Lyme Will Not Crush Me

There's a special kind of heartbreak that comes from having to say goodbye to people that I have come to know and love.  It's the kind of heartbreak that accompanies the sense of failure and defeat that festers inside my heart as I turn the page of the story of life and move forward into a new chapter.  I recently experienced all these feelings as I drove out of my college town and back to my home town where I can heal from the afflictions that have been burdening my body and soul since I began my journey into the college world, and inattentively before that.

I never asked for this.  I never asked for Lyme disease.  I never asked for long painful nights, decreasing grade percentages, extreme exhaustion, and my loss of ability to think straight or focus.  I never asked to leave all the people that I came close to.  I never wanted to be a quitter.  I'm only a freshman in college and I've already failed at surviving my first semester.  My hair is thinning out, my skin is breaking out, my muscles ache, my brain is exhausted, my heart is breaking, I feel like my body is literally deteriorating beneath my skin, and my emotions are screaming for help inside me.  There's something extremely devastating about having to put all of my dreams on hold for an illness.  It's days like today where I wish I could just crawl into my cozy bed and disappear from this cruel sick world.

These particular thoughts cross my mind almost everyday. I am determined to fight long and hard until they are cleansed from my heart and mind just as the bacteria that is eating away at me will be cleansed from my body.  I'm not a failure.  I'm not a quitter.  There are much worse things than Lyme disease in this world.  I truly believe, even on my worst days, that this disease is a blessing in disguise even if I don't quite understand why or how.  Right now I'm discouraged and scared.  My treatment is about to be increased and with that comes increased herxheimer reactions, which means increased fatigue, pain, anxiety, and depression.  I'm not excited for the incredible journey ahead of me, but I'm ready to fight long and hard.  Lyme disease will not crush me.  I refuse to let it crush me.  

I find great comfort in knowing that God is with me through this journey, just as He is with everyone in the world that is currently suffering from the recent horrific current events that have taken place over the past week or so.  My faith is strong, my hope is never unending, my prayers are always continuing.  God hears and knows our cries and He can and will give us peace.  I hope that through each of our individual trials and afflictions we can all remember Him in these increasingly hard times.  Peace will come.  Rest is just around the corner.  God bless.  

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." -Matthew 11:28-30