My mom was spending lots of her time over at a friends house in 2013, because one of her best friends Jenyi, was diagnosed with cancer. This was tough for me. Not being able to see my mom as much and knowing that Jenyi was struggling. This helped me grow spiritually and emotionally. I learned to put my trust in God, and as a family we spent many nights in prayer, hoping God would heal her. He didn’t. Instead, he chose to take her home to heaven. We didn’t understand, we had lots of grief and pain. I miss Jenyi, but I learned that everything was going to be okay. That good things came from bad, and that God can use these things to change people. After Jenyi died, we had to continue life, so we did. Not much later, in Des Moines for Labor day, we went boating with my mom's side of the family. …show more content…
So, my mom and I left and went back to my uncle Tom’s house where we were all staying that night. We tried everything to make me feel better, oils, baths, massages, a heating pad, warm water, warm soup, etc. But nothing was working and I didn’t even eat lunch or dinner. So in the middle of the night, my parents agreed it would be a smart idea to take me to the hospital. Many interesting things happened there. I got to try everything, pee in a cup, IV for dehydration, x-rays, IV to pump meds, and I even had to get an ultrasound because they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me!! I thought it was kind of cool to get an ultrasound and to do all of this doctor stuff, but honestly that was the worst experience I’ve ever had in my life. I finally got out of that place being labeled with E. Coli, a bacterial infection. I was so glad to be able to walk around again without worrying about ripping IV cords out from my arms. I was also excited to go back to school!! I missed my friends a ton. As i got back to school I got many gifts and
Finally, a personal struggle that happened in my life was what happened with my mother’s friend, Lynzee. Lynzee had six children, four girls and two boys. She really wanted to have another addition to her family. So, when she found out that she was pregnant with a baby girl she was filled with joy. Sadly, her baby was born too early and was fighting for her survival. Her first name was Violet and her middle name was Hope. Violet fought hard and long for her life, but her body was just too weak. She ended up passing away two years after her birth. Lynzee and her family were devastated at the loss of their family member. She overcame this difficult struggle by being with her family and looking on the
My dad pulled me out of the chapel and told me it was okay to cry, that the only way to get through something was to accept what had happened, and that if that made me cry, it was okay. Everybody sees crying as a weakness but it is not. Crying is a coping method for me, and many other people that i know. After the ceremony, many people left and went home. As i collected myself, I watched the leaves fall off the trees and to the ground as we followed the hearse that carried my great grandmother inside of it. We got out of the car and walked to the burial, where everybody stood and said their last words about Nannie. I stood in between my dad and my grandma, she reached into her pocket and handed me the cross that i had given to my great grandmother. I set it down in her right hand, remembering her telling me how much she loved her cross and how she felt that it would always keep her safe.
My maternal aunt gathered us together and we all sat on the couch. She turned to my mother and told us she had cancer. I looked at my aunt and I did not know what to say or how to respond. Three months later, my father received a phone call from his sister telling him that my pregnant cousin, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with leukemia and had to give birth to her premature baby. She and I grew up in the same house in Arizona and what hurt me the most was not being able to be with her during this difficult time. When we went to visit her in Arizona, my dad told us before entering the hospital room that he did not want us to cry in front of her. I was scared to enter. I did not know what to say to her but I knew I had to be strong. We stayed there for the holiday season but we never celebrated the holidays, that was too
Losing my mother, the most important person to me , was a life changing event that altered the way I see the world. Knowing that she is in a better place and at peace is everything I could've wanted for my mother. As me and my siblings grow older we miss her more every day. I have learned never to take someone for granted because we aren't promised forever with them. We have to make the most of who and what we
My grandmother, who is the mother of my mom, passed away due to heart failure at the age of 87. Since I was 6 or 7 she had been living in our house. The reason for that was, my grandfather, that I was named after passed away a year before I was born, so she was alone, and she was starting to get old. Since she lived with us for so many years, she had been a very important figure in my life. I can honestly say that she was like a 3rd parent for me, and losing her, made me fell horrible and helpless. I witnessed how real death is because of her passing. Combined with puberty, my grief caused me to become depressed for a long time. As I’m looking back it sounds really extreme, but there were some days that I did not even leave the bed thinking that there was no point to our existence. Thanks to some psychological counselling however, I was able to overcome that mental
