Women Who Turned Their Mess Into Their Message: Part One: Linda Kuhar
I’m taking this week to prepare for our son’s high school graduation open house {and nurse my horrid chest cold–prayers welcomed!} And so, I am having some guests on this week; women with amazing stories of how, with God’s power, they overcame an obstacle, adversity or tragedy they never asked for in their life.
For one, it was medical and life-threatening. For the second, it was when her marriage was rocked. Not just by the fact that her husband had been unfaithful to her but also by the discovery that the woman was pregnant with his child. The third guest has a very rare disease that caused her to lose her leg. However, when she lost a limb, she gained a ministry.
Each of these women turned their mess into their message. {I wish I could take credit for that clever saying, but I actually heard it somewhere a few years back. Can’t remember where but I’ve never forgotten it!}
Today, let’s start off the week with our first guest, a woman named Linda.
I met Linda at our Proverbs 31 She Speaks Intensive writers and speakers conference in January when when was in my writer’s small group. As the women in our fabulous group took turns sharing what they wanted to write about, my heart skipped a beat when Linda shared.
She didn’t feel called to share about a certain topic or passion. She felt called to share her story; a story that includes her having advanced cancer, being in a coma and nearly dying only to now be a normal wife and mom with NO lasting effects. She just radiates Jesus and knows God has a reason for her still being here.
She is now a life coach {and giving away two coaching sessions so be sure to read until the end!} and you can meet her here. {I am off to sort through pictures of my boy for the open house. Translation: I’ll be bawling for the next two hours.}
Linda Kuhar is a Christian Life Coach working with women around the globe. She received her certification from Christian Coach Institute in 2010, as well as certification as a Certified Human Behavior Consultant in 2011. In 2012 Linda became a Board Certified Coach with The Center for Credentialing & Education. She’s honored to serve on the Executive Team at Proverbs 31 Ministries Online Bible Studies. Linda speaks at organizations such as The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Christian radio station New Life 91.9, churches and women’s ministries throughout the Carolinas.
Linda has been married to her high school sweetheart Todd for almost 19 years. They have an amazing 12-year-old daughter Megan who has a passion and love for art. You can find Linda’s popular weekly devotional at www.lindakuhar.com.
Here’s Linda:
May 11, 2009 is a day I will never forget. I had a nagging cough that I had been battling for a few weeks, so I headed to my doctor’s office for a routine sick visit. The doctor decided to send me for a chest x-ray to see if I had pneumonia.
As I proceeded to the radiologist, I started feeling a little unsettled. The x-ray technician asked me if I had been experiencing back pain long and immediately my heart sank. I knew she saw something that was not quite right.
My heart started to race as I waited patiently for the radiologist. The second I saw his face I started to cry. “Mrs. Kuhar, you have a 10cm mass behind your heart and we need to do a CAT scan immediately.”
Within days I was diagnosis with Stage 3 cancer. My life changed permanently within a blink of an eye, and honestly at that point I did not think life could get any worse. Little did I know that, within months, I would be in a coma on life support given less than a 5 percent chance of ever waking up.
I was in a coma for almost four weeks. When the doctor’s told the family to start preparing for my funeral, friends and family gathered in a prayer vigil. It was that very night that changed the outcome of my life. They prayed for divine intervention and our awesome God provided us with an absolute MIRACLE!
I WOKE UP! Upon regaining consciousness, however, I was told I would never breathe or walk again on my own. Time for another miracle.
A year later, only by the power of God, I wasn’t lying in a hospital bed unable to breathe or walk without help. I was able to do both!
But it doesn’t stop there. Not only could I walk….I COULD RUN!
God proved the medical field wrong once again and I ran my very first half marathon with Team In Training for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. God graciously took those months of chemotherapy and intensive care in the hospital and turned them into 13.1 miles of strengthened vitality.
Today, my life’s purpose is to love and encourage women to be all God created them for through Christian Life Coaching. You can watch my miracle video here. I pray my story inspires each of you to never give up and trust that God always has the last word.
