It’s a MIRACLE

Posted on by beautybeyondbones

I received a miracle yesterday. Oh boy, you guys. Do I have a story for you.

First, really quickly – thank you again for everyone who has been doing their Christmas shopping through my Amazon link, www.amazon.com/shop/beautybeyondbones . It’s a free and easy way to support this blog.

And thank you for everyone listening to my podcasts and joining my series, Thoughts for Strength over on Patreon. Your support is invaluable.

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Ok. Here it goes.

This whole weekend, I’ve been staying with my brother and his wife while I’m in town in Ohio. My parents are on a weekend trip so I had the pleasure of staying with two of my favorite people in the whole world.

Well, yesterday morning, being Sunday, we went to Mass. I love Christmas time, and Advent in particular. Seeing the ginormous advent wreath dramatically suspended over the Church always takes my breath away with its majesty and beauty.

And the priest was talking about how, during this time of prayer and preparation for Christmas, the Advent wreath is like a gateway to Heaven, with our prayers shooting upward through it. And he suggested we all walk under it as we left church.

Cool idea, I thought. It added a new dimension to this massive bundle of holly and candles. So on our way out, we passed underneath, and in true blogger fashion, I had my sister-in-law snap a pic. Because…Instagram.

Driving home and checking out the picture she took, we were remarking at how, in it, it looks as though Jesus is directly blessing me. This was a truly candid pic, and somehow, my position directly underneath the wreath ended me right in what looks like in His “blessing path” from the mural on the wall.

Awesome. That’ll make a great Instagram post. What a stroke of luck.

So we went about our day. I took some photos for her website and new business. We had some lunch. And on a whim, my sister-in-law and I decided to go back to church and go to their “Christmas Lessons and Carols.” The Church has a world renowned chamber choir and this was a truly spectacular musical and spiritual event.

Well. All of the readings at the Lessons and Carols were about the Annunciation of Mary: the miracle of Jesus’s birth. How the angel Gabriel proclaimed that Mary would miraculously conceive of Jesus in her womb as a virgin.

But I kept seeing the word “womb” be used over and over in the readings. And to be honest, I thought to myself…odd choice of wording.

ANYWHO. On our way out of the Lessons and Carols concert, my sister-in-law and I stopped in the side chapel to light a candle. And during this time, in addition to praying for my mom and family, I just prayed that God’s will be done in my life regarding my love life, my health, everything.

Fast forward to that night. ((I told you…this is quite the story. So keep up, people! We’re just getting good!))

That night, I come to learn that it is “IBD Awareness Week.” For those that don’t know, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (one of the two IBD’s — Crohn’s and Colitis) when I was 16 years old, and I ended up healing myself through the Specific Carb Diet. (Hence, the recipes I have begun sharing on this blog every Wednesday.)

But thinking about how we’re preparing for the miracle of Christmas, I started to draft a post for tonight, about how miracles don’t always just happen. Sometimes the miracle is God’s spirit inside of us, giving us the ability to work towards the miracle itself. Much like my Ulcerative Colitis: God bringing the idea of this diet into my life, and then blessing me with the self-discipline to follow it every day. Thus leading to my complete healing of my UC! That’s the miracle.

And then along the same “work for it” lines: the miracle of my healing from anorexia – God equipped me with the disciple and strength to choose recovery every day.

So that was the post I was going to publish tonight. However, it didn’t quite settle with me, because as I have shared in the past, I am struggling with infertility. One of the devastating repercussion of severe anorexia and being so deathly underweight for such a prolonged period of time is that your reproductive system shuts down, and sometimes, never comes back…as was my case.

Even though I am now healthy, my reproductive system had never recovered, and I have never had a period, as my anorexia developed before I “officially” went through puberty.

So I was thinking that, how could I publish that I was living a miracle in my recovery from anorexia, when the #1 tell tale sign of an ED is amenorrhea?

My eyelids had become too heavy, so I decided to just figure it out in the morning with a fresh brain.

