Sometimes you need to taste the bitter...

To know how sweet life is. I find that my life is so much better than I ever could have expected it to be because of the experiences I've had. As someone who was diagnosed with cancer as a child, I look back, and yes, I am grateful that it happened to me. Don't get me wrong, there are parts of it that still suck. I will never be someone who has thick hair that tumbles down my back. In recent years I have developed lymphedema in my right leg that in essence has taken away one of my true loves in life-shoes--and made it into a pain in my butt.

But I don't know I would have lived my life so passionately or done so much with my life if I hadn't had that challenge so early on. It made me so grateful for every experience I had and made me thank my lucky stars every time I would see something about another kid who had fought the battle against cancer just as hard and hadn't made it, or had lost a leg in the process.

Now that I'm married, I'm experiencing the same thing (on a much smaller scale). For the first year of our marriage, my husband was constantly working insane hours. When I really think about it, it's been that way for much longer than we've been married, but before that I was in college and could just arrange my life around him. It was really hard for us to never get to see each other as newlyweds.

But just a few days before our first wedding anniversary, my husband gave me the best gift ever when he got his new job and now our lives are completely changed. Corey is only working one night a week and the rest of the time he is working 8-5. Yes, he works on Saturdays, but for a former chef/general manager of a restaurant's widow, this schedule is truly a blessing from God. I thank God everyday that we get to spend so much time together and I find myself actually pinching myself (I'm not kidding) to make sure this is my life.

So once again, I went through the hard stuff, came out alive and unscathed, and I am now enjoying life with my husband more than I think I would have if we had just always had it this way. Sometimes when we are hanging out, I think to myself "Wow he is really (fill in the blank-Funny, Cute, Wonderful, Amazing, Likable, Handy, Sweet, Cuddly, etc)" and then I remember that I am married to him and again I am thanking my lucky stars. Oh yeah, that's why I married him. He is really funny and cute and wonderful and amazing and...I'm going to quit now so you guys don't throw up.

In my opinion, all of these experiences were orchestrated by God. Here is my favorite quote from the Bible, it is from the letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God". Ephesians 2:8

While I think this is probably referring to the awesomeness that is the chance to go to Heaven, I also think that you can take this and apply it to life in general. God gets us through a lot of really tough situations, and we are often blessed with the opportunity to come out of it a better, smarter and stronger person, who is more grateful than ever for all of the wonderful things God has brought into our lives.

Hope I didn't sound too preachy, I just wanted to share some of the wonderful things that God has done in my life.

Have a great day!

Elle Bunny