Editor’s Note: Sending a heartfelt congratulations to Connie on this anniversary month of freedom from hepatitis C. Thank you for sharing your journey and helping many others who faced hepatitis C.  

There are a few dates in my journey with Hepatitis C that will always stand out as mile marker dates. Each one unique. Each one special for their own reasons. But each one represents a declaration, a stake in the battleground of fighting Hepatitis C. You have these dates too I imagine.

One very special mile marker day is April 9th, 2012. It was 6 years ago that I began my third treatment for Hepatitis C. My treatment lasted 24 weeks (6 months!), and God used it to bring me the cure. After a long 20 year battle with Hep C, the Hep C giant was dead and never to return.

My recovery was a slow start but I gradually picked up speed, found my turbo tennis shoes and got the wind in my sails. It took me a good 6 months to a year to fully recover. In recovery, for a good while I’d look over my shoulder and wonder would the Hep C giant rear its ugly head again. It didn’t. Defeated once and for all. Praise God!

April 9th, 2012 was also the very same day Life Beyond Hepatitis C was launched. God had laid it on my heart in 2011 to form an organization to help Hepatitis C patients and their families through the journey of Hep C and show them God’s hope and light through the darkness with liver disease.

I didn’t know what my future was. I had done two prior treatments that didn’t work and here I was fighting a third round. But I trusted in the one who held my future in His hands. I did an online treatment journal that first year and the whole world could follow along. Treatment and recovery was made up of the good, the bad, and the ugly. I was immensely transparent. (See my online treatment journal beginning April 9th 2012 through treatment ending September 23rd 2012 and into recovery)

Even during my 20 year battle, I learned we can live beyond our circumstances. Hep C does not define us, nor does it control the number of our days. Only God does that. I said for a long time, “I don’t live with Hep C, it lives with me.” Now, “Hep C doesn’t live with me anymore.”

So today is a special day. A celebration day. A day to remember that despite the odds, God took a simple Texas shepherdgirl and transformed her into a Giant Killer and overcomer. God did that. The long wait had finally ended and the healing came. Folks, God is in the restoration business for everyone.

You may be on the battle ground right now fighting Hep C, or fighting complications with liver disease, but no matter where you are, there is no place without God’s hope, and help. He is there to help you get beyond where you’re at my friend.

We all have something to celebrate really. Every day, every week, are made up of things to be thankful for, gratitude for life, victories great and small. So today, will you join me in taking a side step from focusing on the battle and focus on all that you have to be thankful for?

I’m thankful for life. I’m thankful for second, third and many chances to start over- I’m thankful for new beginnings. I’m thankful that in spite of the long hard journey and the wait, it was worth every step to get here. God’s plans, His way is good. I’m thankful for His strength and picking me up countless times. I’m thankful for God’s amazing unconditional love, forgiveness and sacrifice. I’m thankful for His perfect plan. I’m thankful for His healing in His way and His timing. And I’m thankful for the amazing team God has put together here at Life Beyond Hep C, Mike, Richard, Suzanne, Hernando, John M., John P., Christine, and Mr. Fix-It, you guys Rock!

And I’m thankful for YOU my friends!

This entry was originally published on Life Beyond Hepatitis C, and is reprinted with permission.