Well friends, wouldn’t you know, that on the evening of celebrating the miracle that took place in Mary’s womb, a miracle took place in my own, as well.

Yes friends, you can now call me Fertile Myrtle.

And I’m crying joyous tears as I type that.

Now, why on earth have I decided to disclose this mortifying information with the world?

Not just because I truly believe it was a miracle. Not because we’ve been on this journey together and your friendship and support has been such an important part of my story, but because God can make all things new, and restore, even the most hopeless of situations.

I had completely come to terms with my infertility and mourned that loss. I should have never counted God down for the count.

Advent is the time where we prepare for the miracle of Christ’s birth. Maybe it was the candle my sister-in-law lit for me. Maybe it was shooting my prayers up through the Advent wreath. Or maybe it was God working through my day-in-day-out dedication to recovery all these years.

I will never know. But I do know that I have a lot to thank God for.

***THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS ORDERED MY BOOKS, BLOOM: A JOURNAL BY BEAUTYBEYONDBONES AND “MY BLOGGING TIPS“***

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY!

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BBB: Because we're all recovering from something. // For speaking/business inquiries: beautybeyondbones@yahoo.com

472 thoughts on “It’s a MIRACLE”

  1. Hey congratulations! I always enjoy reading your blogs and to see that God has given you such a blessing has also left me speechless and happy. I believe that we should glorify God for every good thing that happens to people we know. I too go through some problems I just hope that when I go to my next doctor’s visit it won’t be what I suspect.

    I pray that god continues to bless you. Keep up the faith and the good work.

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  3. I AM SO VERY HAPPY FOR YOU, God’s miracle lives inside of you. Thank you for sharing your miracle with us. You Girl! You my dear are a testimony to God’s healing power that lives in us all if we are breathing. You inspire me.

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  5. St. Peter in Chains Cathedral! I attend Mass there frequently, and I love the huge mosaic of Jesus. I kneel in prayer with my eyes fixed on his face, and it feels like he’s looking right at ME! (I’m sure you experienced that, too.) It’s just too bad I wasn’t there to bump into you. 😉
    Thank you for sharing this miracle with us. It’s mind-boggling and truly wonderful!! ❤️

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    1. aw, thank you friend. Yeah, it was definitely an answer to prayer! Yes – God is good and loves to bless us! big hugs to you xox

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  11. I’m so happy for you! The timing is such a “God thing”. Thanks for sharing this. I believe that God wants us to tell others of the miracles He blesses us with so others will see His power and love.

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    1. thank you so much Samantha! you’re right – timing IS such a God thing. so glad you stopped by! big hugs xox

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  15. Praise Jesus! I’m so overjoyed for you! You’re going to make a fantastic mom 😀 Congrats, sweetheart!

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  16. “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee…” I love Advent – totally overlooked season but oh so counter cultural against the faux-Christmas muzak and retail overload. Glad you received this great blessing and may your Christmas come with even greater light and joy.

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    1. That just gave me chills to read the lyrics of that song, because how true it is!! I love it too. thank you friend, I appreciate it! Hugs and love xox

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  17. Caralyn, I just read this post while snuggling my daughter to put her down for nap and I literally started crying and praising God! I can’t stop! 😂 What a wonderful gift and blessing! Our God is SO GOOD! I’m so so so happy for you and so grateful to God on your behalf. The merriest of Christmases to you!

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    1. oh my gosh Amanda, thank you so much for this beautiful encouragement. thank you for sharing in the joy with me. yes! God is SO good 🙂 thanks for stopping by! big big hugs to you xox

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  20. I am happy for you and as Christopher Mcandless had once said, “Happiness is real only when shared”, so we all are happy.

    Besides, a few days back a post of mine was liked by you on Instagram. It was a long time since we had been in touch, so on first look, I thought I had seen you somewhere, but I could not recall and then suddenly I did, I recalled that you are the one that has a blog beautybeyondbones. ( P.S: Dropped a msg on Instagram, thank you)

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  21. Congratulations to you and many thanks to God for blessing you in this wonderful way! I know you’ve mentioned previously that you’re “husband hunting”, I can’t help but think that maybe one of the reasons you haven’t found him yet is that God wasn’t quite done preparing you! Wishing you many blessings and miracles this holiday season!

