Alive At 25

On July 28th I turned 25. -

Truthfully, I didn’t want to celebrate my birthday this year. Truthfully, I didn’t even know if I’d survive long enough to see my 25th birthday. It’s hard to feel festive and to celebrate your day of life when simply existing feels like a battle. I didn’t want to celebrate another year of being sick, but I do want to celebrate everything I’ve accomplished and survived.

This past year, I:

1) Traveled across the world for Lyme treatment and spent 30 days in a German hospital where I met one of my best friends

2) Wrote three fiction novels (and counting)

3 Gave my life to God from a hospital bed

4) Touched over 20,000 souls on TikTok

5) Picked up a paintbrush again

6) Got over 100 IVs

7) Had a surgical port placed in my chest

8) Endured four hospitalizations

9) Traveled to Arizona for new stem cells

10 And most importantly... I never gave up.

I haven’t beat Lyme yet, but I’m still here. And as Exodus 14:14 says, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”Thank you to my parents, my doctors, my friends, and the prayer warriors who have fought for my life when I couldn’t fight for it myself.

Here’s to being alive at 25. Not cured, but carried. Not healed, but held. ✞