Sitting in the hospital room, Nicole Inman couldn’t fully comprehend what exactly was happening. She assumed that her life would continue the same way it always had. She didn’t fully realize the intensity of her hospital visit.  It was right after Memorial Day Weekend last year when Inman found out the life changing news: She was diagnosed with two different brain tumors.

“I just remember thinking, ‘Why am I in the hospital?’” Inman said. “‘Why am I doing this?’ My life is just going to continue.”

Despite being confused about her situation, Inman was sure about one thing: her relationship with God. Even before her diagnosis, Inman’s faith was strong. She says that she never questioned His intentions, because she put her trust into His hands.

“He’s never left me and has always given me hope, so I focused on Him and looked to Him in everything,” Inman said. “I never wondered what was going to happen or cried about my situation.

Inman underwent  treatment in the summer, so she had a lot of down time. While resting up, Inman decided to start a blog about her experiences. To her surprise, people from all over the world started reading her blog, which helped her realize that her situation and experiences would benefit someone else.

“I realized that the Lord uses all of our problems and situations in our lives to bring in other people,” Inman said. “You don’t know if he’ll bring in one person or one-hundred million people.”

Inman stayed strong during her journey, but it did affect her. It affected how she got ready, how much she slept and her energy levels. She was tired more often, and she went to bed earlier than she used to. Being in school was also difficult for her compared to when she was at home during the summer.

“I love my kids, and I love coming to school, but it makes me tired and limits my time to pray,” Inman said.

Even through her hard times, Inman had an incredible amount of support. So many people visited her during the summer that she didn’t even watch T.V. because she was busy catching up with visitors.

“The whole summer, people brought me dinner every night, which was a huge blessing,’ Inman said.

Another big blessing to Inman was her kids. She recalled them being great servants to her through her hard time and never making the situation difficult for her.

“My kids are great,” Inman said. “They talked to me, hugged me, and never wanted anything more. They’ve accepted it and for them it’s just experience.”

Through the summer, Inman collected bible verses that spoke to her and kept seeing references to “warrior” in her bible. She put meaning to them by putting them on a shirt along with the word “hope,” which was big for her during treatment. These shirts ended up becoming a big part of her treatment and her experience. She wanted the message to be something that everyone could take into their lives. Many of her close friends and family got the shirt as well to show their support.

“I didn’t want these shirts to be about me,” Inman said. “I wanted them to be about God.”

Although she does not reflect on her experience much, Inman believes that it has helped her recall all the people who have gone through hard times and think about all the loved ones praying for her. She’s thankful that there are people willing to help out as much as they do for her.

“In my own life, it makes me think what am I doing to help other people more,” Inman said.

Inman wants others to realize that life is a gift that should not be taken for granted. She believes in reaching out to people, loving people, encouraging people and focusing on God every day.

“Yes, I wish I had my hair, and yes, I wish things were easier, but we learn a lot when things aren’t easy, and so I’m thankful to be learning things through this,” Inman said.