It's no secret that the community of people who suffer from chronic illness and disability is in an uproar due to the rash and erroneous statements made by Dr. Phil on Tuesday, March 12.  In this episode, Dr. Phil claimed that "100 out of 100 relationships that involve care-giving fail.  You can be a caregiver or a lover but you can't be both."  I've never seen a more beautiful response than from the #100outof100 that's trending on Facebook and Instagram, and as a young, single, chronically ill woman myself, it may seem that I'm not qualified to have any opinion on this topic at all.  But, I'd like to offer a fresh perspective to the community and to overall society.  Everyone may be appalled by Dr. Phil's statement, but how often does society and communities all over the U.S. actually treat the chronically ill and disabled this way?  Thank you, Dr. Phil, for saying out loud what most people think, but would never make audible.  Your statement is currently bringing to light the attitudes of many and states that this is a social and cultural mindset that needs to change.  Well, this is my perspective, and if you read all the way to the end, you'll find that I may be more qualified to discuss this topic than some might think.​

My parents were married in the year 1980, and my mother was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease in the year 2013.  It took years for my mother to receive a diagnosis, which means that there were 33 years of unresolved health problems and 39 years total of disability and struggle.

On my parent's wedding day, my mother was eminently sick, and that was merely a taste of the next 39 years for them.  I don't ever remember a time when my mother wasn't sick.  My mother is the best mother I could have ever been sent to because despite chronic weakness, fatigue, and unexplained neurological symptoms, she successfully raised six kids in a happy and healthy home who are now thriving adults in society.  It wasn't until I came along that symptoms became less tolerable and more abundant with time.  As a teenager, I remember my mother often being bedridden throughout the winter months and hospitalized frequently.  It didn't make it any easier that my parents had me, who seemed to always be sick with strange and unexplained symptoms, and the frequent doctors appointments for both of us almost never left us with any answers or hope to someday receive answers.

It wasn't until I was a junior in high school that my mom went down for the long run.  Her pain levels were excruciating, she would often suffer from spontaneous seizures due to the high levels of physical pain, and she experienced pain so deep and severe that I often wondered what happened to my mom because she wasn't the same person when she was this ill.  She was bedridden for years, she lost her ability to walk and was in a wheelchair for awhile, and again... there were no doctors that had any answers to give us other than that there is no illness with all of her symptoms.

Right when life reached it's peak of pain and discouragement, right when most people would leave and surrender to it all, right in the middle of no improvement, and right when a large majority of people would leave... my dad chose to stay.   There wasn't a life to be had.  There wasn't a possibility of going to work, or church, or anything else that an average man would do because when mom went down, my dad took his rightful position as husband AND full time caretaker.  The position he promised he would take the day that he married her.

I've watched my dad care for and love my mother through this awful disease for years, and he isn't planning on stopping anytime soon.  I've watched him feed her, push her wheelchair, and peel her off the floor after she's passed out or after a seizure.  I've watched him drive when she lost her ability to.  I've watched him take over the cooking and cleaning when she lost her strength to do it herself.  I've watched him do what any real man would do when the love of his life is put in a situation like this.  Because why would you trust a stranger that you pay for to take care of the person that you love and cherish more than anything in the entire world?

True love has absolutely nothing to do with physical ability or lack there of.  True love has everything to do with two hearts and souls that would give and sacrifice ANYTHING for the well being of the other person. And if both people in the relationship have that mindset, then both people are thoroughly taken care of.  My mother has always been a help-meet to my father.  And when she was able, she was always by his side, helping and supporting him in all of his endeavors.  My parents set out to be a team from the very beginning, so when they were brought to a point where they had to walk through the fire, they walked through it together without being burned alive.

Not only did my father have the task of taking care of a sick wife, but he also is frequently met with the task of taking care of a sick daughter as well.  My small family of three pulls together in our house, and through sweat and tears, we take care of each other, no matter how difficult it gets.  Often through the fire of chronic illness, I've so frequently been shut down by others, which is why it's crucial to have a family that is your full-time caretaker.

