Wishing you a Happy New Year!
The past two years have been filled with many blessings but also so many things that one would define as not our “normal”. We have now had a couple years of testing but still we remain hopeful for better days, waiting with great expectation. Many people set resolutions of all kinds as the New Year approaches and many state that they have a word for the year.
My December was a blur, literally. It started with a sinus infection and a bad headache over my left ear, mostly at night. It progressed to Bells Palsy, which is described as sudden weakness on one half of the face. Which may be a reaction to a viral infection. My first symptoms were an eye that would not blink, it would just stare and a very tingly & slightly droopy lip. After the onset of those symptoms came the loss of vision in my left eye. I would describe it as looking at a tv screen that had gone off the air. (This for sure tells that I have been on this earth for quite a while, as the tv’s now never go off the air unless you turn them off.) Needless to say, all of this was quite scary, facing the unknown.
The doctors give you medications to take and try to offer “Hope” that all will return to normal. The time frame I kept hearing from them and of course from googling this a million and one times, were the symptoms would reside approximately in three weeks to a year, but some would never fully recover.
I have rather poor vision without the correction of contacts or glasses and this vision loss was truly a miserable thing to go through. The migraine headaches would increase in intensity at night, causing me to debate whether I should go to the emergency room. I had already gone to the ER at the beginning of this and that was a terrible experience and a story all of its own, so I really did not want to go back there. As if it’s not enough to have all the outward stuff happening to my eyes and face, the inside of my head felt terrible during the day, too. I had a list of so many things I thought I needed to get done and was not up to doing any of them. I love to host my kids and grandkids for Christmas and really wanted to make that plan work. I had done a lot of the preparation early, the decorations were up in November and a lot of the gifts were bought and wrapped. Needless to say, I rested a whole lot during December, what else can one do with limited vision and a migraine.
My new book, “ Z the Zebra Goes to Kindergarten”, had just released and the Christmas season was in full swing. This new book is a story of a little zebra born with polka dots that light up with his many emotions. In this sequel he turns 5, plans for his birthday party, gets glasses, and goes to kindergarten. He starts out anxious about all the worries one would have starting something new. He makes a lot of new friends and has a great kindergarten year. The story has many messages to share with its readers, the main one in this book is, “ Love One Another!” (John 13:34) I did manage to sell many books from my house as I advertised to family and friends, and put it out on Facebook and Instagram. It was really nice to see the people who came to pick up books and we could visit a little.
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My granddaughters were over for a visit one evening a few weeks ago, and like they say out of the mouth of babes. I was reminded by the sweet 8 year old, that I had signs all around my house saying I must have “hope” and “faith”, or why would I have them? I was not sure 
what she was talking about or her context, so I asked her to explain. She took me by the hand into the bathroom and read, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). She said, “Gigi, have faith for what your hoping for, your eyesight to come back and be certain that it will”. She then took me to the kitchen and pointed to a picture I have, and she read, “ We walk by faith not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). She said, “ See Gigi, you walk by faith even when you cannot see well”. Of course, she was right!
At the beginning of this Bells Palsy, I had retreated miserably to my bedroom for a couple days. At first, I thought that I was wrestling with God. I had a rough 2021 with the passing of many kidney stones and a kidney infection that I had battled and had finally felt like I was feeling good again, when out of nowhere this happened. As I look back on that retreat to my bedroom, I was praying to God, telling him I was not happy about what was happening and I was scared. I was not wrestling, in the quiet I was trying to draw as near to God as I could get. I wanted to feel His embrace, His comfort, His love, His mercy and His peace as only He can give. I was not going to give up, but fight for wellness, my hope was in His promises. I needed the quiet, I did not want any distractions, I felt I needed to be fully engaged with my prayers.
My family and I did have a wonderful and Merry Christmas, even with my limited eyesight and whole lot of help, we celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior. I received a perfect gift and reminder from my daughter who was traveling to be with us for Christmas, it was a large wood sign and that said “Hope”. I think God sends us all kinds of little, what I like to call “God Winks”, to let us know he loves us, is always with us and knows just what we need. I want to thank everyone that was praying for me. I have made great progress in the healing of this, I still have bouts of blurry vision and my lips are a little crooked, but I am so grateful for the healing grace of Jesus and his restoration power.
My word for this New Year is “Hope” and the scripture that I pray for you is, “May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Roman 15:13).
May you have a “Hope” filled year and may God bless you all!