Moments of Wonderful

…rather than a lifetime of nothing special. A blog about diabetes and other moments.

...rather than a lifetime of nothing special. A blog about diabetes and other moments.

Category Archives: Christian

Faith Friday: Whatever you do

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. ~ Colossians 3:23-24

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. ~Romans 12:4-8

There is a place for all of us in the diabetes community. We all have a unique contributions and gifts that allow us to do something better than anyone else.

Unless you’re the “part of the body” that is the pancreas. You should probably find something else to do.

He’s not here!

It’s hard to celebrate holidays so far away from my family. Thankfully I have always been known to have my camera and video camera running so I have some precious memories of past year’s events.

I posted this video last Easter, but it is just too perfect not to share again.

Happy Easter!
He’s not here!

85 percent mortality rate in the first year

Imagine if eighty five percent of people diagnosed with diabetes in the US did not live past the first year.

If you lived as little as 710 miles away from where you live now, that could be a reality for you and your loved ones. 710 miles is the difference between living or dying with diabetes. 710 miles is the distance from Miami to Port au Prince.

I traveled to Haiti for the first time six weeks after the earthquake in 2010. At the clinic that I visited, this was the collection of diabetes supplies for their patients.

diabetes evidence

Do you see the vial of insulin and the canister of test strips in the lower left corner of the picture. That’s it.

When I returned in 2011, I asked if the clinic had ever seen anyone with Type 1 diabetes. They had not. There is a simple and devastating reason why – they are not living long enough.

During the Medtronic Diabetes Advocates Forum, Dr. Francine Kaufman described the recent advocacy work that she had completed in Haiti.

It blew my mind to hear someone who has combined two of my greatest passions – diabetes advocacy and improving lives in Haiti.

I know this video is long. Please watch it anyway.

As Dr. Kaufman states, Life for a Child is keeping children with diabetes alive around the world.

If you just read the sentence above, you can’t ever say you didn’t know. You can’t say that you didn’t know that people around the world are dying because of lack of access to the basic tools of diabetes management – insulin and test strips.

The question is – what are WE going to do about it?

simple_img_6 Clicking the Life for a Child icon will take you to their donation page.

I posted this on Faith Friday because my faith motivates my advocacy efforts. What motivates your advocacy?

Medtronic Diabetes Advocates Forum Disclosure: Medtronic paid for transportation, meals and my hotel room during the forum. Any activities outside of the forum (such as taking my friends to the Santa Monica Pier) were my expense alone. I was not paid to attend or write about the forum.

You can read more about my disclosure policy here.

Faith Friday: Patience

I’m not sure about the first time I heard it, but I think the phrase is some sort of Christian slang.

“Don’t pray for more patience because God will give you an opportunity to learn it.”

I’m pretty sure God doesn’t actually work that way, but due to recent events I am willing to reconsider my stance.

My insurance “recently” (I guess it happened in September but I didn’t have to deal with it until February) added CareCentrix to “provide health care plans and providers with a one-stop solution that coordinates all of a patient’s home health care needs including skilled nursing services, home infusion therapies and durable medical equipment.”

Their website talks about improved patient care and significant cost savings but so far all I’ve experienced is poor customer service and delay after delay. When I first heard about this addition, I headed to google. Not surprisingly, one of the first results was a several page thread of complaints about them on tudiabetes. What else can you expect from a company whose sole purpose is to act as a middleman?

I am still feeling ambivalent about my decision but I am in the middle of a pump company switch. Bennet basically outlined the reasons behind my decision in his post on Thursday. Unfortunately, after several unnecessary delays now my purchase is stuck in a delay of undetermined length.

Remember when “we” all laughed off the Animas warning about the time and date settings? I finally got insurance approval today to order my pump and I can’t. Animas has suspended pump sales until they can solve the leap year problem. Really? I promise to keep an extra eye on my pump in 2016!! My benefits year ends March 31st so let’s pray this is only a brief delay.

