This morning I gleefully gallivanted off to work, spending a grand total of fifteen minutes in traffic.

There’s much that happened before, that even as I write, I realise I take for granted, way more often than I’d care to admit.  For starters: I awoke this morning, health in-tact, next to my amazing husband, able to rise up out of bed (come to think of it, the bed was very comfortable too).  And I could go on.

Meanwhile, every 15 seconds, someone, somewhere dies of an AIDS-related illness, often because of a lack of medicine.  With scientific advances of recent years, there is medication available that enables people afflicted with HIV to live their lives to the fullest, in so many aspects.

So, then, if we have the medical means to prevent a great multitude of deaths caused by AIDS-related illnesses, why are so many still dying, at such a rapid, alarming rate?

As a society, we live in our kingdoms of comfort.  We become so accustomed to hearing about poverty, death and suffering, that we have a tendency to become oblivious to it.

And I am guilty as charged.  As a born-again Christian, filled with the Holy Spirit, I am no exception.  James 2:17 tells us, “Faith without works is dead”.  How can I continue to stand by and remain idle?

When our eyes open to the enormity and scale of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it can be overwhelming.

But you and I can’t pop our heads back in the sand.  The truth is that we CAN make a difference, not only today on World AIDS Day, but every day.  Jesus needs us to be his hands and feet, as we allow Christ’s compassion to stir up our hearts.  We must show the hope of Jesus to a world marked by brokenness, calamity, and loss.

John 11:35 simply says, "Jesus wept."  Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours.

Last week, a local celebrity updated their status message on Facebook to read:

… if you can’t rely on friends or family, what else do you do?

This resulted in a myriad of different responses from friends and fans alike. Clearly, people’s heart strings were tugged at, as they were exposed to the down-to-earth and open nature of the young star. Despite her popularity and success, through posing this question, she confesses that she is just as vulnerable as the next person.

Knowing the identity of the person that posed this question is not important as the question itself - and its answer.

The solutions put forward by others ranged from relying on tequila, to singing, to eating when all else fails, to praying to the One who created us. I would suggest that all but one of these solutions are merely coping mechanisms; some even with the destructive potential of leading down a road of dependency if relied upon.

There was also a kind, albeit naive, response that negated the celebrity’s plea, which insisted that we can always rely on our real friends. Yes, friends are there, and true friends can be counted on especially through life’s storms, but the sobering fact is that not one of us is perfect. We live in a fallen world, with imperfect people, who sometimes disappoint us, or may even betray us, despite good intentions. Sometimes we are the one that disappoints someone else, or hurts them by our words or actions.

Of course, that doesn’t stop us from being the best friends we can be. So, we all come with disclaimers that we don’t always get things right, but every one of us has something special and of value, a distinct flavour, that we can add to others’ lives. God did not create us to be alone, but to go through life’s journey with friends, undergirthing one another.

I think we can all relate to the popular Facebooker’s question, because at some point or another, every one of us has probably found ourselves wondering the same thing: when all else fails, where do we turn?

When all is said and done, we can trust Jesus and his love for us, and cleave to him, as a newborn to her mother. His track record is pure, without blemish.

The Word himself says that he will never leave nor forsake us (Heb 13:5). Indeed, the Lord draws us continually with lovingkindness (Jer 31:3), and is with us wherever we go (Jos 1:9). Truly, I believe Christ’s love and his presence are sweeter than the best that this world has to offer, or as Song of Songs pens it, his "love is better than wine" (Sos 1:2).

The bottom line is that our love falls short of the ideal; the measure of the Ultimate Friend and Lover, Jesus Christ. And even at this very moment, his arms are wide open, beckoning you and me ever closer. He will never let go of us.

Here is an excellent cartoon from Bizarro.com:

Enough said!

Back when I used to get frequent headaches, I began to notice a trend: around an hour or so after eating, coupled with a headache, I would feel lethargic, irritable, and mentally foggy.

I discovered that this is known as reactive hypoglycaemia. In a nutshell, it happens anatomically when we take in more sugars and refined foods than our bodies are capable of handling. The glucose in refined foods break down too quickly, which spike one’s blood glucose levels. In turn, the pancreas reacts to compensate by releasing insulin. The surge of insulin will then drop one’s blood sugar, but our systems do not react too well to the sudden spike-and-crash yo-yo effect. To make matters worse, to perk one’s self up again, people will typically have something full of sugar, causing the same thing to happen in our bodies, and the vicious cycle continues, day in and day out, until our bodies can’t take it any longer. And then we explode (ok, not really).