After not talking to my mother for about 6 months and trying to give her time to recover and realize that I was not going to be a part of her life If she continued to go down the path she was going on, her alcoholism got worse. I eventually reached out to her to tell her that I cared for her and that I would always be there for her, however it was too late and she was too far gone. On December 15th of 2016, my mother attempted to commit suicide. Thankfully, she survived and is now over 6 months sober. Although this event caused a lot of heartache and sorrow, it helped me realize the detrimental effects of addiction and how it can take someone's life so quickly. This also shaped me as a person in many ways, as I began to acknowledge the importance of the people around you and how vital it is to care and love others no matter what. Being a child of divorce, an alcoholic mother, and an easily tempered father was my environment for several years, and all of the hardships and wonderful things that came from it shaped me into the person that I am
My dad had been on the transplant list to receive a new liver for about eight months, when he suddenly passed away. When I heard the news, I knew I had one of two options, I could turn my back on God for what He allowed to happen or I could turn to Him for support and reassurance. I, by the Grace of God, chose to turn to Him during this troubling time and will be forever grateful for that decision. In that moment, I felt like the relationship we shared was so much greater than it had ever been before. He was no longer this individual that I worshiped once a week, nevertheless a part of me wherever I went. No two people deal with the death of a loved one the same way, but having Him there with me as I grieved, strengthened my faith and my relationship with our
When my dad came home that evening he sat me down and asked me if I knew what cancer was. I had an idea so I just nodded my head, he went on to tried to explain to me how bad the cancer was that my mom had been diagnosed with. Seeing my dad so afraid scared me. The fear I felt then led me to realize that I needed to try and hide it because it would only hurt my dad more to see his children so upset. I did my best to help, I tucked my little sisters into bed while my mom was away at the hospital, read them stories and did the best I could at preparing snacks to comfort them. After my mom arrived home and she recovered from the surgery she started chemotherapy. The miserable treatment that attacks the cancer also makes her very ill. Every other week she was sick. Before every bad week I wanted to cry, but that wouldn’t help anyone. Lane and Kenna already were crying, if I cried it could only hurt my parents
The mission trip to New Orleans. I had let Jesus into my heart but I started to get this desire and passion to want to start following him, but I didn't know what that looked like or what that meant or how to do it. And so I prayed and longed for him to show me that. As we headed down to New Orleans, the back of my van started to get into really good conversations about life and each other and Katie Thul asked the question that forever has changed my life. “What has been the hardest part of your life so far?”. This might not seem like to bad of a question, but the fact of the matter was that I had never told anybody about the dark and gritty parts of my life before. I had always bottled it up, to scared to tell anyone because I feared what people thought of me, to afraid they’d turn away. And as people went around sharing, it came my time to share and I knew I couldn't do it, so I said I didn't want to share, and as they went around deep inside me I was being told I needed to. I needed to let it out and just speak. And so they came back to me and I let them in, I told them about what I had gone through and as I was in tears I looked up and saw this kid looking back at me from the front of the van. He wasn't apart of the conversation we were having but you knew he was listening in and as our eyes met, he was in tears. I then realized that this was Anna’s brother. This was the kid. That week I embraced my past and used it to help and grow and evangelize this kid, Jackson. I knew what to say because I was in the exact spot he was in just a year earlier. The Lord showed me that I can make a difference in people's lives through him. God opened my eyes to the people I had around me. He put Sydney into my life, someone who on this trip poured a tremendous amount of wisdom, truth, and love into me and essentially pushed me to love and follow Jesus recklessly and at all costs. So many people, from Ally to Zach, to
Through my mother, God shaped me; by witnessing her, convictions, strong morals, loving disposition, nonjudgmental nature and unshakable faith. I learned why we should never judge others because we are all God’s children. I learned my faith is permanent and there is nothing and no one that can make me stop believing. I learned how precious life is and to never give up.
