Chen Chronicles

I was inspired to write this because of our church's MOPS chapter.  This month's theme was "Courage to Tell Your Story," and falls under this year's theme, "Be You, Bravely."  Thank you for inspiring me to share this testimony.  I did not see God’s purpose in all the suffering until over a decade later, in the cold, dark abyss of Eastern Russia.   Twelve years ago, I was a tiny, energetic, beautiful 22-year old with stars in my eyes.   I was an on-air personality for a national radio conglomerate and was going to be the NEXT Katie Couric.   I had the world by a string….until one fateful day when a host of medical problems stopped me in my tracks.   Three kidney stones, a horribly traumatic infection and a blood clot left me a miniscule of my former self. I was broken. What I did not know then is that God had greater plans for my life than even I could envision. In the book of Jeremiah, it is written,"For I know the plans I have for ...

A very wise woman recently compared the brain to a computer hard drive. She said when it's full, it is very much like that of a person who worries and internalizes everything . I am that person. That realization is shocking.  I suppose you could say I have just experienced the ethereal "blue screen of death," we all hate.  Sometimes the awareness that this has happened is all we need to fix the problem. Sometimes, it isn't just as simple as black and white.  The simplicity in this idea cannot be understated, but sometimes I have to be slapped upside the head with something to conceptualize and apply the principle(s) to life.  Admittedly, I have lain awake many nights with so much on my mind that I could not sleep. A friend once told me that anxiety isn't a sign of  weakness   as a Christian, but a symbol of our own deep-rooted insecurities. Those are hard to change , but it doesn't mean I shouldn't strive to change them. Now, this isn't to sa...

My mother-in-law's favorite saying which is plastered all over her walls is: Live, Laugh, Love. A friend of mine (who I will not name) struggles with some health issues seemingly similar to my own, but she prefers not to "give them power by speaking about them." That is a hard practice to implement. Think--I can't be anxious as I wait to find out WHAT is plaguing my 33-year-old body. I have signs of an autoimmune disease and this takes a LONG time to figure out--sometimes years. I have a sarcastic humor and it feels like I am living out an episode of Mystery Diagnosis. For the last 10 years, I have struggled with times when I feel worried about how I feel, but I do not want to become SO focused over the next few months and forget others and my family until they figure out this enigmatic event. Things that don't seemingly fit together completely are related. My brain tells me to breathe, sleep, eat, etc. so it's all concomitant. I write for therapeuti...