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The Soldier and the Squirrel introduces children to the Purple Heart

through a loving story of a friendship between a newly wounded soldier

and Rocky the squirrel with his backyard friends. This story began as a

blog during my first year in bed after my incident. With much

encouragement, it is now a book and has been placed in the

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum. Please watch the video

on the About page to learn for the Soldier & Rocky are changing children's

lives.

 

ORDER NOW

 

 

In 2018, Bensko founded Veterans In Pain - V.I.P. Facilitating OrthoBiologic solutions for Veterans suffering from chronic pain, by connecting volunteer physicians with our country's heroes, nationwide. 

V.I.P. is a Platinum Certified GuideStar Nonprofit, and Certified Resource of Wounded Warrior Project.  

501(c)3 EIN# 83-0600023

www.VeteransInPain.org 

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« The Shade | Main | What I Believe »
Wednesday
Aug212013

Cutting Stones

Trekking Nepal. The title radiates from the cover of a book my father just sent to me. An ultimate gesture of faith. Because he still believes.

Loved ones ask why this bad thing happened to me. Different. Difficult. Daunting. But does that mean that it is all bad? It is up to me to decipher this and to discover where good might hide.

The pain was bad. Up until my latest surgeries of electrical implants and cauterized nerves, pain blindfolded me to a darkness I never thought could be. I had become someone else. Someone who's life weighed too much to carry on.

But with a lifting of the weight, my mind has cleared and I am left to view the remnants of who I used to be. I must now launch this next phase of healing with the challenge of creating a life more meaningful than before; to look at each piece of my life as diamonds un-earthed by the hands of God. Raw, unrecognizable rocks of black with a beauty just waiting to be revealed. So if God planted me in front of a diamond mine, and said it was all for me, would that be considered bad?

So the choice is up to me. To break the bad into a beauty just for God to see. To fracture the darkness and design a light like He has never seen. Why would God create a life with out the potential to cut such a stone?

I have many diamonds piled at my feet. But there was one I cut this week I thought I never would achieve. I sat in a movie with Don by my side, and Reggie asleep on my feet. The darkness soothed. The glow of imagination laid like a sheet upon my skin. Don's hand on my knee. My head resting on his shoulder. Swept away by make believe and more present than I could ever be. Because in that moment I was free.

Cutting stones is not easy. Each effort leaves my body weak. But my heart is left wanting more.

So I will read my book my father sent. Because he continues to believe - that just because my legs have failed for now, it doesn't mean I cannot cut the most magnificent stones that God has given me.


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Reader Comments (2)

Thank you for sharing yourself. I am so inspired by you. You have no idea how you have helped me get through this difficult period of my life. I'm so glad we met. There are no accidents.

August 21, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterDon Franklin

Don, we are never ever alone. That's the most amazing part of all. :)

August 21, 2013 | Registered CommenterFried Nerves and Jam

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