We live in a society where the breakdown of the family is dominating and the definition of love is becoming increasingly shallow.  As a young single person, I watch many healthy young people searching for someone who can be their eternal companion, and basing their decision on how much fun they can have with a person, and how pretty looking they can appear to be together.  Why would you need to take care of the person you love when you have doctors, therapists, physiologists, bishops, and pastors doing it for you?  Wouldn't it be easier to hire somebody who is a qualified "expert" because they learned about it in a textbook once when they were in college? 

The answer is no because true love has nothing to do with how good you can look on Facebook, and often the experiences that cultivate the greatest love are not shared on social media.  Often the experiences that cultivate the most love are dark, scary, and require sacrifice.  Cultivation of love is often brought on by those experiences that open your eyes to how much you would miss that person if you lost them. 

I'll never forget the comments I've received from people towards the men I've dated about how wonderful a man he must be because he's willing to be with "someone like me."  I often wonder if the person that told me that "it makes sense why no one would want to be with me" is right in some ways.  And I often think of the many men that frustratingly have asked me what it would take to be with me because they don't think they could do it.

What all these people are forgetting is that love is patient and kind.  Love is not skin deep but is something that penetrates into the heart and soul of two people who would give anything to be together.  What happens when that "perfect" husband or wife becomes paraplegic, or chronically ill?  Has our society come so far as to say they won't love another human soul unless there's a guarantee that everything will stay easy and comfortable all the time?  Because if we've come that far, then society is seriously disintegrating before our eyes.  No wonder there are so many incredible disabled women I know that feel like they're destined to be alone.

As a chronically ill single girl, I know my worth.  I know my mind and heart have more to give than a lot of people who are physically able and strong!  And I know that there are thousands and millions of chronically ill people out there who are worthy of love because the love that they have to give is the kind of love that lasts into the eternities.

When something is broken, you fix it.  You don't throw it away.  When you choose to love someone who is broken, the brokenness heals.  Because doctors and "experts" cannot heal you.  But love can.  It is possible to love at maximum capacity while coping with disability and illness.  May we all choose to see that in whomever it is that we come to love someday.  

There is one truth that for the longest time I never believed for myself.  But now I believe it, and I want everyone who suffers on levels such as this to know:

HEALING IS POSSIBLE.  HEALING CAME FOR ME, AND IT WILL COME FOR YOU TO!

Healing is not something that occurs in one swift motion.  Healing does not come in an instant, and healing isn't an easy process.  Healing is a cleansing process.  A cleansing process of one's mind, heart, and soul.  Healing is a choice.  We are NOT a result of what happens to us in our lives.  We are a result of how we REACT to what happens to us.  There are things that will come that are completely out of our control, but how we choose to react to those things will determine our destiny.  If we choose wisely, we can experience healing along the road that at times will seem relentlessly long.

And here's the good news:  WE ARE NOT ALONE ON OUR PATH TOWARDS HEALING!  Isn't that a glorious message!?  We have a loving and merciful God who is there for us every step of the way.  We have a Savior who knows EXACTLY what we are going through because he suffered all of these pains we feel long before we felt them.  And we have angels that we cannot see who are there to love and support us and they are fighting our battles with us.  You see, we are never truly alone on our painful journeys.  That was something I had to learn before I was able to get up, overcome the initial shock, and move forward in faith.

Healing doesn't come through choosing to be the victim in any certain circumstance, and for me I had to push past the agony that was taking place in my mind and heart, and make specific decisions and take action towards healing.  Small choices I made back then made a massive impact on the state of my heart as time passed.  These are action steps that every single one of us can make.  And no, making these decisions doesn't make the heart-stopping pain hurt less, and it doesn't induce instant healing, but it teaches and heals one step, one second, one minute, and one day at a time.

These are the things I had to experience in order to reach healing:  

1. I had to decide right away that I wasn't going to let this destroy me.  Throughout the course of events I resolved to be strong even if I felt like the weakest person on the face of the earth.  For so long I felt like a little girl that couldn't control her feelings or emotions.  I felt insane and I figured that my sanity was out of my control at the time.  To a point it was... there were things I couldn't control.  I couldn't control the deep ache that settled in my chest for weeks.  I couldn't control my inability to sleep, or my lack of appetite due to the nausea that seemed to follow me everywhere.  I couldn't control the horrific nightmares I had when I did sleep, and I couldn't control feeling overwhelmingly heavy all the time, almost as if an elephant was constantly sitting on me.

