The Turn Around After Turner’s Syndrome
NOTHING BROKEN, NOTHING MISSING: HOW I FOUND OUT WHAT WAS MISSING & WHO MADE UP FOR IT IN SPITE OF
Have you ever felt like something was not quite right? Out of place? I know I have. I’m sure my mother felt like this too when doctors told her I’d be born with webbed feet and hands --circa 1997. I was supposed to show up around the fall, but of course, I grew a bit impatient and arrived that summer instead. When I got older, my mom told me this story and said she refused to believe what the doctors said. She trusted God and said she believed what HE said. Little did I know, I would have to learn to do the same for myself later on in life. On February 7, 2022, I got a call from the OB/GYN my doctor recommended me to. She let me know that my blood test came back. The Mayo Clinic diagnosed me with Turner Syndrome. In a nutshell, according to my tests, there was a piece of my second X chromosome that appeared to be missing.
Proverbs 3:6-8
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
Though I’d been a Christian all my life, this is definitely another opportunity to put my trust in the God I still believe in. That’s easy to do when everything’s good. When life is cupcakes, candy, and roses, we can trust God easily. When life is difficult, and trials come, it’s hard to submit to God and trust Him.
I believe that the God who sent Jesus–His Son–to die and rise again for our sins and our healing will do what He said. Even in Scripture, it says that Jesus died not only so that we could have eternal life, but so that we’d be healed today:
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 1 Peter 2:24 ( with special emphasis added on the past tense our healing is a completed work, we just have to believe it and walk in it! )
By Jesus’ stripes, I am already healed. It’s because of Him that I am here. Literally. Around one in 2,500 women are diagnosed with Turner Syndrome. I also recently found that many people with Turner Syndrome (TS) don’t make it out of the womb. Most TS pregnancies end in miscarriage. Many women with TS have hearing, heart, and/or kidney issues–none of which I have. Many women with TS are at a higher risk for diabetes, which I don’t have either. I am a living testimony that Jesus still heals and that He still saves. Sure, now I have an answer as to why certain things happened in my life. Like the fact that: I always seemed to be a ‘late bloomer’, my nape (aka kitchen) was always uneven, and my cycle has almost always been pretty irregular. Maybe some other things too: like the fact that I struggled in the driving arena and in maintaining friendships and relationships (okay, The Lord is still helping me with these two areas, so please pray for your girl if you’re a Christian too). But the point is, God healed and is still healing me. All of the major issues I am supposed to have “on paper” I don’t have. The rest, well The Lord and I are working on together. Jesus Himself is the One Who truly does make up for Every “Missing” Piece and “Broken” Place in life. This brings me to why I chose this heading: “Nothing Broken Nothing Missing”.
“AROUND ONE IN 2,500 WOMEN ARE DIAGNOSED WITH TURNER SYNDROME. I ALSO RECENTLY FOUND THAT MANY PEOPLE WITH TURNER SYNDROME (TS) DON’T MAKE IT OUT OF THE WOMB. MOST TS PREGNANCIES END IN MISCARRIAGE. ”
Almost a year before the diagnosis, I reconnected with a friend of mine. Towards the end of the year, she invited me to a Christian conference that she hosts with her sisters every January to worship and praise the Lord. I desired to go the year she invited me, but I’d just gotten over COVID and already had a pretty rough December if I am honest. But by the time January 2023 rolled around, I’d been invited by her AND her sister, and most importantly, I felt led by the Holy Spirit to go already anyway. As I came for a worship night, there was one song sung that truly blessed me. I’m sure you’ll see why after reading the lyrics from this truly beautiful song:
“Shalom, Shalom Nothing Broken, Nothing Missing
Shalom, Shalom You Give Good Things to Your Children”
If you are curious, the song is called, you guessed it: Shalom Shalom by A4L (@a4lmusic). Also, the conference I was referring to is called Addicted Love.
This song blessed me because God really does heal our broken places.
Broken Families. Broken Friendships. Broken Dreams. Broken Chromosomes. God heals them all. Sure not every relationship and/or friendship in our lives will survive the test of time or even end on the best of terms, but God will help you learn how to forgive and heal your hurt. I know because He’s still helping me even as I type these very words. He will never let you down. Ever. Period. Even if your dreams have been crushed (or broken) and life didn’t happen the way you would’ve planned it or wanted it to, God will heal your heart. He will do so much more than you could’ve ever dreamed, thought, or imagined.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20 (NIV)
Jesus heals our “missing” pieces too. Like I said before I always felt a little different or out of the box. A little different. I knew something was “missing” long before I got that call last year. I’d pretty much known this almost all my life. Something about me was definitely unique and I couldn’t–and still can’t–deny it. I thought maybe it was because I didn’t have my biological dad around when I was younger. Turns out that many other people have gone through this too. Could it be because I was molested as a child for around three years? Nope. What about the fact that I always found it hard to make and keep friends? Turns out other people have had the exact same struggle. Well, it could possibly be because I’d always found navigating my relationships with my parents and family members hard. Or even the fact that my adoptive parents and my biological mother had various health issues and have gone home to be with the Lord as I write this. Of course, it absolutely had to be because I was diagnosed with a rare condition if nothing else. Actually, while these three definitely affected who I was and who I am becoming, they didn’t make my story any less “average” at all.
“BROKEN FAMILIES. BROKEN FRIENDSHIPS. BROKEN DREAMS. BROKEN CHROMOSOMES. GOD HEALS THEM ALL. ”
All this tells me is that I desperately needed help. Not only did I need physical healing, but I needed to be healed emotionally, mentally, and spiritually as well. Now I know you might think that all of the above is a lot to go through. Yes, It is. The truth is we all are missing something or someone even if it’s not a parent or part of a chromosome. The truth is that this does come with some hard times. But through it all, no matter what or who you or I are “missing”. The Lord still heals and delivers us from all afflictions, no matter what we go through in life.
Psalm 34:19: Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
STAY ENCOURAGED, FRIEND! IF YOU NEED SOMEONE TO TALK TO OR HAVE QUESTIONS, FEEL FREE TO DM ME @INTRODUCINGBRI ON IG AND TIKTOK