07/25/2026
13 years ago today, my life changed forever.
June: went in for a routine check-up feeling in the best health of my life at the time, and to my complete shock heard, “I’m sending you to a specialist, and Rachel, this is not optional.”
Followed by a blur of appointments and waiting and suddenly wondering, at 32, how much time I might have left.
And then came July 25th.
And a “simple surgery”…that was anything but.
Deep inside was another nodule that hadn’t shown up on any of the tests. It was pushing on my esophagus and growing, and would probably have killed me by closing off my esophagus. I didn’t even know it was there.
That nodule was also completely tangled up in my vocal chord nerve. If the surgeon hadn’t seen that, he could have snipped it.
And then, very somberly, he told my parents who had come to be with me for the surgery, “I tried to be as careful as I could, but with how much I had to manipulate the nerve, I’m not sure your daughter has a voice anymore.”
But Love had a different outcome.
I could tell you story after story of the miracles that occurred that weekend, but the one dearest to me in all the world happened a few days later at my parents’ piano while I was at their home recovering.
Beginning to get a little strength back, I sat down and lovingly began to pour out my heart on the well-worn keys that had voiced so many moments of celebration and caught so many tears. Caught up in the moment, almost without thinking about it, I opened my mouth and began to sing a song that was deeply meaningful to me in that season.
“Love came down and rescued me, Love came down and set me free…I am Yours. I am forever Yours…”
It was MY voice 😭 I was hearing, at full strength. And the depth of that moment I still can’t quite put into words.
Knowing that your life has been spared is a gratitude too deep to be adequately expressed. And knowing your life has been handed back to you…that goes even deeper.
“Mountain high or valley low, I sing out remind my soul that I am Yours…I am forever Yours...”
So I celebrate July 25th, and forever will… the day that Love rescued me…and gave me back my voice. ❤️🎙🎤😭🙌❤️
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