Hey there. *waves* Yes, it’s me, the one who apparently fell off the planet for a month or two. That’s now the second time I’ve done that on this blog. I can’t promise it’s the last. See, the thing about writing about chronic illness is that that means I have a chronic illness. And writing when you have a chronic illness sometimes means that you tend to fall off the planet for a while. It happens. Life happens. Flus make other symptoms worse and crash progress…

But I’m back. Well, sort of. For now.

I don’t think I can quite write yet (please just keep that in mind the next few weeks and cut me some slack 😉 ). But the good news is that I anticipated falling off the planet eventually, so I do have quite a few posts that I wrote a few months ago for just a time as this to hopefully tide us over until the writing ability returns. I’m sure you can relate.

I also have had several wonderful friends offer to do some guest posts for y’all to help with that. (Everyone give them magical virtual cookies, please!)

I’ve also been frequently asked about my book, He’s Making Diamonds. How’s it going? Is there a release date? When will you need beta readers?

First of all, I’m honored to have y’all asking these questions. It makes me feel so loved and so excited to be finally able to share the book with you eventually. I’m humbled and in awe of what God is doing.

However, as you may have guessed, my brain and body’s sudden dive this past month or two did hamper that. I had big plans. I had intended to give it some pretty intense and heavy editing in January, optimistically hoping to get it to beta readers by February sometime…. but that just didn’t happen. Like everything else, it got put on pause and came to a standstill.

However, I know that God knows what He is doing. My plans went completely through the drains, but His plans are perfect. And for our good.

At first, I was frustrated by this sudden dive in health. What was God doing? Hadn’t I already been there, done that, learned my lesson? What was He doing dragging me back through the frustration and struggles of zero activity? Couldn’t I be much more helpful and useful functioning just slightly better? Couldn’t I serve Him better?

Woe to those who do not trust their Maker. I still don’t fully understand why He chose to push my life and writing back another two months seemingly. But I do know that it was foolish of me not to trust. That He is perfectly capable of orchestrating everything without my help. He also has taught me important things these last two months.

In fact, in addition to the pages of journal notes, on the wall directly to my left from – where I sit typing this in bed – there are quite a few notes for additions to my book that I might likely have missed had I plunged ahead with the editing. I strongly suspect my emotions and mind needed to take a step back from the book, that I needed to be renewed spiritually.

So let me stop rambling and get to the point: maybe you are frustrated by your illness, life feels put on hold, or your plans went down the drain. Trust God! He has everything under control. His grace is sufficient for you and for me.

He loves us.

Also. Another lesson on trust: Another thing that happened in my life while I was away from writing was that our insurance company stopped paying for my full treatment. Uh oh. Not good.

But it’s been amazing to watch God provide for us, bringing the body of believers around us. My parents started a Go Fund Me to raise the funds for treatments… and even strangers have given so much. I’m in awe of watching God work. He takes care of His beloved children.

Also, to support the Go Fund Me, my brother, Silas, a young filmmaker, created a short video to try and depict my journey. If you want to watch that, you can go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sklGt5HgK1k&t=26s

And… it’s very possible I’m wrong, but I think I covered all the bases for now. 😉 I’m updating Twitter and Instagram more often, if you want to head there.

I hope everyone has been doing okay! Is there any way I can be praying for you? Please don’t hesitate to comment or share through the contact page.

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P.S. Here’s the first thing I forgot: EXCITING NEWS! I’ll soon be changing this blog to an actual site! Keep your eyes peeled for more information about that soonish. 🙂

P.P.S. *remembers two more things* Oh! Also:
1. I did my first interview on a blog! You can look at it here, at my good friend Ainsley’s blog. 🙂
2. Also, another good friend of mine, Esther, recently launched her blog, so go check that out too. 🙂 You may remember her from her guest post on this blog.