Rachel Hyman was a fun-loving, happy, energetic child. The more active she was, the happier she was. She looked at the world as a place full of opportunities. There were people to meet, places to go, and goals to be reached.
At just seventeen years of age Rachel encountered something that would dramatically slow down her dreams. Rachel developed hypoglycemia, also known as low blood sugar. Soon Rachel wasn't able to go hiking or play soccer with her college buddies. Even though Rachel was naturally optimist she became depressed as she saw how this disease was crippling her.
For the first time in her life she couldn't concentrate and had to excuse herself from class to eat some dates. Even while socializing with her friends she would lose her train of thought. People wondered what happened to energetic, talkative Rachel who overnight became quiet and uninvolved. All of this was too much for Rachel to handle. Rachel would cry herself to sleep as she thought of all the things she was missing out on. Her active lifestyle was replaced with sitting quietly in her room with hardly any physical or mental strength.
The thought occurred to Rachel to turn her solitary time into spiritual sessions with God. Instead of complaining about all of the things she was missing out on, she developed a deeper relationship with God than she ever thought possible. After spending more quality time with God and seeing how her character had become more patient, loving, self-sacrificing, and meek, she began to see how God had used her crippling illness to change her for the better. She believes God's blessings sometimes come in unexpected and unusual ways. Rachel chooses to be thankful in spite of the illness and trusts that God knows best and will work all things together for good.
Originally from: Jewish Discoveries by Jeff Zaremsky, pages 150-151, which contains a total of 22 fascinating chapters of biblical history and lessons plus 25 rich Jewish tradition sections, and 27 powerful testimonies, with over 40 beautifully rendered professional works of art all on over 300 jam packed pages. You can own this treasure by visiting Jewish Discoveries.
