LATELY, I’VE THOUGHT A LOT ABOUT HOW MUCH MY LIFE HAS BEEN AFFECTED BY “INVENTIONS” & PEOPLE (1 was a man named Jack Rushton, who I admire cuz he helped me so much in the beginning, & was so pivotal in the attitude i have now! I wrote about him here: http://www.jenannlynn.org/files/way-out-way-through.pdf )

WHEN I HAD MY STROKE, I SAW MY LIFE PLANS SHATTERED…I CERTAINLY NEVER SAW MYSELF BEING FILMED BY MORMON MESSAGES, BEING IN 3 MAGAZINES, OR BEING IN A BRITSH MEDICAL JOURNAL, & THAT I’D STILL TEACH! 8.5 YRS AGO, IF I HAD BEEN TOLD THAT MY FUTURE HELD THOSE KINDS OF THINGS 4 ME, I WOULD’VE LAUGHED, & ASKED HOW THAT WAS POSSIBLE! ALL I WANTED WAS TO BE A MOM—I NEVER DREAMED I’D BE AS ACTIVE IN MY KIDS LIVES AS I AM, & ALL OF THOSE THINGS HAVE HELPED ME, AS WELL!

C.S. Lewis wrote, “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace.”

AS A STROKE SURVIVOR, I HAVE UNIQUE NEEDS. BUT THERE ARE NOT MANY BRAINSTEM STROKE SURVIVORS, & EVERY SURVIVOR IS DIFFERENT, SO THERE IS NOT A LOT OF DEMAND FOR THOSE NEEDS 2 BE TAKEN CARE OF. STILL, I OCCASIONALLY COME ACROSS A WONDERFUL “INVENTION” THAT SEEMS 2 BE BUILT JUST 4 ME! I KNOW IT’S NOT, & SERVES A PURPOSE 4 MANY OTHER PEOPLE AS WELL, BUT IN DIFFERENT WAYS, SO MAYBE ANOTHER FEATURE SEEMS MADE 4 SOMEONE ELSE! BUT THERE SEEMS 2 BE A PARTINCLUDED THAT WASN’T NECESSARY 4 MANY OTHER PEOPLE, BUT IT IS ESSENTIAL 4 ME…IT RE-AFFIRMS MY BELIEF THAT GOD KNOWS ME PERSONALLY, & HENOT ONLY HAS A PLAN FOR ME, BUT HAS HAD AN ACTIVE PART IN MY LIFE, SO THAT PLAN IS EXECUTED.

BUT SO THIS ISN’T THE WORLD’S LONGEST POST, I WILL WRITE SEVERAL POSTS ABOUT THESE “INVENTIONS” & PEOPLE, & HOW THEY’VE AFFECTED ME…