Life: An Acquired Taste

Thanksgiving has always been a time of reflection for me. This year, I realized how much I have to be thankful for. It's been a year since my last knee surgery and everything has been successful so far. I have taken time over the last several days and today to look back on those long days and months after the surgery. I truly don’t know how I made it through. I have never experienced such pain or such love as I did throughout this process. God has a way of teaching us things that we don't necessarily want to learn. I did not enjoy it and I hope to never go through something like this again; however, because of His love and mercy, I am able to sit here and say I am truly thankful for this list of things He taught me over the last year. God’s grace is sufficient I am not in control I am not alone Even the expected can be unexpected You never do run out of tears, believe me, I know I do not have an “end of the rope” There is always a little bit of strength left Doctors...

I honestly sat down to write about my 2017. As I sat contemplating it, I scrolled through social media and read everyone’s thoughts on their year. One thought gave me reason to rethink adding my thoughts into the puddle of social media. Why was I going to do it? What was my motivation? To compare how seemingly rough my year was to others’. Instead of giving you a straight overview of my year, I’m going to share a struggle that I think we all face. Comparison runs rampant during this time and age. Laptops, Ipads, smart phones, and smart watches give us access to the internet, social media, online shopping, fitness gurus, and so much more. All of it is as close as our fingertips. There are a million different ways to filter and photoshop a picture. We re-write a caption over and over until it is witty and funny, but doesn’t sound like we are trying too hard. Nothing gets posted until it has been polished to perfection. Why? Because we want to put up a front of how we want others ...

I sat down to write a post about the health struggle I’ve been dealing with for the past four months. However, something else has been on my mind. It’s these phrases. “Man of Sorrows, what a name.” “Hallelujah! What a Savior!” On Good Friday, my Bible app gave me the verse for the day. I was running late as I packed to go home for Easter, picked up new heart meds, and left for work. But something caught my eye. The verse was from Isaiah 53 and I knew that was a good Easter chapter. I’m not going to lie; I thought that maybe reading through the chapter as I ran out the door would put in the right mood for Easter. Little did I realize just how much it would give me to think on.  I didn’t even finish the chapter that morning. I got stuck on verse 3, which has a phrase that goes like this, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief…” I must have read that part ten times. What does it even mean? It kind of hit me like a load of bricks. Jesus, fully man/fully God, heir to an eterna...

First of all, admit it. When you saw that I had updated my blog, you had to stop and think. Does Rachel even have a blog? You had forgotten or better yet, didn’t even know about it. Truthfully, I even forget about it, which is probably rather obvious, since I never update it. However, I’ve been mulling over something for a while and I wanted to share it. Progress What do you think of when you hear it? Progress. Do you think improvement? Moving toward something? Advancement? Most people see it as a large step moving forward toward a goal. What many do not realize is that progress is not always large and moving forward. Sometimes it is taking three steps back, so you can move five more ahead. Sometimes it is saying no to a relationship because it’s hindering God’s work in your life. Sometimes it is taking a job you aren’t thrilled about and using it as a stepping stone for your career. As a chef, progress sometimes means failing over and over, so you can find a new way to suc...

Summer: Part 2 is coming, but I'm taking a break to talk about one of my role models.      Marcus Lattimore was an incredible running back for the University of South Carolina. He tore his left ACL and MCL in October 2011, his sophomore year. Less than a year later, he had comeback from his injuries and was even better than before. Once again, injury hit. Barely a year after injuring his left knee, Marcus was hit during a game against the University of Tennessee, tearing three of the four ligaments in his right knee. He had surgery and declared for the NFL draft that December. The San Francisco 49ers drafted him, and he has been working and rehabbing to get back to the point of playing. However, today Marcus Lattimore announced his retirementfrom the NFL . He never played a game.      No two injuries are alike. No two rehab stories are alike. No two people are alike. Human emotions, however, are alike. Watching the video of his injury still...

     It was supposed to be rather tame. The only thing on the calendar was the knee surgery that was supposed to once and for all fix my knee. Little did we know that Summer 2014 would turn out to be the busiest and most trying summer in our family’s life.      God’s plans are definitely not ours. This became extremely obvious when we found out my younger sister was pregnant and the baby was due the beginning of August. Three months later, my older sister got engaged and they set the date for the end of July. During all the planning, I was set to move to Columbia to attend USC mid-August. If reading this made you kind of tired, just imagine living it.      It began simply enough. At the end of May, I packed everything from three years in Greenville and moved back to Rock Hill to get ready for surgery. June 5, the afternoon before my surgery was scheduled, we got a phone call from the doctor. My insurance company would not approve o...