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    1. thank you so much Brianna! I think you’re spot on – God was still working on me:) thanks for stopping by! big hugs xo

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  25. I love your blog and admire your deep faith. I couldn’t tell from your blog if you finally got your period or are expecting a baby. Also, and this is a very common misconception and I cringe to point it out, but the Immaculate Conception only has to do with Jesus in an indirect fashion. It’s really the celebration of Mary being conceived without sin. She is the Immaculate Conception. She was conceived by her mother, St. Anne, without sin so she would be a pure vessel (or have a pure womb and body) to carry Jesus. Merry Christmas and God bless you.

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    1. Thank you so much friend! Hahah oh — the former. I am not expecting a baby! I was just trying to say “ i got my period” more gracefully. haha And thank you for sharing that. Yes! That is very true. What a beautiful role model we have in Mary. Merry Christmas to you
      Too! Hugs and love xox

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  27. It is a beautiful miracle you shared here. I am sure everyone has that one hope thinking that it was something impossible to achieve and have lost all hope for it. I have that one hope in me that I am still believing for and it has almost died down until I read this post of yours. Thank you for sharing, it was such a blessing to me. God bless (:

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    1. Thank you so much friend. Yes!! such an exciting time. God is so good and I owe Him my life. I will keep you in my prayers, friend. God can do the impossible. I had almost counted Him out, BUT GOD. But God, my friend. But God can do all things 🙂 love you friend! big hugs xox

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    1. thank you friend, for sharing that. i will definitely keep your daughter and you and your family in my prayers. big hugs xo

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  29. Haha! As I read this post, I, for some reason, thought you might be pregnant, and then at the end I thought I was right, but then started to doubt it, and then read a comment where somebody else thought the same thing 😂❤️ congratulations anyway xx

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    1. Hahha oh gosh no! I just didn’t have the audacity to be like. “I got my period!” snort laughs hahha thank you:) big hugs xox

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      1. Aw! haha x I must be the dumbest person alive because even after I realised it wasn’t what I thought it was, I didn’t get how you knew you were suddenly fertile 😂😂 I’m so sorry, this sounds incredibly weird.

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      2. hahahah oh my gosh you’re not dumb at all! i mean, it’s not a typical topic you read about on a blog! hahahahah

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    1. Hahah oh gosh, no new baby here…my amenhorrea that was left over from my anorexia was finally healed! Big thanks!! Hugs and love xox

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  31. Something I am so excited about is the renewal of all things. I’m excited for Jesus’ promise of all things new. But even moreso I’m excited that it doesn’t just start some interminable time into the distant future, the renewal has already because Father is a creative (and re-creative) Papa and he can’t help himself. Glory, Papa…Glory.

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    1. Oh yes! Can i get an amen for renewal!? Haha jk jk but for real though. Thanks Carson! Hope you’re having a beautiful advent so far! Hugs and love xox

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      1. Aw, you’re welcome! HUGS and much love! Oh! If you’re ever in the Cleveland, Ohio area let me know and I’ll show you some of the awesome sites to visit, including restaurants.

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  37. What a wonderful Christmas story! Yes, God heals in many, many ways. If He’d just waved a magic wand and healed you instantly you wouldn’t have be able to share your diets, solutiosn and plain day to day battles and victories with the world. But now in His own wonderful way He did the miracle in such a cool way you’d know it was Him. What an incredible Christmas gift! Thanks for sharing it with us! xxx

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  39. This is just glorious and beautiful! I am so totally entirely happy for you. Thank you for sharing your journey and being faithful to the beauty that is yours to share with the world. Keep on shining!