“The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
and patience is better than pride.
Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools.”
~ Ecclesiastes 7:8-9

We pray

Please, please pray for my friends the Schuhmacher family this weekend. Clicking on the picture above will take you to the Facebook group to keep updated on ways to love and support the family. On Sunday, we are storming the gates of heaven with prayer and fasting for Ryan, Meri, and her sweet boys. Please join us. They are fighting a tough battle and we are eagerly awaiting our miracle.

I love and hate this song. I love reading and listening to the words because they are true. I hate them because they are true – and I wish they weren’t.

“Blessings” – Laura Story

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
And all the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel you near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if each promise from Your Word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win, we know
That pain reminds this hearts,
That this is not, this is not our home…..
It’s not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

What if my greatest disappointments,
Or the aching of this life,
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy.
What if trials of this life,
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise?

Tuesday

Thank you for all the birthday wishes yesterday. I had a great day and it was fun to see all the notifications rolling in.

The “party” started this weekend as some friends and I drove across the state for some chocolate and shopping. As someone said to me today when I described my plans – “road trips are fun no matter how old you are.”

I found out yesterday that two fabulous members of the diabetes community were in the area so I figured there is no better way to celebrate my birthday than dinner with friends. Ginger and I go wayyy back but this was the first time meeting Mike. He is just as funny (and nice) and he seems online (no lie! *blog title pun*). I’m excited to add another asterisk to the blogroll on the right (the asterisk means I’ve met the person IRL – love a good meet-up!)

We may have gotten lost 300 times but we managed to have a ton of fun in the meantime. Thanks for making my birthday feel special guys!

Also, I feel like the gifts I received at work today are trying to tell me something, I just can’t figure out what.

Now that was yesterday, today is… Tuesday.

But seriously, a few weeks ago I was asked to write an opinion column for a student newspaper about being single on Valentine’s Day. I guess they feel like I’ve had a lot of practice. I opened the paper this morning to see if they printed what I wrote. When I turned to the page a friend commented, “hey, isn’t that one of your pictures from Haiti?” The pose looked very familiar.

Let’s just say the artist was inspired by the original picture when she drew her cartoon. As funny (and slightly inappropriate) as the comparison is, the edited version actually fits well with a joke I made in the article and I think it’s pretty funny (everyone was apparently worried I’d be mad). Here’s what I wrote in case you are single today too.

The day before Valentine’s Day is my birthday. The day after Valentine’s Day is February 15. By telling you that, I’m not trying to be the next Rebecca Black. My point is that Valentine’s Day is a day just like any other.

While most of you were trading cartoon-themed Valentine’s cards in elementary school, I was in my freshman year of college at a Christian university in southern California not unlike [current school name]. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to be when I “grew up,” and I certainly had no idea that I would still be spending my days on a college campus over 10 years later. I was sure that I had the same expectations as most girls at Christian colleges: I expected that I would meet someone special – a guy that loves Jesus just slightly more than he loves me. We would get engaged during our senior year and get married shortly after graduation. Ring by Spring, right?

Well, that obviously didn’t happen for me. If you consider the math, it isn’t going to happen for a lot of college students because there are not enough guys for every girl to get a ring. I graduated college, was a bridesmaid in a ton of weddings, finished graduate school, and moved across the country with my two cats. Insert crazy cat lady joke here.

If you are single this Valentine’s Day, consider the fact that most of your friends are single too. Have fun with it. Go get dinner together, rent a cheesy romantic comedy, go bowling, wander around [nearby shopping location], or do nothing at all. After all, it is just a day like any other.

More importantly, take some time to figure out who you are. Know what you like and don’t like. Know what God is calling you to do with your life. Figure out your mission and your purpose. Trust that if God has given you hopes and desires for your life, He will fulfill those desires as you follow him.

Don’t let an overly commercialized holiday mess with your emotions. If you want to spend the day focusing on love, focus on the friends and family in your life who you love and who love you in return.

P.S. If you are in a relationship this Valentine’s Day and you feel like posting a status about how “blessed” you are by God because of your amazing boyfriend, consider the fact that your single friends may also feel blessed by where they are in their lives too.

Happy Tuesday everyone!