The bracelets on Juana’s graduation diploma from therapy (pictured above) didn’t make sense to many, but I knew she’d understand.  The bracelets tell a story.

The bracelets tell of the persistence, hard work, and determination Juana demonstrated as she pushed to regain movement after being paralyzed from Guillain Barre over three years ago.    The first day she came to the clinic she became fatigued just walking the distance of the room with a walker.  She couldn’t go up and down stairs or even brush her hair.  She wanted to make tortillas and the hand crafts she sold each week in the market.  The problem was she couldn’t even close her hands.

One day we used some Play-doh to work on the movement and strength in her hand.  She still couldn’t close her hands.  Frustrated, she broke down in tears.  “Don’t worry,”  I said.  “One day you’ll look back on this and see how far you’ve come.”  I hoped I was right.

This year, while in the market, she gave us these three personally made bracelets.  Now she was not only making bracelets and tortillas, but she could also thread a needle.  She was back to her pre-Guillan Barre abilities.

However, the bracelets also tell of a spiritual victory.  During her recovery process, her husband, who had regularly come with her to therapy, left her for another woman.  I remember the tears as she shared the struggle to pay the bills and provide for her children.  Today, the tears were gone and joy filled her heart as she shared how Jesus provided strength and hope as she turned to Him during these times.  She wasn’t going back and encouraged us to keep moving forward in Him.

The bracelets tell the story of victory, physically and spiritually.  God has used her life for His glory.  Through her life, others have been encouraged in their faith or come to faith in Christ.  You can just see the joy radiating from her face!