So, I took hold of the things I could control.  I controlled how often I fell on my knees and talked with my Heavenly Father.  I controlled opening up God's word and reading to find peace and wisdom.  I controlled the fact that I wouldn't allow myself to be left alone at any given time for the first little while.  I controlled who I spoke to and who I did not.  I controlled which texts and phone calls I answered and which ones I did not.  I was constantly seeking for peace.  Hidden in all of these little insignificant choices was my deep desire to not let this tragedy destroy me.  I wanted so desperately to be strong, and I learned along the way that all of us are blessed with that strength inside of us.  God is more powerful than pain, and He can bless us with extra strength if we so choose to develop it. 

2. I decided to find myself by losing myself in the service of others.  One wise teacher, mentor, and friend once told me that "you find yourself by losing yourself in the service of others."  I figured in this case I didn't have anything else to lose so I might as well distract myself at least.  I expressed at one point my deep and painful feelings to this friend who offered me the opportunity to come volunteer as his TA for a semester at a local high school.  I'd be working with high school seniors, and for whatever reason I felt a desperate need to except his offer.

Without going into great detail about that glorious experience, I have to admit that it was a MASSIVE blessing at this time in my life to get to know those high school seniors.  Being greeted with "Good morning Miss Dalton!" every morning brought such joy to my soul for a time, and my heart felt full with love for those bright and beautiful teenagers that I was working with.  Serving others played a tremendous role in my healing process, and it can in yours too.  It's all a part of opening up your heart again to be able to love.  Love is the greatest healing power in the entire world, and when I let a small piece of my heart love again, it meant the beginning of that small piece being mended and restored little by little.    

3. I had to purge my past and forgive.  Forgiveness was one of my more difficult tasks on my path to healing.  I wanted to believe that I had forgiven him from the beginning.  And I had reached forgiveness to a point, but I hadn't let it all go.  I spent so much time being angry at him for destroying me.  I spent so much time agonizing and reliving those moments of horror.  I spent so much time feeling terrified of the people I came in contact or with, or afraid that maybe I didn't have a future past this experience.  Honestly, I had to experience those difficult feelings in order to truly forgive and surrender my past in a way that doesn't let it define my future.  Along the way I learned some things about forgiveness.

First, forgiveness does not mean putting yourself in a place where your heart keeps breaking.  It doesn't mean reinserting yourself into someones life who has hurt you tremendously.  Sometimes we have to love and forgive people from a distance, and that's okay.  Second, forgiveness is not the same as excusing.  We do not have to excuse someone's wrongdoing in order to forgive them.  In fact, the more we allow ourselves to experience and recognize the damage that has been done, the greater our capacity to forgive, change, and move on.  And third, forgiveness creates a safe space to allow God to heal your heart.  Restitution for me came from my Savior, and it came in the form of healing and restoration of my heart and mind.  Once I achieved forgiveness with the help of the Savior, I was able to feel free again which opened my heart up to be healed and purge the negative emotions I had towards the one who had wronged me.  We all have that power to forgive.  And if we don't have that power in the beginning, pray for that power.  God will bless you with the innate power to forgive and move on. 

4. I had to give all of my pain to my Savior.  I remember a very specific time in the course of events where I learned this crucial life lesson.  I had just moved with my parents, I was in a new place, and I had met some new people that I was terrified to open up to or think about to much.  I was sitting on the edge of my bed one night in horrendous emotional pain.  I felt panicky and weak and my heart hurt tremendously.  I felt confused and angry and I sobbed uncontrollably for the loss of my peace of mind.  It had been months... I should be over it... I shouldn't be hurting so much.  In that moment I wondered if I would ever feel peace again.  

