The rest of the story...

So, I gave the reader's digest condensed version of why I started this blog, but here is the rest of the story. I went to northern Virginia near D.C. with some friend in May this summer. It was an awesome trip. Eleven of us stayed in one of our friend's family's cabins on the Potomac. We had canoed on the Potomac, spent a day in D.C., and just hung out. It was the last day at the cabin. I had slept in, but I still felt tired. I sat on the couch and ended up laying on the couch. I felt this wave of tiredness come over me and fell asleep instantly. When I woke up I was in a state that is hard for people to understand. Something like it had happened before in high school. I was literally conscious and could hear everything going on but could not respond at all. I couldn't move, couldn't open my eyes, couldn't make a sound-nothing. I lay there for about 2 and 1/2 or three hours before my friends really figured out something was wrong. Now I know that this sounds terrible, but in that state the only control I had was over my reaction to it. So, I just hung out and prayed that someone would notice that something was wrong. My friends tried to wake me up with no success. If anyone ever wonders how someone could believe in God I have an answer. Even in this horrible circumstance he was kind and merciful. One of my friends there was a graduated licensed nurse. How awesome is that. As my friend checked on me another friend called her dad-a pediatrician. Another evidence of grace in a trying time. When they were finally able to get my eyes open everyone started calming down. I still could barely move and couldn't make a sound, much less talk. The ride to the emergency room was exciting. I was between my nurse friend and another friend in the back seat with a driver and direction finder in the front. We found directions at the first gas station and had a safe quick trip. My nurse friend talked me through everything and got me where I could talk by the time we got to the hospital. I still couldn't walk on my own though. I had a CT scan, bloodwork, and all that. Everything was normal. We travelled back the next day even though we had been at the emergency room until 3 or 4 in the morning. My parents picked me up and I went home. It took 2 or 3 weeks to recover fully from my episode. I had another episode about a month later after seeing a neurologist. I have had test after test. The neurologist thinks that I have a form of narcolepsy, a sleeping disorder. I do not as yet have a definite diagnosis though. I am on mild medication for narcolepsy as a sort of test. The medicine worked well for about two and a half weeks, but it is starting to waver. You might wonder how in all this happening I can say thanks to the Lord. This is why. Lamentations 3: 19-24 "Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My sould continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope; The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.'" This life will be full of trials. 1 Peter 1:6-7 says, "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." This is how I can see grace in the midst of the trial. I know that a God who would sacrifice his son, his righteous, holy son, will not place me in a trial unless he has plans to use it in my sanctification, my becoming more like Christ.