A regular blood sugar level test with your physician will not detect reactive hypoglycaemia, as people have generally fasted before taking the usual test, and so their bodies have had no recent food to cause the sudden rise-and-drop of sugar levels.

I know many people who require their cup or two of coffee in the morning in order to properly "wake up", else they feel groggy and can’t function. This is because their blood glucose levels are too low from the night before. The caffeine in the coffee, as well as however many teaspoons of sugar go into it, gives a fast sugar level increase to remedy this. However, a drop in blood sugar will usually follow within an hour or so later, so the energy lift is fairly short-lived.

Last year, my blood sugar levels deteriorated to that point that I could not even eat fructose (fruit sugar) by itself without experiencing the symptoms I mentioned. Eating an apple or orange on its own would cause my blood sugar to spike. I believe that if I had carried on down this road and not paid attention to my body crying out to me, I could possibly have developed diabetes (where the pancreas "gives up" and stops producing insulin), or at the very least, I would’ve continued to have been less present in every moment due to the energy drains and not have had as full of a life.

Now, I have no headaches, the mental fog is gone, and I have more energy than ever before. I need less sleep and my memory has also greatly improved, since I am now more conscious in every moment. Ultimately, I’m more alive than ever before. As the old adage goes, "You are what you eat".

So what changes did I make to my diet to balance out my blood sugar, so that my energy remains fairly consistent throughout the day?

1. I discovered what the Glycemic Index (GI) is and learnt what foods affect blood sugar levels the least (low GI) and the most (high GI).  In short, all carbohydrates have a GI rating; the good carbs don’t affect blood sugar adversely and provide the body with prolonged energy, whereas the bad carbs provide a brief spike of energy before curtailing.

2. The GL (glycemic load) of a meal takes into account the sum of the GI of all its carbohydrates, relative to the size of the portion. Learning to cook meals that provide energy, and not drain the body, has been vital. You can lower the over-all GL of a meal by adding certain low GI foods to counter-act the more high GI foods. The best resource for learning about this has been "Eating for Sustained Energy", which is a series of recipe books written by South African dieticians. The meals are tasty, healthy, and the books also list many local foods and their GI ratings. We’ve also had a blast baking with recipes from "Snacks & Treats for Sustained Energy" by the same authors.

3. I have reduced my in-take of all unnatural, refined carbohydrates. They are the energy-killing, high GI "Franken-foods" which have had all their goodness stripped out in factories. Even when I consume refined sugar in a dessert, or eat junk food (invariably containing refined flour or bread), I am generally unaffected now. Since I don’t eat these things in amounts more than my body was created to handle, my body takes care of the bad guys in the food for me.

4. We discovered a whole new world of great tasting foods and we incorporated them into our everyday diet. We snack on raw, unsalted nuts (such as almonds, brazil nuts, walnuts) and consume more legumes in our meals (lentils and various types of beans). We eat a great deal of fruits and vegetables. There is so much delicious, natural food out there that we deprive ourselves of as a Western society.

5. My drink of choice is water. I avoid carbonated (fizzy) drinks, as they wreak havoc on blood sugar. You’ll be amazed how many teaspoons of sugar are in one can of Coke. Avoiding alcohol is a non-issue, which is just as well, considering its many empty kilojoules wreak havoc on one’s blood sugar.

6. I have adapted to not needing to sweeten everything. I drink hot beverages without sugar. The more sugar we have, the more our zinc levels are depleted. Decreased absorption of zinc means our bodies are less able to taste natural sweetness, and so the less sugar I have, the less I need it. (The same goes for salt, by the way.)

7. I barely touch caffeine. Coffee is not a part of my lifestyle. I refuse to be a slave to any substance in order to get a "lift". My biggest vice, which happens to contain small quantities of caffeine, is organic dark chocolate, which is very good for you. It also contains raw organic sugar, which has not been mutilated ,err… refined.

8. I eat a minimum of 5 times throughout the day: breakfast in the morning, followed by a snack 2 - 3 hours later, then lunch in the afternoon, followed by another snack 2 – 3 hours after that, and then having dinner about 3 to 4 hours later. This keeps my body and mind happy. I usually follow this regime, but if I go off for a day or two, my levels are stable enough not to be too bothered.