At the time a thought came to mind that I had read about how the Savior is just waiting to heal us of our wounds and misfortunes, but in order for us to allow Him to heal our hearts, we have to ask for healing.  It occurred to me at that moment that I had not yet simply asked for Him to take my pain.  It seemed impossible for one moment of inquiry to heal such a wounded and broken down heart.  But I had to try, and I had to muster up enough faith for healing to occur.  I retreated to my knees and pleaded with the Lord to heal me.  To take my pain.  And I remember clearly stating, "Please... I don't want this anymore!"

At the conclusion of my prayer I felt stillness, and I felt an obvious lift in my heart.  I felt anger melt into the floor, and I felt peace fill my soul as the tears flooded down my face.  I knew in that moment that my prayer had been heard, and that I was currently in the process of having it be answered.  My merciful Heavenly Father was going to take all my broken pieces and build them into something beautiful.  I just had to excersise patience, and after that moment, my grief and pain in the days to come was less intense, less excruciating, and more bearable.  It was nothing short of a miracle and I know it's because when we lay our burdens at our Savior's feet, He heals us.

5. I had to recognize that I still had worth.  I was broken, wounded, damaged...  I've used those words to describe myself so many times.  I knew that to most men I was "damaged goods," and in my mind I didn't disagree, and I didn't believe that I had anything to give or offer anymore.  But in order to experience healing, I had to learn differently. 

Nobody is ever just eternally broken or damaged unless they choose to be that way.  I have so much worth, and so much to give in my interactions with others.  I may be broken, and I may have some scars, but my brokenness has transformed me into something beautiful.  It's ironic because in the midst of it all, in the past year my capacity to love others has grown.  I know now that someday when I discover the man who I was meant to be with, my love for him won't be any less because of the love that I had for the man who hurt me.

You're not broken!  You're not damaged!  You're not worthless!  And in the sight of God, you have infinite power and ability to love and be loved, and continue on your path towards success and happiness.  That was something I wish I would have understood faster, because it's so crucial when we are healing to know who we are, and by knowing who we are, we can take back our power that God blesses us with to prosper and live life to the fullest.

6. I had to be thankful.  Gratitude is essential for healing.  Either I was cursed because I lost who I thought was the love of my life.  Or I was blessed because I was saved from being put in a situation that would have destroyed me so much more if it would have gone on longer.  I've come to know that I was gloriously blessed, and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for saving me without me even knowing that I needed to be saved.  When we express gratitude, we open our hearts to healing and happiness and let go of things that we no longer need to hold on to.  It's not easy to find gratitude after such horrific experiences, but it's possible to find it.  We simply start by seeking for the desire to be thankful.  After that, it will come if we exercise faith. 

6. I have to keep striving.  Stop crying.  Get out of bed.  Put one foot in front of the other.  And continue on in faith doing the things you know you should be doing, and the rest will fall into place.  You don't get anywhere in life if you spend it crying in a bed or a chair.  You experience peace and healing by living and moving forward.  And I will be the first to admit that it is not always easy.  There will be days for a long, long time where you grieve and cry.  There will be days where you will feel like you cannot continue.  There will be days where all of your feelings come to the surface in the form of tears.  And there will be days you just want to scream because you cannot avoid the prickly parts of healing from trauma.  

But I promise you that there will also be days where you find unexpected smiles creeping across your lips.  There will be days when you'll meet new people that you're meant to love and be loved by.  There will be days when you find yourself laughing again.  There will be days when you'll experience joy in the moment, peace for the past, and hope for the future.  These moments are what make the painful moments completely worth it. 

Healing is possible.  It doesn't come instantly but IT DOES COME.  There are still days that I hurt and struggle.  There are still days that I have to relive the past.  There are still days that I experience longing and hopelessness, but they get less and less the more I strive for healing.  It's important to remember that you are always loved.  And there is ALWAYS help and happiness ahead.  

​When a person undergoes such a deep traumatic event that is the betrayal of a loved one's trust in such a circumstance as mine, there are two realizations that occur.  These realizations came so quickly for me, and they destroyed me to a point where I couldn't feel anything in the moment.  I simply felt dreadfully numb. 

The first gut wrenching realization was the betrayal itself.  I felt like I'd been cheated on.  It changed my entire relationship with him including all the happy memories that we had shared in the past.  It made me feel worthless and unlovable.  It made me feel like it was all my fault, and if I would have just done one thing or another differently, I could have changed something.  The betrayal itself cut like a knife, but the second realization cut even harder.