GIVEAWAY: Linda is giving two of you who leave comments a one-hour life coaching session. Just tell us this: in what area of life do you currently feel stuck? In procrastination, managing your home or time, negative self-talk or a relationship struggle? Coach Linda’s one hour call can help you begin to ge un-stauck! {winners announced Monday}
I’m currently stuck in my day-to-day work life. I feel I’m in a season of change and that God wants me to do something different, but I have no idea what that is. I’ve been in the same job for 18 years and I want to have a purpose in life, one that tells my story of how God restored my marriage from the pits! I feel “lost” right now but know I’m meant to do something good. Please help!
Praise God!!!! Linda you have a wonderful story! I need someone to talk to about so many struggles in my life right now. Reading these comments I think there are so many women that need someone to listen to them. To help them sort out their feelings. Praying that God will send someone for all of us.
Even more than for myself, I would like to win the coaching session for my friend Mary. She does not have internet access so she cannot register on her own, but she has been thru so much in her life and it has just been a horrible year for her.
I have just recently quit my job to prepare for a new career. Meanwhile I am struggling to organize and prioritize my home and my interests, We have a small farm with animals and a garden, I am going back to school to study nutrition because of my recent diagnosis with kidney disease, and I want to find time to be creative in a studio that I am carving out in our bonus room. Add in an 8 year old and a dog and I am left wondering how I managed it all and worked. No wonder I was super stressed! Your story is wonderful! I am hoping to avoid dialysis by eating better and taking care of my self in general. I too hope that my experiences can be a help to other people. I have already greatly reduced my pain from my disease by making simple changes. Thanks for your inspiration.
Anita, praise God for taking charge of your life and health! I believe 100% in the power of healing through nutrition. God is going to use you in mighty ways! Sending you prayers today!
what area do i not feel stuck at is a better question. negative self talk, parenting without a map issues and trying to wrap my arms around God’s unconditional love without quite understanding that concept.
your story is awesome. thanks for sharing it
Thank you, Linda, for sharing how God worked miracles for you and how He is now using you to encourage and inspire others! I am a mom of three kids (17,15 and 9) who has been a stay at home mom for 17 years. I struggle with shedding “baby weight” I’ve held onto for far too long and discerning what God is calling me to in this rapidly changing phase of life.
Though I am not an expert on weight loss, however God led my to a 40 day juice fast last year and my life has not been the same since that experience. Learning to fully rely on God during those days gave me a new mindset when it comes to food and my relationship with it.
Life coach, what is that, and where was it 25 yr ago. Being a wife, mother, god wowan, and working full time with 2 jobs. Who has time for planning or dreaming. Our family business is taking over my husbands life, and while I under stand the need for the business to being its all, family does always put forth the same effort. This is tearing us apart, with our dreams, and life. We are always on end, and it worries me that I should be more faithful and supportative, but I feel lost in the shuffle and my dreams,. Sorry I stopped dreaming , they don;t come true. Just another day, and empty Prayers.
Thank you for your life story, I know that God works miracles, I see them everyday.
Hi Vicki! A life coach is someone who comes along side you, who provides clarity, encouragement, support and accountability to help you move forward in your life. I cannot image life without my personal coach. She keeps me focused and I am able to achieve my passions and goals in life! Hope that helps :)
Hi I struggle with an eating disorder and my children
I run a residential college scholarship for impoverished girls and genocide survivors in Kigali, Rwanda. I have struggled my entire life with depression and negative self esteem. Despite myself, God has blessed me with the opportunity to serve these girls. My challenge is that all of these girls have experienced trauma so unimaginable to me, and oftentimes I find myself at a loss for words to help. These are nagnificient girls- girls who have graduated high school despite their circumstances, and now have the ability to attend college. Rwanda is a patriarchal society, with few opportunities for women beyond getting married and having many children, or living on the streets, giving herself to man after man, with no real hope for rising out of poverty. I would like to gain the courage, confidence and capability to heal these women, not with just words of affirmation, but with tools that can help them overcome their past and live a joy-filled life.
