Wounds into Wings

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We would rather live challenged than bored. We would rather live raw than numb. We would rather experience things that force us to be brave than to never need courage.

The words of this image so reminds me of my friend Kelli Standish ... the author of the above quote ... one of my very first friends in the Blogosphere ... a young spiritual warrior (one of the very few people I would characterize that way) that continues to overcome so many obstacles. I admire Kelli so much and I am in good company. Following are a few clips from an article (read it here) that a friend wrote about her.

They are stories that wring my heart until it literally hurts when I think of them. In the past two years alone, Kelli has faced multiple hospitalizations for surgery and frighteningly serious complications. She has continued to battle a rare rheumatic disease and endured periods of blindness and great pain as a result. Kelli has moved four times in a period of ten months under stressful circumstances—including across the world to Bahrain and back. Her husband deployed to the Middle East, and during his absence they suffered the loss of a beloved pet that had seen them through so very much. And this is barely scratching the surface of the things the past years have brought Kelli. It’s been wave after wave of deep-cutting battles.

And yet… these stories, the ones I’ve mentioned, and the ones that run deeper still—they don’t shackle her. She places her heart in the Master’s hands, and He turns her wounds into wings. She has scars, but she’ll be the first to say they’ve equipped her for a life of outpouring.

And oh, does her life pour.

Kelli mounts up on those wings, battling to give hope. To summon joy and sow hope in barren lands. When good is elusive, she hunts it relentlessly, makes space for it to grow. She invites the multitude to come, see that the Author of Life and Good is alive and moving!

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