My second realization was that someone I loved and cared for deeply had been expertly lying to me for the entire length of our relationship, and possibly longer since we had been friends for so long.  All at once I was with a stranger instead of the person I thought I knew so well.  In an instant I could never trust those lying eyes ever again.  In order to lie to somebody that you spend such large amounts of time with, it takes expertise thought and effort to hide such a big secret.  So not only did he lie, but he planned carefully how to lie and get away with it.  And not once did it ever cross his mind how much that would hurt me.  That fact stung.  It stung deep, and it stung hard.  All I ever wanted in a relationship was honesty, and it quickly occurred to me that the only honesty I'd known at that point in time was fake.     

Neither of these deep realizations felt real to me at first.  I woke up every morning for quite some time thinking that maybe it was just a sick joke and tomorrow would be better and back to "normal."  It seemed so unreal to me, and I didn't know how I was ever going to live my life without him, or without my "happy wedding" going through.  Along with everything else I was feeling, I felt dreadful loneliness deeper than I've ever felt before, or that I've ever felt since.

These intense feelings lasted for quite some time, and there were days that I wondered if I had lost my mind, or my sanity... or both.  Nothing seemed to make complete sense to me as I was forced to navigate functioning in this cold and distant reality while everyone else went on with their lives in the present.  I felt stuck as I learned that navigating this form of trauma was something I had to take one day at a time.

The first signs of healing were the greatest blessing to me.  The first signs of healing were like a massive weight being lifted off my shoulders by some Power beyond my own.  That first taste of healing came in the form of less tears and a clearer mind.  At one point I had finally lost the constant feeling of needing to scream all the time, and that elephant that was sitting on me finally left my presence.  When that occurred the tightness in my throat and the constant nausea lifted and I felt incredibly thankful.  The first bits of relief made me feel like I'd been delivered into a place where I could function in the present again, and I began to find myself and navigate my new skin.  What I didn't know was that navigating my new skin would not be an easy task.

My new skin... I didn't even know I had shed an old skin.  I just felt awkward and uncomfortable most of the time, and I didn't completely understand why.  I felt vulnerable at that time, and as I learned to navigate my new skin that vulnerability beamed a little too brightly. 

First, I found myself talking too much.  Up until then I'd spent most of my life like a little mouse too afraid to say anything in fear of "rocking the boat," or "offending someone."  Now, as if in one fell swoop, I couldn't get myself to stop speaking my mind.  It's like I woke up one day and realized that I had intelligent things to say, and then I resolved to not let anything stop me from saying them.  I felt like I had a story to tell, and I was going to tell anyone and everyone who was willing to listen.  I rolled the events in my life over in my head a million times, and as a result of that I probably rolled those thoughts over to a half a dozen random people.  Some of those people left deep hand-prints on my heart as they played an incredibly important role in my healing process simply because they were willing to listen. Some are now some of my closest friends, to which I'm thankful for that unique time in my life.

After this odd phase of grief, I went through what I felt at the time was a relapse.  I spent many long nights crying myself to sleep, grieving over what I'd lost, and trying to keep silent about it because I didn't want to burden anyone with past pain that very much manifested itself in the present moment.  I told myself it was past and I had no reason to be hurting this greatly now.  I learned later that what I was experiencing was completely normal, and you don't just overcome trauma in a few months time.

Believe it or not, that phase of grief passed as well, and little by little I started to feel like myself again.  I suppose that brings us to the here and now.  It's been one year, and I feel like a completely different person.  It's funny how pain increases your capacity to feel both the good and the bad... 

I am now driven to tears so much easier than I used to be. 
When others express their pain to me, I quite literally can feel their pain. 
Fear is a constant companion of mine. 
The thought of opening my heart up to someone again makes me feel sick and panicky.
I almost always feel suspicious of the people around me that I don't know. 
The walls around my heart are stronger than ever and it's going to take a miracle to break them down.
I don't trust people.  I just don't.