9. I have enough fibre every day, which aids with digestion as it slows down the absorption of sugar into the blood stream, and it also keeps my body’s internal factory running smoothly.

10. Until I stabilised my blood sugar, I would wake up in the middle of the night, because of my glucose levels dropping very low after a few hours. If you experience this, try having a light snack before bedtime. It needs to be something which the body can digest easily, such as a banana. Bananas are especially good for this because they release sleep hormones.

I feel healthier and more energised than ever before. My diet is a lot healthier, filled with more variety. I enjoying eating and I don’t feel deprived. I wouldn’t change it for anything.

In honour of Valentine’s Day, I felt it’d be apt to take a stroll down memory lane to recall the day I married Justin, the love of my life, and some thoughts leading up to it.

People often ask us who proposed to whom, and how and where it happened. That’s one of the tougher questions for us to answer, because it’s hard for us to pin-point the moment it occurred. The funny thing is, since the day Justin and I got together in mid-2002, we had marriage — being in this for the long-haul — in mind. We both knew and agreed upfront on what we wanted for our relationship. Life had taught us both to lay our expectations bare on the table at the on-set, in order to avoid any hurt or disappointment down the road. So you could say that we proposed to each other the day we started. From that moment, our souls were already knit together and we believed that it’d progress into marriage. Naïve? Perhaps, but in hindsight, I still believe it was right.

The wedding planning, and saving, felt as if it took an eternity. Looking back though, everything fell perfectly into place and all the bills were paid. God supernaturally provided at each step of the way as we moved forward in faith with the belief that the finer details and the finances would be taken care of. We know we serve Jehovah Jireh – our Provider.

We didn’t want to rush things, but the time came when we needed to commit to an official date to work towards, before we sunk into a state of engagement-limbo. So we picked the auspicious date of 24 September 2005, which fell on a Saturday in that year, and would be a public holiday for us to celebrate our anniversary in every year to follow it. Yep, we like to think ahead.

Ok, so the wedding wasn’t necessarily big and fat, but it was too irresistible not to allude to that festive Greek movie. We actually kept the wedding fairly modest, at about 60 people, with only close friends and family invited (the numbers add up very quickly). Speaking of invites, I fondly recall how Justin so creatively and painstakingly handcrafted every invitation. I had the easy part – taking care of the text in the invites. Tee hee.

Each of us selected a groomsman and a grooms maid, and the four of them, as well as our parents, and pastoral couple, were a great support to us throughout all the planning, especially towards the last few weeks leading up to the big day.

When our wedding day finally arrived, there was nothing left to do, but sit back and relax (yea, right) until the afternoon. I’ll never forget that feeling of trepidation, bewilderment, exhilaration and delight, all wrapped into one! There was no backing out now, nor did I want to.

The ceremony itself, and the reception that followed, took place at Khaya Lembali, who did an extraordinary job with the venue’s décor and food. Everything was exactly what we dreamt it would be, and more.

Rev Deborah Bell, our Pastor at church, married us. Justin and I had chosen to write our vows together as a couple, and pledged them to one another:

After the exchanging of the rings, and sealing the deal with a kiss *grin*, we had both our moms sign our holy union certificates, which meant so much to us. During this, Clair McPhail sung Heather Hedley’s song over us, “If It Wasn’t For Your Love”. I couldn’t imagine lyrics more appropriate for us, and for that day.

For our first dance, we waltzed to “I’ll See it Through” by Texas. It hit me at that moment that I was not just dancing with my partner anymore, but with my spouse – my life-partner. Wow. We’d made it. We’d done this.

Everything surrounding that day was magical… the best day of my life.

While the wedding lasted a day, I know the truth is a marriage is meant to last a lifetime. And sure, there have been some bumps on the road, and we’ve made mistakes along the way, but through all the challenges we faced, our love has grown. We’ve grown. All the obstacles that have been thrown at us have made us stronger as a couple. Marriage is an adventure and we’ve had fun, and I look forward to as many years together as our life on this earth affords us. Beyond that, I believe that the love we share is stronger than death… and I really don’t say that flippantly.

