Did I mention...

"M'am, please put your cell phone in the bin."

"It's not a cell phone," I politely replied, getting ready to pat down  the device and explain it's function...life giving, not life threatening. My hands were swabbed and the test came back non-explosive. My nine month old daughter had to remove her sweater as well...but that topic is for another post.

 Did I mention that I have diabetes. Twelve years ago I was diagnosed with a disease that would change my life. It was on a warm summer afternoon in Novia Scotia and I thought that I had the flu. While the family toured the lovely town of Badeck I guzzled Gatorade back in the hotel room and tried to rest. When I became unable to breathe, my parents called an ambulance and by God's grace it was less than two kilometers (remember, we're in Canada). The lapse in consciousness was followed by the appearance a golf attired on-call emergency room doctor, Dr. Chow. He took one sniff and pronounced a diagnosis that would change my life.

"We need her insulin right away. Her blood sugar is very high."

My confused parents sceptically looked at each other.
"She is not diabetic. She doesn't have insulin."
My dad knew all too well about diabetes. His own mother became diabetic after a bout with pancreatic cancer. As a pharmacist, he knew medications better than most doctors.

Dr. Chow looked calm. "Ah-ha. That is the problem."

So on this adventure of life, I received both a blessing and a curse, depending upon how one chooses to look at it. My choice is blessing. I view my health as precious. What I eat is easy to pay attention to (unfortunately sometimes still easy to ignore) because I calculate my insulin based on carbohydrates. I have no intentions of trying to mask the undeniable risks associated with the disease. But I have come to terms with a life that is different...a little bionic even, with the addition of an insulin pump. I want to encourage others who wake in the night wondering if their sugar is low...or high. Those who face countless needles, reloading lancing devices for the 7th time that day, and refusing decadent desserts. To laugh at the snafoos (like boarding an airplane) diabetes brings.

But I cling tight to Joseph's words from Genesis..."You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." While I realize he was speaking to estranged family members, not a personified disease, the reality is that many things seem bad that might be beneficial in the bigger picture.  Being sure that who you are is both who you are meant to be and a vital part of who you are becoming is a deliberate step of faith taken with thoughtful consideration. Blessings to all on that journey, with diabetes or without. I'll be walking beside you. Living abundantly.