Calling

People spend the majority of their lives trying to figure out what their "calling" in life is. They believe it needs to be some major thing in the world like finding the cure for cancer. Don't get me wrong - I would love to find the cure for cancer but God did not grant me with prize winning medical capabilities. So, I started to think about it: what is it that I am called to do in this life? Why can't I find my place in this world? What is this larger than life thing that I am supposed to do with my life.

Ironically it has been in front of me the whole time and I had to laugh out loud. I realized that most of us in this world are not meant to find that miracle cure but rather to add to the quality of other's lives in the best way we can - with the gifts that God has given us. We spend so much time trying to make life out to what we want it to be and crying when things don't turn out the way we want them. Ironically, we never look at what we have and how we can use it to better the world around us.

God has granted me with the gift of gab (for those that know me in real life, this is not far fetched at all! *smile*) and the gifts of creativity and logic. These gifts have helped me get through my life as a child and continue to live even though I wanted to commit suicide each and every day during my teenage years. It helped me realize that even though I didn't know how, I did know that life was more than what I was living at that time and that I was more than I was allowed to be at that time. It allowed me to escape into a world of art and yet kept me grounded so that I would complete not only a Bachelor's degree but a Master's degree as well. And, more importantly, it is what kept Greg alive when he was at his sickest - my mouth was his voice when he could not speak, my logic was what argued with the doctors when they told me he would not live and made plans for him to live rather than to die, and it was my creativity that has found ways around the disease and illness and kept me humorous even through the roughest of times - so that we could continue to have a strong marriage and faith in God.

No, my calling isn't over with just because my husband is now healthy; having survived a terminal illness and double lung transplant. My "fruits" have been put to the next levels of need - others going through such trials and tribulations. I am a team leader every year for the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Great Strides Walk, I have an online Organ Donation & Transplant Awareness store (http://www.cafepress.com/donorawareness) in order to raise awareness of this great need and I am a pillar of hope for others that are going through what I have been through. My gifts have added to the quality of lives that I have never even seen. Strangers are living better lives because of my husband's medical trials that I have helped him live through. Strangers are wearing and displaying my organ donation products and raising awareness - who knows how many people have become organ donors because of 1 t-shirt someone has worn out of the hundreds that I have sold. Strangers are smiling and knowing they are not alone, because I share my experiences and knowledge with them. This is why I am here - those that say that they cannot make a difference in the world because they are just one person need to take a good look in the mirror and realize how wrong they are. I am just one person and my blood has saved lives, my tears have let others know they are not alone, and my willingness to give of myself has had a significant impact on this world. So, 1 person can make a huge difference in this world - even if they never know that person by name.