Happy Valentine’s Day, my angelcup. Oh, and happy Valentine’s Day to everyone else too!

So, I get this phonecall at work this afternoon, and it goes something like this:

Me: "Good day, this is Tirone."

Caller: "Can I speak to Tirone?"

Me: "This is Tirone."

Caller: "Can I speak to Tirone?"

Me: "This is Tirone!"

And the caller hangs up.

Was it something I said?

Modern-day prophets are declaring that this year is all about stepping out into a new beginning in this new wave of God’s Spirit. There are spiritual gates ahead of us - entrances to new opportunities of increasing the Kingdom of God - which we now have access to walk through. The Lord has much in store for God’s children, but we have to surrender the old things, leaving them behind as we seek out God in order to embrace the new things in store for us.

God has been and is still very busy with delivering me from the strongholds in my life. These are the lies that I have bought into for years, for the sake of self-preservation; protection mechanisms that my mind put in place to “keep me safe”. They directly influence what I believe about God, myself and others, and thus have distorted my reality. Ironically, these mechanisms do not protect me; in reality, they only cause me pain and suffering.

I come from a background of thinking that being a good churchgoer meant I had to be perfect. “Surely, anything less would make a hypocrite,” I would tell myself. “After all, perfection is a sign of spirituality – if you’re flawless, it shows you’ve arrived!”  This mentality was with me as far back as my school days, as I seemed to gain acceptance and respect from my peers by achieving good grades.

I felt anything less than this “Super-Me” was unacceptable to the church and, therefore, to God (and to myself).  Newsflash: being perfect for us mere humans is impossible, so this translated to me having to maintain a façade.  I needed to mask my blemishes and cover the cracks, lest I be rejected or looked down upon.  Add to that the fact that I was unable to accept being gay for my first few years of church life (I thought it was an abomination to God), and I had one extra reason not to like myself and keep up the charade.

It was only once I started this process of self-acceptance (in all spheres), that I came to realise that it’s only in my own imperfections that God can be glorified (see 2 Cor 12:9).  If I were already perfect to start off with, how could I possibly bear witness of God working in my life and changing my heart?  There’d be nothing for God to do in me!  On the contrary, I am one big mess that needs the Lord as my Saviour and Leader.  As the Apostle Paul said, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  Ultimately, without God, I can do nothing that is of eternal worth.

Releasing these old conceptions and replacing them with Truth is a rigorous process.  This progression of breaking down these incorrect mindsets and learning to take delight in who I am has taken years, not because God is really slow at doing God-stuff, but because of my own pride and spiritual blindness.  These mental deceptions, which cause me to desire approval from others, resulted in blind spots which left me susceptible to being manipulated by people.  These same strongholds also leave me vulnerable to attack by principalities, which have resulted in some huge stumbling blocks and roadblocks on my journey of recovery.  Nevertheless, I press forward.  I refuse to conform to the old ways of thinking as I am being transformed by the renewing of mind (Romans 12:2).

It is not that I had inadequate teaching of God’s love and grace in the past.  The fact of the matter is  that my old way of thinking caused blockades that would hinder my spirit from embracing these truths, regardless of how often I heard them.  Only as I leave the false, old beliefs behind, do I now finally have space for God to increase the depth of my understanding of the Saviour’s love for me through the Truth of the Word.  I can boldly step into the new things of God!

I thought it may be good to diarise the measures I have taken to rid myself of tension headaches and migraines. I suffered from intense headaches and migraines for the last few years, until just after mid-2007, when they ceased as a direct result of a combination of the below lifestyle changes. I praise God for the knowledge and guidance imparted to me in my healing. I am also grateful for the experience, because otherwise I may not have made such positive changes to my overall health.

Diagnosing causes of migraines is really tricky, as every person’s triggers are unique.  The biggest factor in overcoming my headaches has been awareness; being attentive to when I would sense a headache coming on, and “retracing my steps”, to try evaluate the cause.  There was a good deal of hit and miss, because of all the possible factors involved, but it was well worth it in the end (and almost fun)!

Staying hydrated

This needed to be mentioned first, because dehydration is said to be the most common cause of headaches.  I drink at least 8 glasses of water throughout the day.  So should you!  Fruit juices, teas and other beverages don’t count towards the total of eight glasses a day.

