Peace

Looking back on the blog I have to wonder... Where the heck have I been the past few weeks?? Well my life received an upset two weeks ago. It all started on a Wednesday night. Going to a YoungLife cookout, I of course enjoyed a hotdog and some chips as well as company from some of my closest friends. I thought I was in clear, and took the time to reconnect with people. Not 30 minutes after eating that hotdog my stomach started hurting, and boy was that a blessing.
Honestly, I do not have a high pain tolerance, and the worst way to be sick in my opinion, is to be sick to your stomach. That night, the pain increased. I managed to get back to my dorm with my stomach bloated to the max, and a pain that was almost unbearable. The worst part was, was that I could not pass gas and I would go through periods of time when I was feeling extremely nauseous. This feeling lasted all through the night, and I woke up the next morning with the pain more intense than ever. Wanting to put on a brave face, I got ready and started the trek across campus from the residential side to the academic side. The pain in my stomach had migrated and was now at a central location; my lower right abdomen. For those of you who do not know, just like I didn't know until I used WebMD, that is exactly where your pesky little appendix is located.
Flash forward a few hours, a few frantic phone calls to my mothers, and a few tears shed, I was done with classes and heading to the health center on campus to get an official diagnosis. My mother told me not to freak out and just to go see what the doctor said, my grandmother thought that it was just constipation. So I dragged my friend Katie along me for moral support as I went to the campus. About an hour later, and 4 tests later, the doctor pulled aside and said that I needed to go to the emergency room ASAP because of possible appendicitis. He offered to have the ambulance drive me over, but Katie and her boyfriend Matt were kind enough to offer a ride so I took it.
The ride over to the hospital was literally almost life changing. Not only did I get at least 5 phone calls from friends who were supporting me, but I got phone calls from their parents. Parents that were offering to drive to Blacksburg and be with me while I was healing if it turned out to be appendicitis. That kindness can only be described as one thing; the work of God.
Getting into the ER, I had to have the same tests tested again, as well as being poked and prodded multiple times in order to get an IV. I also started drinking contrast for my CT scan later. Then my posse arrived. The best friends I could ever ask for took turns showing up and crowding my ER room. A mother of one of my friends also ended up showing up and stayed with me all the way through the prep room and right up until I was taken into surgery.
But let's now get ahead of ourselves here. So I am in the ER, surrounded by love and support, feeling pain and fear. But I was not as fearful as I should have been. This is where God gave me another gift of internal peace. Somehow He managed to use my friends to calm me down and just help me feel the love that came off of them. After the CT scan, it was determined that I indeed had appendicitis and needed an appendectomy that night. (Praise the Lord for a stomach ache!) So I talked to the doctor, nurses, surgeon, surgeon assistant, and the anesthesiologist, and next thing I know I am being prepped for surgery. My friends helped me keep my own family back home in Colorado in the loop and for that I am so grateful.
After my friends say a prayer over me, 2 hours later I am being rolled down the hallway into the prep room before surgery. My friends mother was kind enough to say another prayer and then about one and a half hours later, I am waking up in the recovery room.
The rest of the night was spent with three close friends in a hospital room, and I have been healing ever since.
The biggest thing that I could ever take away from this would have to be kindness and inner peace. The kindness that my friends and their families showed me over that 48 hours literally changed my life. I could cry just thinking about it right now. They would have moved mountains for me if I needed it. They talked to my mother, grandmother and best friends from back home to keep everyone in the loop. I am beyond blessed to have these people in my life. Thank you guys. God showed me that kindness to show me how I should be. I had been praying about how I wanted to see God more evidently in my life, and well it just doesn't get more evident than this. God wants the best for us, and one of the best traits that we can acquire is kindness. I now know that kindness will move mountains, and now I know kindness will also kill fear.
The inner peace that God gave me during my appendicitis fiasco was remarkable. However He did it, I managed to crack jokes with every nurse and surgeon who came in to give me news I didn't want to hear. I thank God for providing me with that because it would have been a much more painful experience if I didn't have that.
In your life, please use as much kindness as you can, it really does make a difference. I should also be back up and running enough to post things without such a lengthy time gap.

Isaiah 54:10

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.