I will never forget July 4, 2006 for the rest of my life.
I have had four days that I can really say have been the best days of my life. There is the day in high school that God straightened me out and reminded me who He had called me to be. I don’t have that date memorized; I can’t even remember if it was in February or January. Then, there is the day that God put Jeff and me together. Again I can’t remember what exact date that was. God didn’t gift me with a memory for dates.
The other two wonderful days are easy to remember: my wedding date, New Year’s Eve 2003, and now July 4, 2006. July 4th God gave my family a new hope. July 4th God informed us that Huntington’s Disease had been cured in a mouse.
When I got the bulletin that the HD Society of America emailed I was completely stunned. It had been discovered sometime in June, but I was just getting the email. CURED! Even now I want to jump for joy. It is just completely unbelievable. For years the doctors have been saying things like “we’re coming along with studies” and “we really expect some progress soon.” What do vague promises like that mean to families like mine who face a devastating disease? But now, they are saying the word cure. Cure. It’s just so unreal.
So I immediately googled everything I could find on the news of the disease and I found two other articles from scientific journals that confirmed the results. They genetically altered a mouse to have HD and then they cured him. The articles said that they now know what to do and that all the doctors around the world who study the disease can focus on this finding. One of the articles said that with in five years they expect to start trials in humans.
I never really expected see them saying this to one day. There was always something in the back of my mind saying if I get it that’s fine and I know God will use me anyway. There was never really the thought “if I get this God will cure it.” I know that it is not completely certain that there is a cure for humans, but for the first time in my life God has given my brothers and me a real hope of life without HD. Life with HD has been such a part of my thought process; this news is just so amazing that I can’t even describe how it changes me.
The happiness I have because of a possible cure for HD, a disease I might experience on earth, is nothing compared to the happiness I have because of the God. He saved me from pain and sin. He has showed me that I have purpose in life because of Him. He showed me the only cure for the hole in my heart.
He has saved me. He has given me a new hope that I can see. He has given me hope that is real and tangible. My gratitude to God is so very vast. I feel like I did on that night in high school when He drew me back to Him.
I’m a little scared that this cure might not work, all of the best days are a little scary though, but I know that He is in control and He wants to save me. He wants me to have hope.
I read this just a few days ago:
Romans 5:1-5
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we gain access by faith into this grave in which we now stand. And we rejoice in sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
I am so in love with my Savior.
I didn’t give much background on this – Huntington’s is the disease that my father died from and that I have a 50% change of having.
post by Lindsay
The second group was mostly a group of youth. What a group of 1 Timothy 4:12 young men and women. They really shined God's love and peace even through a language barrier.
Things get back to normal soon. Tuesday the second semester of school starts and I'll be teaching English alone for the first time. I am nervous, but excited. I know that I'll be relying on the Holy Spirit daily, especially that first week.
