My daughter, Ashley, has been a fighter since she was an infant. The doctors told us she probably wouldn’t survive.
She was too weak. Too sick.
But every now and then the doctors are wrong.
The labels incorrect.
The bleak outcome able to be turned around.
Somebody needs to know that today. Seemingly bleak outcomes can be turned around.
Limitations will always be a part of life.
But the passion of a heart determined to overcome extends out and up and beyond the barriers.
This is what I have learned from this precious girl. My daughter so determined… so committed… so crazy passionate about redefining the word, “no.”
“No” to Ashley means somebody needs more information. Or, she just needs a little more time to show the world how “yes” is possible.
And that’s exactly what she did this weekend at the State Track Meet.
Here she is clearing 9 feet… Her personal best which ties her for the school record.
I’m so inspired by you Ash…. So very inspired! Thank you for reminding me to look beyond the barrier. Always beyond.
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The winners from last week’s Ultimate Mom Giveaway are: Heidi Forsythe and Marla Schultz. Please email Holly@Proverbs31.org to obtain your prize!
Hi Lysa, That is so awesome!!! Once again you have said it perfectly…life doesn’t always go like we think it should, but having God in our corner & trusting fully in Him will certainly take our life on the most wonderful journeys & cross paths with those we might not of. Hugs Linda
P.S. Your are doing a wonderful job at boot camp, thanks for sharing the ropes.
Hope, and the possibility of successful outcomes – keeps us going doesn’t it?
Congrats to Ashley! Makes me miss my track days
Tell her to enjoy every minute of it!
Blessings to you,
Kate
It’s an amazing feeling when we are so awe inspired by our kiddos! It’s just a glimmer of what God feels for all of us.. It’s beautiful THANKYOU!
One word and one word only comes to mind. AWESOME!!! GOOD JOB GIRL!! I love that attitude! And to Lysa for being such a wonderful encouragement to this blessed child!!!!! Blessings on your day!!!
Lysa thank you for sharing your life and reminding me of this truth. This faith walk is not easy but we would never know who we are in Christ if we never faced limitations or barriers. In God all things are possible and we can do all things through Christ.
Seeing your daughter encouraged me to keep pressing on. Keep choosing to believe God’s report!
Joanne
OH, I love it!! Congrats to Ashley. Thanks for sharing!!
Lysa, as a Mom of a little boy with Down Syndrome, who tries harder than anyone, this give us hope for his future! Thanks for the reminder that life is what you make it, no matter what your limitations may be!
How precious when God turns man’s no into His yes! Thank you for sharing the reminder, and congratulations on an amazing feat to your daughter
My sons, Jon & Alex, are my inspiration for many of the same reasons. Alex started chemo at 3 weeks old, defied all the projections, and one septic infection to not only survive but to become a healthy, active 5 year old that amazes everyone with his intelligence and skills. Jon, his twin brother, amazes me because even though he faces his own challenges that we are still trying to define, he never admits defeat and goes through each day with such spirit and enthusiasm that it is contagious. It is amazing to see how God has worked through them even in their young lives to say yes to so many things that man has said no to.
Awesome!! Especially the “I’m so darn proud to be her MOM” scream. I keep my computer’s volume up to the max . . . so, yeah, I’m awake now!! LOL
Dear Lysa, how amazing is God… good for her, I will keep praying for you and your family…thank you for being a faithful servant…
Congrats to her!!! Great support she has, too (as heard by the many screams lol)
Way to go Ashley!!! (Mom too!!) I am sure you inspire her as much as she inspires you. God puts us in each other’s lives to be his eyes and mouth and ears. May you both continue to bless each other for HIS glory!!
How very proud you must be, mama, so very proud . . . of your daughter tying a school record at the State Track Meet and pushing past the barriers others said were impossible! How very inspirational for us all!
Right on Ashley! You go girl! PTL!
I love the scream when she nailed it! Way to go Ashley!!!
WOW! Fantastic!!! you are an inspiration Miss Ashley!!
I also am inspired and needed it today!!!!
Congratulations, Ashley!! and to you too Lysa- I know you are SOOOOO proud
That Momma scream gives me tears! I Understand it! Congratulations! to both of you, all of you.
And thanks for sharing with us – we love rejoicing with you.
Thank you Lysa and Ashley for reminding us all that through God ALL things are possible!! So proud of you Ashley! You GO girl, and go with GOD!
Isn’t it great to have someone in our lives who redefine the word ‘NO’. Congratulations Ashley! You go girl!! My grandson is to me what you are to your Mom. He has pushed the limits all his life and has shown me that there is no such words as “I can’t” or “it’s not possible” because with God ALL things are possible.
Way to go Ashley!!! You’ve always had it girl.
Love this! I learn the same lesson from our tenacious girl, who currently is on the DL due to a fractured patella (knee cap). Her sport – gymnastics. Be still my beating heart…
Way to go Ashley!
Isn’t is just like getting birthday cake, an engagement ring, waking up to Christmas Morning and celebrating Easter all rolled into one to see glimpses like this of the amazingness that God is working in your kids? You just can’t hold in the screams and shouts and bursting joy.
Drink it in, Mama.
That is SO inspiring. Isn’t she the daughter who hurt something and had to stop competing? I love her boundary pushing. We need those who will push the limit, and refuse to stop based on someone elses definition of what “can be done.”