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  40. Wow! What an amazing story! God redeems and empowers us to overcome.
    The crohns testimony was great. When you mentioned infertility, you touched a sweet spot in my heart. I had to share what God did in our lives.
    Lisa and I were married in 2004 and began the journey for children in 2006-2007. We soon learned that we had problems with egg quality and that the eggs could never make it past the blastus stage. For years we tried and eventually became heartbroken. We tried two rounds of invitrofertilization and both attempts failed. I tried to encourage Lisa at times saying, “God’s timing, God’s will, and God’s way.” Yet, I do not feel that was what she wanted to hear. I could never provide the answer she wanted to hear. Often times I felt helpless to help her.

    We bought a dog and settled down a little bit in 2010-2011.We took our foot off the gas pedal of “procreation attempts” and Lisa did something different. She changed her diet and began a series of acupuncture treatments on a weekly basis. No more coffee and hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup. She began eating healthy and persuading me to eat more healthy as well. She did this for maybe 5-6 months. I never gave serious thought that anything would come of it but I supported her in her endeavors.
    It was winter of 2011. It was a day in January that I came home from work and Lisa and her mother were waiting for me inside the house. Odd-as her mother had never been there with her waiting for me to get home before. I thought, “What is going on here?” I was led to the bathroom and laying upon the sink were three pregancy tests, each of which read “positive”. I said to Lisa, “What is this?” (I, being the uninformed man that I was, did not know how to read a pregancy test result) . She looked at me and responded, “They are positive. We’re pregnant!” She burst open in tears of joy and I joined her in the warmest embrace that I could remember. Her mom, herself, and I all weeping with joy and laughing together this afternoon.
    On October 25, 2012 God blessed us with Emma Lily-Grace Carroll: our miracle baby.

    I am so glad to hear that your ability to become pregnant is now actual and real. Keep trusting in God and seeking Him fervently. One of my favorite bedrock verses is found in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” When our desires became Him His desires became ours. He is good. Bless His name. God bless you BeautyBeyondBones. Thank you for writing and sharing. You have inspired me today to reflect further upon God’s faithfulness.

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  43. Thanks for your likes and your follow. I enjoyed this article, especially since I am about to start a post-Christmas diet. Looking forward now to trying some of your recipes.

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  44. That is amazing news! I have Crohn’s and am struggling with infertility for pretty close to the same reasons. Reading your story lifts my spirit so much! I’m so beyond happy for you. ♥️

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    1. oh friend, i’m so sorry that this hits so close to home for you. i will definitely keep you in my prayers. also – have you heard of the Specific Carb Diet? I have ulcerative colitis and have kept it in remission for the past 6 years by (religiously) adhering to the diet! The book is called Breaking the Vicious Cycle. I’ll link it on my Amazon Influencer page: amazon.com/shop/beautybeyondbones but the book spells out the entire thing. it literally saved my life. big hugs to you xox

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    2. oh friend, i’m so sorry that this hits so close to home for you. i will definitely keep you in my prayers. also – have you heard of the Specific Carb Diet? I have ulcerative colitis and have kept it in remission for the past 6 years by (religiously) adhering to the diet! The book is called Breaking the Vicious Cycle. I’ll link it on my Amazon Influencer page: amazon.com/shop/beautybeyondbones but the book spells out the entire thing. it literally saved my life. big hugs to you xox —- here’s the link to the book! http://amzn.to/2CznKGv

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      1. I have heard of it! Recently went to a local CCFA talk where that was one of the diets mentioned. I couldn’t try it at the time because I was on low residue orders. 😦 But currently I’m trying to go low carb as much as possible. Just gotta be careful so I don’t get a blockage. I’m an ostomate too. YAY me! Haha, not. 😛 But thank you for the suggestion and the prayers. I’ll check it out! 🙂

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    3. Praying with you all…”Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers…3 John 2

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  47. Whohooo! I’m so glad to hear this! 🙂 I’ve been praying for God to heal you in this way, and I’m overjoyed that He has done this! Thanks so much for sharing this miracle. hugs

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