Cutting out MSG

Monosodium Glutomate is a beast of a food additive and has found its way into a vast array of products.  People that know me know that I am an advocate of exposing the evils of this chemical also known as E621.  Fortunately, Woolworths took action in cutting out MSG from their product range several years ago.  Switching to buying our food from Woolworths removed most of the legwork.  Sure, they may be slightly pricier with some items, but we are happy to pay that bit extra for the quality of food we receive.  When we eat out anywhere, I am no longer affected by MSG being present in food, because the quantity my body receives is now too insignificant for a reaction.

Regulating blood sugar

I would sometimes get a headache about an hour after eating.  After the frustrations of battling to pinpoint it to any particular food, I realised my headaches were being triggered by a rapid rise (and subsequent drop) in my blood sugar.  Our body’s insulin levels spike when we eat simple carbohydrates (these are the bad carbs created through the refining processes which remove the goodness in food).  I started cutting back on the bad carbs wherever possible, and introduced eating more good carbs.  The result: stable blood sugar and no headaches.  I’ll elaborate on my journey with this in the future.  Btw: This phenomenon is called “reactive hypoglycaemia” and doesn’t show up in regular blood sugar tests - I’ll explain why in a future post.

Reducing Toxicity by going organic

I would often develop a migraine after washing my hair in the morning, or shortly after applying cologne.  Also, when I would smell cigarette smoke, petrol fumes, a fresh coat of paint or strongly-scented cologne, I would get a headache.  This sensitivity to smell is known as osmophobia, common amongst migraine sufferers.  I’m always around people, so trying to avoid this trigger was a living nightmare.  It was impossible to avoid people that would insist on spraying themselves with an entire can of deodorant so that they could smell ‘beautiful’.

What was happening is that my body was actually crying out from being in a state of heavy toxicity.  When we apply personal care products to our bodies, any toxic chemicals in the ingredients can seep in through the skin, and enter the bloodstream directly.  Then we apply anti-perspirants so that our bodies can’t sweat out the bad stuff!  Add to this the toxins in the city air that we breathe.  Uh, oh!

Instead of going on a temporary detox solution, we opted for a more permanent solution and dropped the petrochemical-laden products in our household and replaced them with organic products where feasible.  Our favourite products are from Enchantrix, Triple Orange and Victorian Garden.  The result: no longer do I get headaches from powerful odours.  Think this is a case of extreme paranoia?  Check out http://safecosmetics.org/ and decide for yourself.

Stopping the headache tablets

Until almost a year ago, I used to take a Grandpa headache powder almost every day.  Headache pain medication is known to cause rebound headaches, so I forced myself to stop (even though my headache continued for a while still).  I can’t recall when last I had headache medication.

Easing tension with good posture

When sitting for extended periods of time, I try to be mindful of how I’m sitting.  A trick I learned is that it is better to keep both legs on the ground, so that weight is evenly distributed.  I also get up every so often (maybe every 15 or 30 minutes), so that I’m not staying in the same position for too long.  This helps to stop muscles from knotting and helps keep the body tension free.  Of course, exercise helps that too, so I keep my body active.

Peaceful sleep

Neck tension was a big trigger.  A chiropractor I went to in 2006 was of the opinion that those expensive, orthopedically-curved pillows are a waste of money (many of them retail for R1000+).  True?  I don’t know.  He recommended getting every-day, cheap pillows and replacing them every 3 months.  That suggestion didn’t help my neck much, so we took the middle road and got some superb orthopaedic pillows from Mr Price Home for only R130 each.  The pillow is specially designed to support the neck.  After months of use, I can feel how it has eased my neck tension dramatically.

I generally don’t oversleep, and try to maintain a regular wake-up time every morning. 

Happy head!

This might seem like a lot of work, but it’s all second nature for me now, and it was worth all the effort and time that went into the research and failed attempts at diagnosing migraine triggers.  I am so thankful to Justin for his support - he was so patient and encouraging during all my crazy experiments in my endless quest to rid myself of migraines. 

The paralysing effect of a migraine is torturous and was a great joy-stealer and time-thief. 

My quality of life has dramatically improved, and I hope that one or two of these points may help other people out there that are suffering.

Justin sent me these photos and I just had to share them… he really knows what will make me swoon! This kitten and budgie are clearly best friends… (you can click on the images for larger versions.)

Isn’t that just adorable? 

