By: Kelly Thorne
Originally published at Take Root - http://takerootandwrite.com/
If you were to die today, what would those who know you best say at your funeral? Have you made an impact with your life? What about those who don’t know you personally, what would they say about your life?
At the age of 18, I was forced to deal with these very issues. After first being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and later re-diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, I really thought I would die at a young age. So, I began to plan the details of the funeral (service flow, songs, speakers, etc.). This wasn’t a morbid time, but just one detail that I was sparing my parents from, plus I really wanted it to be a celebration of life. Well, in case you haven’t noticed…I’m still alive! I still struggle with illness, but have experienced God’s miraculous healing time after time. Hindsight is often times 20/20. In the moment of illness, I don’t particularly appreciate the lessons I’m learning, but after the fact, I see so clearly exactly what God was allowing me to see.
I keep the piece of paper with the details of my funeral to remind me of that moment. Because as I was thinking about my funeral, I also went on a journey of thinking about the impact my life had made on those around me. As I thought about what people would say or think, I wasn’t particularly satisfied with the impact I had made at that point in my life. I wanted my life to be about so much more. The illness has been a catalyst for so many incredible things in my life:
- I went on a journey of discovering who I want to become and taking the steps to live those qualities out with my life.
- I discovered that my purpose is to help women discover and begin living out their unique life purpose.
- I later founded iBloom, an organization dedicated to inspiring women (i) to discover and live out their unique life purpose, (ii) to live balanced, healthy, and thriving lives, and (iii) to become passionate in their personal relationship with God!