The problem with walls is that the resolve to have such a strong defense is lonely and isolating.  But it's so much easier to resolve to never love again because if I stay on my own, I don't have to fear the cost of betrayal, or the cost of a broken heart.  Such dilemmas as this are not things that I will even pretend to have figured out, because I have not.  But... I do know that with the negative impact there have also been blessings...

I have discovered my strong will and determination to stand for what's right. 
I now found the courage to speak my mind and the temperance to hold my tongue when necessary.
I have a new sense of resilience that rests in my heart at all times.
I have recognized that after such a deep wound to the heart comes the greater capacity to love those around me.
I have also identified the need that everybody has for compassion and the great ability I have to offer that love and compassion to those in my life who are going through difficult things.
I have gained a greater faith and hope in God's plan for me and for His eternal perspective of my life's purpose.
My trust in people my be slim to none, but my trust in God has increased ten fold and continues to sustain me through the pains that I still sometimes suffer from.

Betrayal trauma is real.  It's long term effects are real.  And the pain it causes is real.  As a victim of betrayal trauma, you have every right to feel your pain at it's true capacity.  And then once you've recognized the true capacity of that pain, it gives you the power to be able to shed it and then create something beautiful out of it.

​It’s been one year.  One long year where I’ve had the opportunity to experience a cleansing process that has left me feeling like I’ve shed my old skin…  And the funny thing is that at times I still feel like I’m trying to get used to my new skin.  The new me.  The me that was born out of indescribable and insurmountable levels of pain that I never thought I’d experience.   It’s been one year since my entire world came crashing down within seconds, and my whole life changed.  

I still remember that night as if it were yesterday.  I was sitting on the couch with my fiancé, and everything seemed blissful.  I was to be married in a week, and I loved this man very much.  We had spent four years building a friendship, and almost a year cultivating a relationship of love that is patient and kind.  A relationship that I thought to be above any other relationship I’d ever find.  My life seemed like pure bliss, but even so, I felt a distant sting and fragility in the air that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, so I stubbornly pushed it in the back of my mind and tuned my thoughts to visions of wedded bliss.

I expressed to my fiancé the thoughts and concerns that seemed to buzz through my mind, but he assured me that all was well and that all would continue to be well.  I believed him.  I trusted him.  And I resolved in my mind that I was just being paranoid with my own worries that were irrelevant and irrational.  
I resolved to keep busy, concluding that my worries would subside.  I suggested we go and run an errand for the long-anticipated wedding we’d been planning for the past six months.  And for whatever reason, I stood up and reached for his phone instead of mine to inquire as to when a particular store would be closed. 

That’s when I found it.

Three words on his search bar that changed my entire visage.  Three words that concluded that he’d been searching for pornography possibly just hours ago.  My entire demeanor must have changed in the brief second when I read those words because he inquired of me what was wrong.  I asked why those words were typed into his search bar, and I looked at him with pleading eyes hoping that there was some logical explanation.

Somewhere within the course of those events, I exited out of that window on his phone, only to find multiple windows open of sick and twisted ideas of what women supposedly look like.  I felt sick to my stomach.

He did a great job.
He put on a show.

He reassured me that his brother had a problem, so the only obvious answer was that his brother got a hold of his phone and it wasn’t him.

The coldest thing I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life is the lying eyes of the man I love gazing deep into the windows of my soul as multiple lies rolled from his lips.  He knew it was all a lie, but for some reason, he could look at the woman that he claimed to love so dearly straight in her eyes and lie straight to her face.  I never knew until that moment how unconsciously cold a single person could be.

We talked for hours… it felt like days… And somehow, he managed to semi convince me it wasn’t him.
I came home that night with a pit in my stomach.  Feeling like there was darkness all around me, and for some reason, it wouldn’t leave.

I’ll never forget when the truth finally came out.

I called him on the phone and asked for reassurance again.  I pleaded for the truth, but I didn’t believe it was him until it finally came out.

Those words still sting.  “It’s me… I have a problem.”