M
Hi Linda: I struggle with a marriage one month shy of being done in the courts through divorce to a man I love but does not believe in God. He is living his life the way he wants to now with a girlfriend and not paying much attention to our 10 year old special needs son. I am also struggling to be a mom and a dad to our son and help him work through the anger he has for his dad and probably me too for not keeping our marriage together. I want to be the best I can be for Jackson and then find out who I am as a woman so I can move forward. Thank you for your honesty in your blog post today, I truly appreciate it and it really inspires me! :-) Angie
Thanks for sharing Linda! I am going to be an empty nester come fall and am not looking forward to this next stage of life…..I have loved being an involved parent with my kids and their activities and am mourning this stage being over and wondering what is next….some days I feel paralyzed knowing come fall it won’t be the same again…..
Beth, I will pray for you!! I know how you feel. Be strong for your children. Letting them go is so very hard. Take care of yourself and cling to God!!! Remember that he is ALWAYS right beside you! My children graduated several years ago. I still miss them so much!
Beth, now is the time to find what you are passionate about and start heading in that direction. I would like to encourage you to start exploring this now before the fall. God has a very specific plan and purpose for your life!!!
I feel stuck here! My husband and I have felt called to overseas missions for years but for one reason or another, have been in the US for 13 years now, waiting for the right time. We finally feel like the timing is right but are unsure how to proceed, where to serve!
My marriage is much like Kelley’s, with the added dimension of verbal abuse toward my kids and me. I’m lonely and scared and discouraged.
I feel stuck in all areas of my life right now. I recently laid my mom to rest unexpectedly and my only child just moved several states away to fulfill is dream career goal. I am recovering from surgery that has left me walking with the aid of crutches or a walker. I teach school and absolutely am dismayed at the administration. There are days that I just don’t care to go on. I’m embarrassed to share that but it is the truth. Life for me right now seems so difficult. I would love to be able to talk with a “life coach” to get my life back on track and get back to the fun loving, energetic person that I once was.
Thanks for sharing your incredible story.
Linda, what an amazing story of the power of prayer! God has blessed me in so many ways and I feel like I should be doing more to help others and show my gratitude to God. This is one of the areas of my life where I feel stuck. I just keep thinking there must be more that God wants to me to do with my life, but what? The second area where I feel stuck is in my marriage. After 11 years of marriage and with two kids, both of us working full time, and my husband working on his MBA, I feel like at this point we were just co-existing. I want more closeness in my marriage, but I don’t know how to get out of the rut we are currently in. Thank you for sharing your story!
I feel stuck in virtually every area of my life – managing home, mentoring children that are fast becomign teens and figuring out how to launch first born to college – i used to have a succesful career, full time church volunteer in leadership role for over 300 kids for 6+ years, i feel like I cant even do the basics now and learning how to transition parenting for this new phase of life, and battling menopause symptoms as well has fogged my brain so I barely recognize myself. I feel so overhwelmed with the business or should I say busy-ness of life I barely feel like I have the freedom to socialize with freinds but I know I need it, and fear I”m being a bad example for my kids to think they can do it all on their own without cultivating friends along the way. My husband is not fulfilled with his job so he comes home beaten down and I know I should be refreshing him and encouraging him more but I feel equally beaten down and we desparatly WANT to but we dont know how to get off what feels like a sharp downward spiral. I am barely staying on top of daily fires and never can find time to move ahead on long – term projects that continue to sit and gather dust. My husdband & I used to do regular planning, getaways – reviews of our 4 kids progress and now when we need it the most as they are getting older and making steps to their own real-life paths we havent been able to focus on those areas like we should. Weekly devotions with the kids have faded into the sunset – we definitely could use your coaching help. Thank you for sharing your inspiring story of God’s Grace. Praying……………
I struggle with negative self talk I married a msn 26 yrs ago and there were red flags and I still married him. I can’t forgive myself I put myself down for this and I am angry at him and myself. He has a gambling problem and we lost our house, cars, education funds, IRA and I have bad credit which limits me from recovering. I expected more of myself in making a choice for a partner. After all I was 29 years old when I married him, we have been divorced since 2011. There have been many miracles in my life since I have been on my own. I have a great job 2 daughters that are not in any trouble and to college every day, but there options for school are very limited because I cannot cosign for any loans. If I would have married someone else my children would not have suffered. When there friends were looking at schools to attend and go away my children didn’t have those options.
