I felt like when I went through my cancer I didn't understand why I had to walk through it. But that's not the first time this has happened—when someone was adamant about it and the reason I could reach them is because I had done it myself. I realize, looking back, the Lord allowed me to have that testimony because he knew the plans and the people I would meet and how my walking that journey would have an impact on how I could help them. It just seems like it comes full circle.

I have fallen many times—both literally and figuratively. I have cried and felt sorry for myself and angrily wondered why this happened to me. But luckily, I never stayed down long enough to hinder my continual journey forward, even if it sometimes feels like I’m clumsily stumbling in the dark.

I’m convinced that some women, like Corrie ten Boom, suffer horrific fates, carried only by their faith in God, so that people, years later, can continue to be inspired by them. Corrie’s story teaches us that if we open our hearts and eyes to the miracles taking place in our own lives, we’ll find not only are they there at every turn, but perhaps they are also evidence that God has a greater plan for us all.

I feel William is a gift from God, his life is a living miracle, and God’s blessings come as we try to “walk in His ways” (Psalms 128:1). Although life continues to throw curve balls of instability and sickness, I’ve learned that God is good and involved in the details of our lives.

Caring for Annie has bonded our family together in a way we weren’t before. So many of my fears from my pregnancy are now the things I love most about our lives. I worried before that we would have this baby forever; now I feel so lucky that as we get older, we’ll always have Annie.

I often wonder about the doors God opens for us. Did you ever stop to think that perhaps God opens doors for us not only in spite of our limitations or trials but also precisely because of them? Harriet Tubman was the perfect example of this. Her head injury could have destroyed her life....Instead, her injury set her on a path of renewed faith in God and a push from Him to work tirelessly to aid others. 

Believing in the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and knowing that he has felt everything that I have felt,  and that he has suffered everything that I have suffered, helps me I know that I don’t have to carry the weight of everything alone. I can give him my burden to carry. This knowledge has helped me more than I probably even realize. But that is what has allowed me to heal and to move forward in life.

I had decided almost from the get-go that I would do whatever it took to survive, because I had something they couldn’t take away from me—I had my family’s love. And that was worth surviving for. Because maybe nobody else would ever like me or want to have anything to do with me, but my family would still be my family and they would love me and that was not only enough to survive for but it was worth surviving for.