I just wanted to write this down to help me remember it. And hopefully sharing it with you will open someones eyes like it did mine.
Awhile ago, I posted about our family friend, Paul Cardall who is an amazing pianist... and an amazing person. Paul was born with a heart condition and has been having heart surgeries for most of the 36 years of his life. August of 2008 he was put on the wait list for a new heart because the surgeries just weren't cutting it. Do the math... that was over a year ago. Well, my mom called me on Wednesday night to tell me that Paul had received a heart that morning! I was SO excited for him. He is such a wonderful father, husband and human being. He is SO close to our Heavenly Father and loves the gospel. I just can't express how amazing he is.
So last night, I got online to read his blog and I was so overwhelmed by how strong and positive Paul has remained through this journey. He looks at his heart defect as a blessing. He says "I've been blessed my whole life to have this heart defect. I am far from perfect and needed this in my life to teach me things I could have never learned without it".
I have been a little down in the dumps lately and as I was reading Paul's previous posts, I became overwhelmed and ANGRY with myself for letting the little trivial things in my life get me down. This man has been dealing with CHD for 36 years and I've never met anyone so positive! The more I looked at his blog, the more I realized how ridiculous I was for feeling sorry for myself. He keeps in contact with SO many cardiac kids who have to struggle with SO MUCH at such a young age. It breaks your heart to read these blogs about these kids hooked up to a million tubes and how their parents are so excited when they can finally eat without a feeding tube at age 3. If Paul can be this upbeat while waiting so long for a heart, I defiantly can be happy even though I don't have the perfect marriage, or the cleanest house, or the most friends.
So I dried my tears and decided that I am DONE with these little things that have been bringing me down lately. Thanks Paul, for helping me get a better outlook on life!
You can learn more about Paul and CHD here.
Paul's cute family: Lynnette, Paul and Eden
4 comments:
Thanks for the post! Just what I needed myself.
Thanks, it seems I need to be reminded of this often. There is always someone who is struggling with something more difficult than me.
Paul sounds like such an amazing person! For him to stay positive with everything he has been through, is amazing! We can all learn from him!
I LOVED this post of yours. In fact I did the same thing, my mom called and told me that he had finally received a heart and I was so happy for them. I too read his blog, and felt ridiculous for complaining about my life just that morning. It really makes you stop and think about what is important. It was a good slap in the face for me to wake up. You're so cute, I'm glad that I wasn't the only one. We'll help each other stay positive! ;-)
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