A Time to Embrace

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to refrain, and a time to EMBRACE.  Ecclesiastes 1:1-2, 4-5

All semester, my counselor had been asking me what it would be like if I embraced my MS.  And I thought I had, but then I knew I hadn’t.  It’s been a wrestling match for years and years (seven, to be precise).  I want it to be invisible again, like before I would be struggling to walk in warm weather and it was still easy to forget about.  I want God to come down and heal me of it, so that all can hear my really cool testimony and be like, “God’s awesome!”  I do want God to be glorified through it, but I don’t want it anymore.  Then, this morning, I read this really awesome email (that descriptor doesn’t do it justice, though) from my friend Amy.  She told me that her favorite memory of me was one where she saw me struggling to walk, but that same day, she saw me praising Jesus with everything I had.  She told me how obvious my love for the Lord was, even though I was dealing with MS.  That was a year ago.  Amy is not the first one to tell me how God has used me to touch her life, but this time?  I think it is time to embrace my MS.  For real, this time.

I am confident, Anna Olson, that God’s been working in you, that he’s been working through you in the lives of others, and that he’s using your struggles for good. . . . So, Anna Olson, don’t be shy. Continue to be bold, to trust God, because you have every reason to do so.

So, this brace that I wear and am asked by a ton of people about?  The one that I always feel embarrassed by and hate answering all the questions about?  I am not ashamed.  I will wear it because I need it, and answer questions about it patiently.  Sure, this MS is frustrating at times, but I won’t let it get me down!  It is time to embrace this MS; embrace that it is a part of me; and embrace all the good that God is doing through it (especially cuz anytime I get a front row seat to see God’s hand at work, I am in awe or him all over again)!

 The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

Smiling BIG, Anna =)^2