Amanda’s life changed forever on Tuesday, the 14th of June 2011 when the doctors initially miss-diagnosed her with a brain tumour.
After more scans and tests she could count, she was eventually diagnosed with the medical MonSter, called Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Nobody can sugar coat MS. It is a very cruel medical condition for which there is currently no cure. Amanda’s immune system betrayed her. Instead of protecting her, her immune system could at any time turn on her and attack and destroy her brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.
But Amanda was not going to stand on the pavement for the rest of her days and wait for the bus to hit. Oh no, she was going to live her best life despite her circumstances! She was adamant to find joy in a seemingly impossible journey. Amanda says: “Impossible is where God begins”!
"Do the best you can today with what you have today"
- Amanda Grobbelaar (Anchored in the Storm)
During her 16 years in the financial services industry, Amanda has established
herself as a results driven, award-winning professional, but sadly in 2014 her career came to an abrupt end when a formal neurological assessment labelled her cognitive abilities as mildly, moderately and severely impaired.
Amanda says: “Life is not for the faint at heart; for many, life is not a journey, it is an obstacle course”.
To stay anchored in the storm, Amanda chose to dwell on the things she was
grateful for and noticed that while she felt grateful she did not feel fearful.
Instead of focusing on the lies of the enemy, who came to steal, kill and destroy, Amanda engraved the promises of the Lord onto her heart and meditated on it daily.
After Amanda closed the financial services door on the 1st of August 2014, for sanity to prevail she knew she had to find a new purpose; a new reason to go on and over the past five years shared her remarkable journey of faith, hope and love across her adopted country, Australia and also her country of birth, South Africa.
Amanda says it is no use crying over what we think we have lost, we should rather strive to do the best we can today, with what we have today.
Having said that, after Amanda returned from Israel where she received a highly experimental stem cell transplant at the beginning of 2016 finished her book, “The Amanda Grobbelaar Story – Anchored in the Storm, a journey of faith, hope and love” and also launched the Amanda G Bags of Hope project.
Amanda is anchored in the knowledge of who she is in Christ and what she is capable of in Christ. She fears no evil, because she knows the Captain of her Ship; He still calms the storms today.
