I was fourteen years old and I already had a picture in my head of how I hoped my life would go. Soon to enter the new and mysterious land, also known as High School, I felt as if nothing in my life could go wrong.

That picture in our heads, the one where we have this perfect future planned out, is often times the picture that screws us up the most. Nobody ever anticipates bad and horrible things happening to them. We are all hopeful that our lives will smoothly unravel into the flawless life that we have envisioned for ourselves.

There is nothing particularly wrong with this form of thinking, some of us may just be extremely optimistic, which is nothing short of an amazing attribute to have. Our thinking becomes toxic when our picture perfect plan doesn't unfold the way we intend for it to and as a result our entire world seems to be crashing down around us. We cant handle our plans being changed or maneuvered.

This is exactly where my fourteen year old self stood. In the middle of a hurricane. Vision completely blurred, nothing around me but a swirling wind of chaos.

I had just received the news that my dad, who had been suffering from an unknown disease for many months, would only have a maximum of a few more months to live.

My entire world seemed to be falling down around me. I have never been one to deal with change very well, nor could I comprehend that my life was completely swerving off the straight and narrow path that I had laid out for it to go down.

No longer was I the care free girl who had school dances and crushing on boys to focus on.

While I was fighting back the tears at school and holding a smile, my dad was at home fighting for his life and holding onto the hope of a cure.

Luckily my story has a good ending, an amazing one at that. But not all get their "happily ever after". Life isn't always that generous.

After an endless amount of misdiagnosis's and my family about to give up hope, my dad finally got correctly diagnosed with Lyme Disease, and miraculously a few months after treatment he was healed. And yes, it was nothing short of a miracle.

My advice to you is when life brings you hard times, whether that be a financial crisis, a divorce, a death, or an illness, find your calm within the chaos and never stop believing in miracles.

Here's a poem I wrote titled "Miracles":

Fourteen and frightened wondering what will become of my dad

A greedy disease called Lyme stole all my family ever had

My dad's smile, laughter, strength, and his ability to live pain free

Some doctors projected his life expectancy in months to be less than three

A scared 8th grader went to school holding a smile, oh if they only knew

The pain she held deep down, her mind constantly screaming "what do I do?"

For months I watched his weight drop incessantly on the scale

His body became a torturous trap, he couldn't leave, much like a jail

Fourteen and not knowing if my dad would live to see me graduate

Or get married or have children, oh this disease I began to hate

I remember not wanting to go home, for sadness engulfed the air

Seeing my dad in pain and feeling helpless was more than I could bare

Witnessing my dad cry was the first time i'd seen him do so in all my years

I went and held him, and together we cried what seemed like a thousand tears

My family never prayed the rosary so hard in our entire lives

We wanted to rid him of his constant pain that felt like that of knives

"Please Dear God, if it be Your will, rid my dad of this constant pain"

All I wanted was to see my dad run again, walk without a cane

After months of watching my dad cringe in pain, getting closer to dying

A miracle occurred, something completely unheard of, mystifying

My dad fought the good fight, staying true to Gods plan during the unknown

I thank God everyday for curing my dad, he's the most courageous man I know