Thanks for listening
Linda
Hi Linda! Thank you for sharing your wonderful story with us. I am in a funk with everything. I am skipping Small Group. I am skipping exercise class. I just don’t feel like I have any time for me any more. I just finished a season of doing too much, I was on overload. I had maybe one night a week that I was home in the evenings. Thankfully most of that has resolved, but now I just don’t want to do anything. My poor husband has no idea on how to fix me & I don’t have any ideas either. Maybe a good talk with you would help get me back on the right path! Keep sharing your gift!
Hi Christine! It sounds like you got a little burnt out and you went from all to nothing. I would love to talk with you and help you find the “new You” to get unstuck and move forward. :)
As a mother to two under two and finances stretched to the breaking point, I sometimes feel overwhelmed with every day life. In particular with being more organized. Many times, I feel like I am just putting out fires and never really gaining ground. I am so grateful for the blessings in my life; I just wish I could let go of my anxieties and enjoy life more!
What an amazing story thank you for sharing – what an encouragement – what a faith builder.
A faith building story – my area of struggle is with weight control
Thanks so much for your inspiring story. Our God is so big and so mighty. He promises to hear our prayers, if only we call on Him with a believing heart. He certainly heard your loved ones prayers. So awesome!!
Being reminded of how big our God is, can make our struggles so much smaller.. Which is good.
I am constantly at a spiritual battle, with self doubt, guilt, PMS/ depression type issues. It puts a strain on my family, kids and husband relationships. In my heart, I know it’s a trial sent to strengthen and refine. But satan seems to win each time I get angry. Having an understanding heart to talk with would be amazing….
I will be retiring within the next month after 24 years of service. I know I’m not ready for a rocking chair, but what does God want me to do? How do I let go of the fear of letting go and just let go, allowing God to have total control in guiding me?
Karen, recently had a Mini-Retreat on Discovering God’s Will For Your Life and one thing I shared was as long as we are walking in God’s ways, we will be in His will. So I would like to encourage you to spend a little time journaling on what life looks like for you to walk in God’s ways. I think this will be a great place for you to start moving forward and putting fear behind you.
Thank you so much for sharing your incredible story. Praise God! I feel most stuck in what to do next in moving my business forward and just what I need to prioritize to put all the pieces together. Time management with it.Thanks for asking.
Hi Linda ~
What a testimony. Thank you for sharing what God has done for you with others it is awesome to hear of the way you are touching lives. God is so good :o)
I struggle with my marriage. With a marriage that doesn’t seem to be made in heaven – but I know what the bible says and I love my husband so for years I have continued to battle. I am a follower of God my husband believes but is not a follower ~ this was not always the case – we used to be more equal :) But along with this type of marriage comes a lot of loneliness – we have just started blessing our food together before we eat – that’s the only praying we do together. Oh how I desire a spouse to hit his knees with me and pray over our children, our marriages, our lives. I go to church alone (he blames it on our 24/7 business); however, he has employees that could cover. People say it’s lonely being at the top – that’s no joke. It is. I turn to Jesus to be spiritually filled and He fills me completely – but there is still that nagging loneliness when you get when you are in a spiritually unequal marriage – that’s part of being human, of the flesh and makes one understand how easy it would be to fall prey to someone that may lather you with attention. yikes…..
Thank you Linda for sharing your story. You are an amazing woman of God and I am so thankful for you!
I think this is quite common is many, many marriages. I hear your pain, it is very real and praise God for using that pain to draw you ever closer to Himself and being a beautiful light to your husband. Never give up encouraging and building him up-keep praying. Through the loneliness, He is working in you for His honor and glory and your good. Romans 8:28. Praying for you, Kelley.
Kelley, I understand how you feel. I spent many years struggling with my marriage not being evenly yoked. Even though today there are many things that I believe could improve in my marriage “spiritually”, I am content in my circumstances. God is faithful and He will give us the desires of our hearts. Sending you prayers today!