This stirs my blood and makes me want to shout (just like you)
Praise God!!!
Thanks, I really needed to read this today~
Way to Go Ashley! You rocked that event!
Lysa, I have longed for my mom to say those things to me, at 28 I still havent heard them! You are a terrific mother and woman of God!
As I read this I am waiting for a specialist appointment (tomorrow-Valentine’s Day) for 2 masses a.k.a. nodules growing on my thyroid. I am waiting on God’s report & yet I am still feeling shaken & scared!
I thank you God for this post be here today…it seems as if just for me!
Thank you also, Lysa, for speaking from your heart…the image of God’s…
Love you dearly,
Tara Falkner Bush
I love that I’m reading a post of a mother being inspired by her daughter. It’s not uncommon to be inspired by our godly mothers – mine inspires me – but to think that a daughter could inspire her mother… Cool!
thanks for the reminder to always look beyond the barrier. “Always beyond”.
I’m so proud of you Lysa and Ashley.
My daughter inspires me also. Shes my only child we have been tight like “Peas & Carrots.”She didnt have it easy growing up. I was a single parent, trying slowly to creep up the food chain. We lived in a well to do area and she went without. But we had fun. She had friends now and again but she always seemed to be looking in at the crowd She has ADHD and so do I. So I know how it can be. I fell terribly ill when she was 12 and my parents took over taking care of me and her. II out of the blue have a total mental breakdown and Im diagnosed with major depressive disorder and being bi-polar not to mention my ADHD I was having psycotic breaks. All I could think about was freeing myself from this world I was really bad like couldnt take care of myself, for about 6 years the last two I have been healing, I have alot of memory loss due to the ECT’s (electric shock therapy) that I had constantly for 3 years. My daughter all along witnessing this, I only tried to kill myself 2 times and both times obviously unscucessful. I have finally got the right meds Im taking two college classes and will take 2 more later this semister so I can find my way back to the workforce. I wouldnt have started any of this if it wernt for my daughter. I wasnt a mother to her for 6 years and when I started coming back to my self I wasnt the same mom she remembered. She hated me for that. She didnt respect me, she didnt like me, she didnt care about me, I didnt exist to her anymore. We have been working on our relationship but its been a long, long road! We yell ,we scream but we say we love eachother in the end, She is in college away from home shes a senior and will be graduating in May, We do alot of texting I mean a lot! Through all shes been through she has made the Deans list the last 3 semesters and intends on making it her graduating semester. Shes in a sorority and in a Accounting and Finance Fraternaty of which shes the secretary. Then she tutors local school kids in math as well as tutoring other underclassmen with there accounting classes. Then she seems to have enough time to do her own homework and classes and make it on the dean’s list at that. She inspires me to be a better me I know if she is 21 and can do all this I can go back to school and get a job to get me off SSDI (social security disability Insurance) I am not well I never will be 100% well but I am going to do my best to keep myself self supported. Its really rough because we have to start paying back her loans in June. Im praying that I can get one more year to get through these classes so I can get a job to afford the payments,
So once again my sweetheart of an angel who went through a really rough time still found it within her to go on and suceed and inspire others not just me but other people too.
That brings tears to my eyes!! Rejoicing with you for Ashley’s “yes”, determination and labors of love. Wow!
Hugs,
Sharon
This also brings tears to my eyes. My daughter just had a miracle baby daughter! She was born a month early with the cord around her neck three times. Several complications followed and she was in the NICU for 9 days! She healed very quickly by the grace of God ! With a couple of black eyes to show that she is a fighter, she continues to prove that sometimes the Doctors are wrong!! At my daughters first Drs appt she was told by the high risk Dr that she would have a miscarriage . That did not happen! God has held our little one in his hands!! We feel so blessed with our little fighter! I want others to feel encouraged and continue to pray for your own miracle !! God bless your Ashley!
I also have a “YES” girl:)
She challenges me daily when I say no.
I love how you said that “she just needs a little more time to show the world how ‘Yes’ is possible”…incredible to have such a certain perspective of the possibilities in her life!! Faith must be her spiritual gift…
God bless Ashley for her passion!
This… was beautiful & I too have tears in my eyes! What an inspiration to us all!!
Congrats Ashley!!! and thank you I needed to know this today “Somebody needs to know that today. Seemingly bleak outcomes can be turned around.” Gods timing is so amazing!
I love walking miracles!
it brought me to tears, I’m assuming that screech of a scream was from u mommy lisa it sounds like only a mother can and it encourages me to hope for my 2 year old who last week had a hearing test and doesn’t hear from her left ear, the news crushed me but I have to believe that God heals and is in control, and to trust what he chooses for her, please pray for her ELIYAH is her name meaning the lord is my God.
Amazing! My girls didn’t get to do indoor this year. They, too, started out behind the 8 ball. That is an incredible jump. Last summer, I sat at the University track and watched some older men and women who were training with the U.S. Gold Medalist in Pole Vault, while my girls trained in sprint.
There is just nothing like when your baby finds their “thing”.
I have not idea how to “be” that kinda girl, let alone raise my daughter to be that determined. Aahhhh… but I know a God who does know how. Help me Lord…