The last few months and really even years have been filled with a lot of praying and a lot of dreaming. When I first got sick about a little over a year ago I would lay in my bed during my flares and daydream about what life would be like without those flares. I always wondered if I would ever wake up and not have to take painkillers, or not have to sleep with my heating pad for 8 hours a night. None of it seemed anywhere close to realistic to me. I was scared for a long time, and spent many of my early morning hours pleading with the Lord to heal me. I always knew that it was possible that I would have to live in pain for the rest of my life, but on the same hand I also knew healing was possible if I would keep pressing in and seek out Jesus despite my pain.

At the beginning of this year things took another turn, and I was with doctors more than I wasn’t. I was searching high and low for answers, and trying every supplement and diet in the book.

I was completely desperate and I remember on February 21st I was kneeling by the side of my bed, praying hard. I wanted a sign that I was going to be okay. I wanted to know that endometriosis wasn’t going to have a hold over me for the rest of my life. I wanted Jesus to show me that He was real and that He was here-because I hadn’t felt His presence in a very long time.

I went to bed after spending some time in prayer, and had the most insane dream of my entire life.

I’ve only shared this with like maybe 3 of my friends so putting it out there on the internet is a little overwhelming but it is a huge part of my healing story.

But anyway, here it goes: I went to bed that night and had a dream where Jesus showed up. I saw a bright figure, and I heard Him say the words: “you are going to be healed.” And it was one of those experiences where even though I had obviously never heard His voice verbally before, it was so familiar to me. I woke up at 3am so incredibly thankful for that dream and that promise.

Because that is what it was. It was more than a dream. It was a promise. And I clung to it for months.

I was still undergoing a few different treatments at the time, and had started seeing a doctor at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. She tried a handful of different treatments and I was seeing little to no relief.

Which was discouraging at times, but I kept remembering those words that were uttered in my dream.

I knew I couldn’t give up, because in those months I felt like I was being led to the very thing that Jesus was going to use to heal me. I had a team of fabulous doctors who were on my side through it all pushing me to keep going and keep believing.

In June I tried the last treatment my doctor knew to do. I got 5 whole days of relief after that, and I knew I needed to face my fears and send a message to my doctor. I sent the message that said “I want the surgery.”

Excision surgery was absolutely last on my list of treatments, but I felt like it was what I needed to do, and my doctor said the same thing. She was confident in doing the surgery at that point. My surgery was scheduled for July 1st and it came so fast.

Before I knew it I was in pre op, texting my friends that I was getting ready to go into the operating room.

I was excited and nervous and just really ready to see what my doctor was going to find.

They wheeled me back and started the anesthesia, and a few hours later I woke up in recovery. I was in and out for a while, but was trying to have a coherent conversation with the nurse that was in the room watching me. He told me that everything went well, and that I was able to be discharged whenever I felt ready to get up. A few minutes later, I was stumbling to the bathroom to get ready to leave.

My mom picked me up and at that point I was a little more awake and ready to hear about what my doctor found. I was nervous to ask my mom, but I also was so curious. My mom showed me the pictures that my doctor took of my endometriosis, and it was crazy to see the disease stuck to my organs. I’m not going to go into detail as to where she found it, but all I can say was that it was on a lot of the organs that I wasn’t expecting, but that made so much sense.

I slept a lot after my operation, and I was really sore for the first week. Laparoscopic surgeries are painful because they fill you up with gas and getting rid of gas that is built up in your shoulders is very annoying. After about a week or so, I was heading back home to get ready to start working again. I was slowly easing back into life, and it felt weird to feel somewhat normal. I was still sore and tired for a few weeks post surgery, but my endometriosis pain was gone.

Like I didn’t feel it. I felt normal.

I couldn’t believe it, and I still can’t.

I have cried a lot. Not because I am sad, but because I am healing. Jesus promised healing, and I am walking in it. Tomorrow marks 6 weeks since my surgery, and today when I was driving home from the chiropractor I was tearing up again because I just never thought I was going to get my life back. Even leaving my chiropractor not in pain, is a huge deal for me.

It is crazy to think that I have lived with that disease for so long that it became engrained in who I am.

And now I am healing from it, and it is no longer holding me back, but instead it has given me a story to share.

A story of fear, pain, faith, and hope.

I want my story to show other people that even when all hope seems lost, and chronic illness has taken up every ounce of normal life, that it is worth it to keep fighting. Keep advocating for your health. & Keep trusting Jesus with it all.

His timing is better and He delights in healing His children.

-Taylor Kate