At first, I thought it was some sick joke.  It never occurred to me that pornography addiction would ever leak into my life or affect me in such a deep and excruciating way.  I’d never thought too much about that particular aspect of people’s lives until it glared at me in the face through dark and wicked eyes.  At first, I thought maybe I called the wrong number.  I thought there isn’t a way in the world this could be true.  I pleaded with God: “Please no… No. No. NO!  Please don’t do this to me!”

The phone fell out of my hands and hung up before I had a chance to say much more.  I wanted to scream.  I wanted to cry.  I wanted to kick and punch the wall.  But in that moment, I felt paralyzed. I had a sudden frightening sensation of someone grasping at my neck as if someone or something was attempting to suffocate me to my death.  

​It wasn’t long before I found myself sobbing and screaming uncontrollably.  Between sobs, my heart felt morbidly dysfunctional and stone cold.  Little did I know it would feel like that for a very long time.  I firmly called my wedding off as I sat across from the man I loved who suddenly seemed to be a stranger.  I spent the night restlessly in a panic with uncontrollable tremors from my head to my toes.  Everything felt dark and empty, and I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe the sun wasn’t going to come up in the morning this time.  Maybe I’d be swallowed up by this suffocating darkness for the rest of my life. 

The occurrence of events after that is irrelevant.  Looking back, everything seemed blurry and painful for days and weeks on end.  It was all over with him.  But the pain wasn’t.  And it wouldn’t be for a very long time.

The days passed in everyone else’s world, while my time seemed to have stopped.  Time for me was now measured by all of the different kinds of agony I was feeling.  It seemed to change so frequently.

At times I felt as though someone had taken a dagger and fiercely pierced it into my heart.  Over time it would then slowly be yanked out and then thrust back in again.

​I almost always felt on the verge of tears.  And no matter how hard I tried to keep them inside me, my tries were futile.

I couldn’t eat.
I couldn’t sleep.
Everything felt lonely.
Everything reminded me of him.
Everything made me feel overwhelmingly sick to my stomach.
I felt paralyzed.
I felt traumatized.
I felt worthless. 
And I felt incredibly afraid.
There were lots of times where I felt uncontrollably numb.

​I’ve scrolled through Facebook countless times and have seen all of my friend’s wedding announcements and happy wedding days.  When this whole journey began, I didn’t understand why the whole world seemed to be able to marry the first person they were engaged to.  And I didn’t understand why everyone else deserved love and happiness, but I didn’t.  I felt like I’d been robbed…  Robbed of my eternal marriage and cheated out of my eternal family.  And unfortunately, this feeling of being robbed was accompanied by emotional pain and suffering I never even knew existed. I didn’t even know that all of my extreme thoughts and feelings had a name.  But for some reason, once I found a name for it, I felt less alone.

Dr. Jill Manning, a marriage and family therapist and Certified Clinical Partner Therapist, defines trauma as “a deeply distressing or overwhelming experience that is commonly followed by emotional and physical shock. If left unresolved or untreated, traumatic experiences can lead to short and long-term challenges.”  Dr. Manning then goes on to state that “betrayal trauma occurs when someone we depend on for survival or are significantly attached to, violates our trust in a critical way.”

Considering the fact that there’s a clinical name for it, I don’t believe that betrayal trauma is a rare condition.  Nor do I believe that the number of people that are affected by it are small in number.  Unfortunately the world we live in is filled with evil influences, traps, and snares that lead people to make poor choices, and therefore hurt the people that they are supposed to be loving the most.  I suppose that’s why it’s so important that we cling to a loving and merciful Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ who is always the way back to hope and healing, no matter how far you’ve strayed, or whether you are the victim or the perpetrator in any given situation.

​For my particular situation, I was the victim.  And in such cases as mine, I had to reach the point where I stopped seeing myself as a victim, and saw myself as a woman of God with innate power and ability to experience healing and wholeness once again, which is exactly what I intended on doing…

Dear Future Husband,

You're probably comfortably settled in your bed right now, laying on your back with your hands tucked up behind your head.  And you're probably staring at the ceiling, contemplating work, school, and other various complications of life.  You may or may not be asleep, but either way you're probably thinking or dreaming about your future.  And while your thoughts are dancing through your mind at this very moment, I'm thinking about you. 

