Today marks the anniversary of a life-changing event that occurred when I was just 9 years old.

July 5, 2006, is a date forever etched in my memory. On that day, I had no idea how drastically my life was about to change. I was far too young to truly understand what Type 1 Diabetes was—but that was the day I was diagnosed.

The fact that they discovered it before anything serious happened was a miracle in itself. When my mom took me to our family doctor because I hadn’t been feeling well or like myself, my blood sugar wouldn’t even register on the office’s glucose meter. The doctor immediately told my mom to take me straight to the hospital. When we arrived at the children’s hospital, my blood sugar was reading over 700—and no one knew how long it had been that high. It could have caused serious complications with my eyes, kidneys, and many other parts of my body. But miraculously, everything checked out fine. I was hospitalized for about a week while my parents and I were given a crash course in how to manage this life-changing disease.

In the time that followed, God was there—walking beside my parents and me—as we learned, through classes and training sessions, how to live with Type 1 Diabetes. About a year after my diagnosis, God blessed me with the opportunity to start using an insulin pump. After months of taking shots at every meal and throughout each day, the pump was truly life-changing. I adjusted to it wonderfully, and it has been one of the greatest blessings in managing this disease.

Through the years—first as a child and then as a teenager—God kept His hand on me. Even during my teenage years, when I wasn’t always as disciplined in managing my condition as I should have been, He never left my side. To this day, I’ve never been hospitalized due to diabetes-related issues, and I’ve never experienced complications with my eyes, kidneys, or any other organs.

Another testimony from my journey is this: growing up, I was often told—and heard many times—how difficult it would be to get pregnant and carry a baby to full term with Type 1 Diabetes. I was warned about how hard it would be to keep my blood sugars stable during pregnancy and how high blood sugar levels could negatively affect the baby. I heard about all the complications that could arise, and I even knew of women who chose not to have children because of the risks associated with T1D. All of this left me wondering—and worrying—if I would ever be able to have children of my own.

Fast forward to 2019—after being married for about two and a half years—God opened the door for me to be referred to and accepted at the Vanderbilt Diabetes Clinic. At my first appointment, I shared my concerns with my new doctor about wanting to have children and expressed all the fears I had gathered over the years from what I had been told. She simply waved her hand and said, “Your blood sugars just need a little tweaking, and you’ll be perfectly fine to start trying!” I was astounded—I never imagined I’d hear those words or that it could be that simple.

Just a few months later, I was given the all-clear, and in June 2020, I found out I was pregnant. Once again, God moved, and I was accepted into the Vanderbilt Clinic for Women’s Health under an OB-GYN who specialized in high-risk pregnancies for mothers with T1D. Despite the seriousness of my condition, I didn’t experience a single complication during the pregnancy. Our first daughter, Bellamy, was born on February 26, 2021. Other than a brief stay in the NICU due to low blood sugar, she was perfectly healthy.

Our second miracle, Blaise, was born on December 19, 2024, with the same testimony—no complications during the high-risk pregnancy and no health issues after birth. I am eternally grateful for my two little miracle babies!

There’s so much more to my story that I could share, but for the sake of not writing a full book on all that God has done for me, I’ll keep it to this short reflection. Since the day I was diagnosed, I’ve continually sought God for healing. I’ve prayed, fasted, received prayer, begged, and—at times—grown discouraged while asking for that miracle.

But as I look back over the years, I can clearly see that even though God hasn’t chosen to perform the “big” miracle of completely healing me from T1D, He has performed countless miracles in my life—again and again. He has kept me healthy, whole, and joyful. He has blessed me with two of the greatest gifts I could ever ask for: my daughters.

There have been moments when I’ve questioned God and wondered why the healing hasn’t come. But I believe there is purpose in this trial. I know His hand is on my life, and I pray that through this journey, my life can be a testimony and an encouragement to someone walking through the same or a similar path.

I KNOW God is writing my story—and I’m so grateful that He holds the pen!

– A Redeemed Ruby