Celebrating 60 years of life! | 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

*A God inspired writing...on the life of Diane K Hiltz Chamberlain, as she has journeyed many years with God...and is now celebrating 60 years of life today, along with 55 years of survival, from multiple surgeries...chronic pain...abuse...a dysfunctional home life...
​and the loss of many things, including children. 

This  life that I have lived, for the past 60 years, has been a long, long journey. It started, when several thorns of affliction pierced my soul. There were paths that changed from sunshine, into dark and stormy moments...and the flowers that once brought beauty to my path of life, had now dried up, while huge mountains now stood before me...mountains that were tall and rugged. There were many times, when I can actually say; that I thought I'd never get through them. The storm clouds had also darkened my path...to the place, where God seemed very distant, within these foggy moments of circumstance; that now surrounded me.
Many times, I yelled out...with a desperate cry for help...hoping and praying that God would remove me from the path that seemed so endless; but His reply to me was this... "My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness." You know...it seemed that I was so caught up in my own idea, of how God could free me; that I had never stopped to really see that no matter what was taking place at the time; that He could sustain and keep me, until it was time for the storm to pass on. If only, I would have stopped to see that His strength was greater than my weaknesses; then just maybe, I would have found a new way to rejoice, rather than choosing to walk down a detour path of needless suffering.
Through it all...God never gave up on me and His compassion and mercies, were always so new, as He gave me chance after chance, to learn and take hold of what He longed for me to know...and even though the mountains were so steep...and there were many times, when I was tempted to sit in the midst of the path and quit; God's strength overrode these weaknesses and before I knew it, I was back to my feet...learning more and more new things along the way. In fact...the more I learned...the more I longed to journey with God; for our distant relationship, was now becoming a deep and personal relationship; that began to grow more and more with time.
Now I see this journey with Him, in a much different light; for now, I'm not only learning and growing along the way; but I'm finding that I'm experiencing the power of Christ...resting upon me.
I have lost many people in my life along this journey; but the greatest friend I could ever have; remains the best and truest friend; that I could ever have, which has brightened my path with new hope. 
To this day, I have now faced 21 knee operations...a rod in my right leg...chronic pain...counseling for sexual abuse and a dysfunctional home life...along with the loss of many things, including children; but now I take pleasure in knowing that these moments have led me, to the greatest friend I could ever have...for it was these weak moments in my life; that allowed me to experience the greatest strength...a strength that only comes from truly knowing Jesus Christ!