Unfortunately I have no idea who the original photographer was, so I can’t credit them.  Anyone know?

I have a theory that our kitties, Alex and Zack, are vegetarians.  Although I’d have to confess that they have shown the occasional signs of disproving that notion.  I will not elaborate on this point any further (can anyone say ‘denial’?).

Alex is good buddies with our budgie, Lyme (and his late brother, Skye, photographed below).  And before anybody asks, NO… Skye died of natural causes.  They may not be as close as our friends photographed above, nevertheless I’m sure you’ll agree that they seem rather comfortable in each other’s company.

Are these signs a foreshadowing of Isaiah 65:25, which tells us that the wolf and the lamb shall graze together?  I can’t wait to see that one day…

My journey of self-acceptance as a gay person has been a long and sometimes treacherous one.

I used to be one of those people - the kind that would prescribe conversion to heterosexuality as a cumulative remedy to all gay people’s problems in life. Oh, the sweet irony!

Since childhood, I struggled with issues of rejection and worrying about how others perceived me.  I grew up hearing from so many sources, including school and church, how sinful it was to be a gay person.  I would hear about how shameful and promiscuous gay people were, and I read books confirming the same, and which suggested that same-sex attraction is caused by demonic powers.  I was terrified that my church, my parents or peers would find out my secret.  My heart was always to follow God’s will, but I felt trapped.  I thought God hated my sexuality.  I was ashamed that I “struggled” with this “sin”, and it was something I shared with only a select few close friends, so that they could pray with me for my healing.

I certainly needed healing, but not of my sexual orientation.  For 6 years, an effort of trying to “become straight" ensued. I prayed, fasted, had “deliverance” (although an oppression of “lust” was discerned, nobody sensed a demon of homosexuality).  I also avoided gay people like the plague, and all the things we’re told to do as a “recipe” to become straight.

None of this worked of course, and I could never live a heterosexual life without utter suppression of who I am and total denial of who I was created to be.  Living a lie does not glorify God; it offends the Holy Spirit, is soul destroying, and hurts innocent people.  I stopped going to church, because I could not reconcile my faith with my sexual orientation and did not want to be a hypocrite.

One day in 2001, God met with me and the Holy Spirit ministered to my heart and clearly brought to memory the scripture that “there is no condemnation for those in Christ” (from Romans 8:1). This truth became a “rhema” (living) word as it was injected into my heart, and the first seeds of freedom were planted.  But, where to from there?  There was still much recovery that had to take place from years of indoctrination, self-hatred and condemnation.

Some really amazing friends supported me through the process.  They didn’t condemn or judge me, even if they didn’t understand it all.  The closet is a toxic place and even more so when nobody knows you’re in it!  The more I surrendered of myself and my struggle to God, the more God showered me with love and directed my journey.  I developed the courage to come out to my friends, family and colleagues.  I began to research the scriptures in their original contexts and languages and new doors started to open.  (Because of my own internalised homophobia, I’d previously brushed off any scripture that did not condemn homosexuality as heretic). There were some tough times, particularly as I had some theological debates with a fellow believer I worked with.  For me, it was a matter of life and death and not some arbitrary topic that was fun to argue.

During 2002, I fell in love with Justin, and we got together.  It’s funny to look back, because, ironically, I remember telling him many years prior to become straight.  In retrospect, I’m so glad he didn’t listen to me!  Anyhow, in the early days of our relationship, one fine Sunday in October 2002, a friend of ours invited us to a service at Deo Gloria, an inclusive church.  Suffice it to say that we had discovered our spiritual home, and after only 2 months we decided to join as members.  It’s been an incredible journey, existing in an environment where my heart has been able to heal from the indoctrinations of society.  My head-knowledge of the scriptures developed into a heart-knowledge, and finally I confidently believed in God’s approval of me.  I was struck by the revelation of God’s love and acceptance of me.  I had received freedom from the bondage of my own homophobia.

Justin and I were later married by our Pastor in September 2005 (this was legalised in December 2006 after the Civil Unions Bill of South Africa was enacted).  Being able to worship God in spirit and truth, whilst being transparent about my sexuality and not having to hide such an integral part of myself is a beautiful, treasured gift from Above.  With that thorn out of my side, I am now free to grow in Christ to become who I was made to be, and to pursue God’s plans for my life.