Saturday, January 8, 2011

Rainbows

Welcome to the blog! The main purpose of Beautiful To Him is to fight eating disorders by helping each girl realize how unique and beautiful she is. What is an eating disorder? It is when a person begins to see herself as "fat" or "not pretty" and makes an unhealthy attempt to lose weight.

Last year I went to the hospital because I could no longer eat. I didn't have a true eating disorder, but I started having very painful stomach aches. In the process of healing, the doctors moved me to a unit that would help me learn to eat again. There I met many girls who were dealing with a problem a little different from mine: an eating disorder. One of the girls that I will never forget was (because I can't say her real name), Vionca. Vionca was quite older than me, but she was about the kindest girl I've met. I remember she was the first person to smile at me and the first person to give me a friendship bracelet. The time I'll NEVER forget was when we both got to meet David Archuleta together! When Vionca shook his hand, she nearly ran into the wall from nervousness!

But what really broke my heart was her eating disorder. Once a staff asked Vionca how she was feeling, and she said "stuck." The lady asked her, " How long have you been stuck, Vionca?" Vionca replied, " Five years." That's a long time to be stuck.... stuck with a monster, stuck with an eating disorder.

Now Vionca is doing much better and I hope God will bring us together again one day. I met so many other girls on that unit who were all so beautiful, but also stuck. I still have faith that there will be a rainbow at the end of the storm for each one of those girls. As Vionca says, "I believe rainbows are a sign of God." This blog is for Vionca, "B &B" (if you are reading this right now), "Ally," "Sharly," "Kiarra", "Anastasia," "Laura," and so many others!

- Michal