drawing skills are below zero, and voila!
Keep on the look out for another round of t-shirt sales! I still have a few left of each size so if you’re interested send me a message! I am still fundraising and in need of about $4,500 to meet my first deadline. If you could please consider giving towards my fundraising goal that would be amazing, and I would be forever grateful!
