I’ve shared her handiwork here before –the story of the one I wear proudly. But what I haven’t shared with you is how amazing the artist behind it really is. How she radiates her Savior with amazing grace.
Friends, I’d like you to meet Janelle. And hear her worship song.
PLUS, she’s offered to give away one of her pieces of art! Details will follow.
Janelle, I’m honored to have you here. Please, sing your song:
The phone rang loudly, springing me from my restful sleep, the last restful sleep I’d get for years. My husband handed me the phone with a forlorn look on his face. This can’t be good, I thought to myself. I was right. It was the absolute worst news anybody could think of; my brother was on the run for a crime that would eventually land him in prison for life.
For. Life.
Worship always.
Several months after my brother’s crime, my mother attempted suicide. I was 6 months pregnant with my second son when my step-dad called with the news. Walking into ICU I could hardly catch my breath, she looked dead. Hooked up to all kinds of tubes and machines, she could have been dead for all I knew. The doctors gave us little hope. She beat the odds.
She survived.
Worship Always.
While pregnant with my third son, I became seriously ill. I ended up in the ER a few times, and knew in my spirit that whatever was affecting me would affect my growing baby, so I prayed… a lot. He was born apparently healthy. And my own health seemed to get a little better after giving birth. One year later my doctor’s last resort was the Mayo Clinic. She’d run all the tests she could. She sent me to all the specialists she could think of. Nothing was showing up.
I remembered the tick that had bitten me during my pregnancy and asked one simple question: can you please test me for Lyme disease? The test came back positive. An active infection had been inside my body for two long years before being diagnosed. I was in very poor health. Treatment would make symptoms even worse. I would be told by my doctor that I might recover completely, and I might not.
Chronic Lyme disease is very difficult to cure.
Worship Always.
One year after my diagnosis, my youngest son, whom I was pregnant with while unknowingly infected with Lyme disease, began to get sick. His personality changed and grew fatigued. I just knew it was Lyme disease. I got him tested and braced for the results. They came back positive for an active Lyme disease infection. My sweet son had been infected while growing inside my womb, where he should have been the safest; he was actually being attacked by bacteria.
It was a very hard day.
Worship Always.
The thing about life is you never get a free pass. You aren’t exempt from bad things happening in your life just because you’re a good person, or a Christian. Trials will happen but it’s how you handle them that will determine your healing. I choose to worship always. I choose to rejoice in the storm.
I choose joy.
These are some of my favorite phrases I stamp on my jewelry because they reflect the desire in my heart. I don’t always get it right. Some days I am lost in sorrow and despair but more often than not I rejoice in the storm, knowing God didn’t bring me to it, but He will bring me through it.
My brother and I are closer than ever. We talk nearly every day. We write each other often. I see him as much as I can. He’s taught me the true meaning of grace, of unmerited favor, of how to honestly love and honestly forgive and honestly see somebody for who they are and not what they have done. I love him like Jesus loves him.
My mother is a miracle. She had no lasting damage from the suicide attempt. She is alive and breathing when she should be dead. She was there to watch my son be born. And watching my step-dad’s faith for her miraculous healing inspired my own faith for healing when my son and I would end up sick years later.
Lyme disease has taught me that sickness and disease are evil. Their sole purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus is the life-giver and He gives in abundance. And because God works everything out for the good to those who love Him, I’ve been drawn closer to the heart of God, learned more about Jesus in these few short years than my entire 34 years of life, have been given my purpose in life. I’ve have prayed for countless others and seen their healings manifest, have been gifted amazing visions, and dreams from God, and have experienced my own level of healing and miracles that I rejoice about.
I believe that, even in the worst experiences in life, beauty can be found. Not that God sent the experience so you would experience the beauty in it, but that God can turn around what was meant for our harm, and give us beauty simply because He loves that much.
In all things rejoice, for we serve a mighty God who performs mighty miracles simply because of His mighty love for us.
Janelle writes about grace and healing. She writes about a good God reflected beautifully in the life of Christ.
She writes about a Savior who is also a Healer and shares her own journey to supernatural healing, offering encouragement to those who believe for their healing also.
You may follow her story here:
http://hestillheals.com/
http://www.facebook.com/astoryofgrace
www.etsy.com/shop/gracetags
~~~~~~~~~~
And now for the giveaway!
Janelle has offered to give away one of her original necklaces to one of you! Why don’t you hop on over to her etsy shop and pick one out. Then, share in comments which one is your favorite–if you can choose!
That’s all you need to do to be entered in the drawing!
For extra entries, you may do one or all of the following (each requires an additional comment to let us know you did it):
- Share this giveaway! You pick your media — just click one or all the icons following this post and let us know how you shared. Each share will count as an additional entry.
- Follow Janelle on Facebook HERE.
- Sign up for Janelle’s FREE NEWSLETTER HERE.
- If you follow Simplystriving via Twitter, Facebook, or email (on sidebar), share in a comment {and know I so appreciate you}.
Giveaway will close at midnight, Friday June 21st. Winner will be chosen shortly after, contacted, and will have 72 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.
I’m sorry to all my friends out-of-state, but this giveaway is only applicable to those in the U.S.A.
Didn’t win, or want more than one?
Janelle is offering all Simplystriving readers 35% off!
For a limited time.
Simply use code “striving35″ at checkout.
Seriously, friends, you won’t be sorry — I LOVE mine!
Thanks for sharing your time with us.
I hope you win…but more importantly, I pray you worship always.
Simply striving,
Nikki (and Janelle)