I was hurt after the event that the only person I knew that would heal me was the one that brought me where I am today…God. Everyone in my life was questioning what I was doing by reading the bible whenever I had the chance. I powered through that summer (which was a very challenging season for me) with God and putting everything I had towards Him whenever I got the chance. I gave up my friends since they were trying to get me to drink, my parents were burned out with faith (they thought I wanted to harm myself over everything and didn’t understand why I was doing what I was doing), and the only person that helped me through it all was a godly woman that is still my spiritual leader today. She was a blessing in my life during my utmost hurtful summer. Towards the end of the summer, God had my heart and I could not explain how much love I was feeling from Him through it all. He was working wonders in my life to shape me into the man that He had for me to
One weekend, we had decided to clean out the house to surprise my mother. My father found papers stashed away that revealed theft charges; my mother had stolen medication when she substituted for the nurse in my elementary school. I remember my dad scouring the house for more evidence, even finding a stash of pill bottles under their mattress. She had another court date coming up that he learned about, just a few weeks before a family trip to Disney. Shortly after that hearing, my family took our last vacation as a whole, knowing that a key member would be lost to us the Monday after our return; she was going into work-release for two months. Before the end of those sixty days, my father learned that my mother had been unfaithful. Their marriage ended, and at eleven and nine, my sister and I said what we didn't realize would be goodbye to our mother for a great while. Her drug abuse continued, and months of time would pass between visits. We saw that sweet, ideal mother devolve into an addict. This loss has shaped me greatly, and it has taught me integrity, strength of character, and great love for others; without these things, my mother cost herself her family and
I can still remember vividly the day my mother passed away. My mother passed away at a critical point in my life when I was seventeen years old from a short term illness. She was sick for a week and I remember thinking this could be serious, however, my mother declined to go to the hospital because of the distance and financial hardship. I had loss my father when I was three years old, so my mother was a single mother. I have step sisters and brother, but I was not particularly close to them. Losing my mother was a defining moment in my life for it changed my life irrevocably. I was devastated, but I had to become strong, proactive and it spurred me to choose a new career path.
From the end of November till the 21 of December my Grandpa was put into Hospice, or a at home nursing home to prepare your loved one for death. At this time I was trying to balance my studies as well as supporting my family morally and emotionally due to the tough times we were going through. During the week of exams, my father was rarely home because of his father nearing death. This led me and my mom to provide each other with dinner and help each other. Knowing about the struggles we were having, my two uncles which were my moms brothers came over to have dinner and help up set up our Christmas tree. It was December 20th when they came over which was the day before my grandpa passed. My mom mistook me for my uncle and said my grandpa was going to die that night or the next morning. I didn't realize she said this and didn't know they were hiding this from me. I came home from my exams the next day to see my father balling due to his death. Because of the mourning process I missed one day of exams and lost complete focus in school for a short time. After I came to the facts that he was dead I started to work harder than I have ever worked before. This led to me getting the best grades I had ever gotten in my high school career and they are still getting better. While getting over death is never fully obtainable, you have to learn to be able to live with the thoughts that run through your head daily about your deceased love one. I
This left my mom with seven kids to raise by herself. Meaning one on one time was rare, because my mom is not a superhero and could not be in multiple places at one time. Grief left my family and I in a place where we did not know what to do, but we eventually got out of it, and continued on with our life. We always remembered the hard working parents we had, and the hard working mother we still had. I am resilient and got back on my feet and continued to attend school, graduated elementary school, and will soon graduate from high school. Although, I have gone through many difficulties it has made me work harder as an individual and choose my career choice at an early age. Being that I was very into the heart at a young age, and my father passing from a heart disease, I always knew I wanted to study cardiology, and will someday soon become a cardiologist.