I'm fantasizing the first time we meet, our first date, our first kiss, and every memory we'll make thereafter.  I'm questioning if I'll ever find you, or if you're simply a distant dream.  I’m lying in my cozy bed, wrapped in my comforting blankets, clutching a pillow close to me, wondering if you're thinking of me too

But future husband, where ever you are, and whoever you are, if you’re thinking of me, I bet you've never considered marrying a “sick girl.”  You'll never consider it until you meet me.  And when you meet me, I hope you'll be able to look beyond the disease and see the person that is so much more than the illness that her body houses.  Just know, chronic illness or not, I intend on being the best wife you could ever ask for, and I truly hope that your intentions toward me are the same.

You should know that it won't always be easy.  I suppose an undertaking as celestial as marriage is never easy, but I truly believe that marriage is what you make of it, and what you put into it is what you’ll get out of it.  I’ll put my whole heart and soul into our marriage.  And through it all, God will guide us, He will never leave us. But before we dive into matrimony, there are things you'll need to know.  Marriage with a sick person is no easy task, but I promise I'll make it worth your while, and I promise that through it all, I'll always love you.

Here are the things I want you to know:

1. You will not simply be my husband.  You will be my husband, my help-meet, my caretaker, my best friend, and the love of my life.  The love that I have for you will be eternal, whether I’m sick or not.
2. There will be days that I'm so sick, I can hardly get out of bed.  On those days, I need your love, and your compassion.  Please don't abandon me when I need you the most.
3. There will be days that I will need help doing simple tasks simply because my body aches with too much pain to accomplish things by myself.  I'll need help doing simple tasks such as washing my hair, getting out of bed, and walking.  I'll need your help.  And as you help me, you will learn a lot.  You’ll learn a lot about yourself, a lot about me, a lot about service, and a lot about love.  You will help me, and I will help you.  That’s how I intend for our marriage to work.  We will always help each other, no matter how large the task may seem.
4. There will be days when I'm in so much pain, I’ll scream in agony.  Those screams will haunt you.  Those screams are something you will never un-hear, but they will strengthen you and help you to become the man that God intends for you to be.
5. There will be days that you want to give up and the discouragement will be overwhelming.  Never give up.  I need your strength.  I will be strong for you.  I will always keep fighting for you.  Please do the same for me.
6. There will be days when you feel like God has forgotten us.  I promise you, He has not.  He is always there, even if we can't feel it at the moment.  He is there, and He loves us unconditionally.  Never forget that.  Never give up on what you know to be true.  Rely on the Savior harder than you ever have before and He will lighten our burden.  I know He will, without a doubt. Always remember that, and overwhelming peace and joy will enter into our lives even through our darkest times
7. Always pray.  Pray personally, and pray with me.  Pray for me, and I will pray for you.  When you no longer have the strength to stand, kneel and pray.  When you feel incredibly blessed, kneel and pray.  When you don’t know what to think or feel, kneel and pray.  Never stop praying, whether things are hard or not.  It will strengthen us and bring us closer to God.
8. Never stop feasting on God's word.  The scriptures hold the answers to our prayers.  Never forget that.  Study on your own.  Study with me.  Study with the intent to be filled with the Spirit every time you read.
9. Never lose faith.  There will be days when I need your faith, and days where you need mine.  We'll rely on each other.  Suffering is never easy, but if we keep our faith in God, His plan for us, and His love for us, we can overcome anything and life will always have its joy and beauty. 
10. Life is hard, but with God anything is possible and we will be able to overcome all of our sorrows and afflictions.  We’ll rely on each other, and on God for strength and nothing will ever be too difficult for us to overcome.  

I love you my sweet future husband, wherever you are.  One day God will cross your path with mine, and our beautiful love story will begin.  I can’t wait for that day.  Prepare yourself.  You might be surprised to find that I’m your future wife, but I’ll always be the best I can be for you.  Stay true to who you are and always have righteous desires and our paths will cross very soon.  I will always strive to be the best friend, wife, and mother that I can be, even if I’m sick.  I know that God has greater plans for me than this illness.  I know He has greater plans for us.  Together we can get through anything as long as we trust God in everything.

Your Loving Future Wife​