Update on my health--A Miracle!

It's been ages since I invested much time here. I've got a great reason too! 2 1/2 years ago I was miraculously healed from Lyme disease at a church prayer meeting. I've yet to be able to get my story down on paper (or should I say a computer screen!), b/c it's very personal and there is so much I want to tell. But the short version is I was healed and so I don't sit around at my computer near as much! In all honest, I'm still building back to full strength from the years I got "old" too early, but I'm just a little out of shape, not sick! God mercifully freed me from bondage and has set me on the path of restoration. He deserves the glory.

One day, I plan to tell you the whole story--something I've meant to do for years! And share with you some of our updated health practices. But for today, this is a start. :)

Breaking the food code--Is health intuitive?

I believe the Creator meant food choices, health, and "medication" to be obvious and intuitive. Let me give you a few examples:

If your circulation is bad, cayenne peppers (as food or as a supplement) helps. Hmm...they are "hot."

Carrots are good for your eyes and when you slice them, they look like an eye.

Tomatos are good for your heart and what part of our body are they most like?

When you burn your finger, you stick it in your mouth. The best thing for a burn is to replace the lost water immediately. Don't numb it with ice until after you've run it under the water a minute.

When you eat only whole foods, you will find your body craving things and communicating quite clearly. But if you eat artificially tampered with food, your body craves the wrong things. For example, your body expects sweets foods to have plenty of nutrients. But when you eat white sugar or white flour, your body actually uses up stores of nutrients to digest this stripped food. So, it craves more food. I find I never really feel full (or at least content) when I eat out unless I avoid bread.

If you want to read more about created food, try this post.

What about healing?

At church we were singing a song about God healing our soul and it struck me that I need to remember: while I'm waiting on and working for my physical healing, I daily have access to healing for my soul: my heart and mind. When you are fighting illness, you deal daily with small losses that add up. And it can way heavy on your heart. But there is a friend who wants to carry your burden for you. And this is the kind of healing that's available instantaneously!

If you know someone who is chronically ill (or worse, terminally ill), you might want to consider this. You can pray for their physical healing and maybe able to help them in some practical way toward that healing. BUT don't forget to help them find the emotional healing that comes from someone caring or just letting them cry. It's hard to mourn losses of chronic illness-they are small and consistent and mundane and hard to pen down--but they add up to a huge loss. Sometimes you get so used to being sick, you forget what it's like to be normal.

If you have health losses weighing down your soul, join me in offering them in your own way to the God who longs to come and whisper a word of healing to your soul. This is the healing that's available now, even while we hope and long for our bodies to be restored.

If it's all about me, then I won't be the "one".

(Beware--it's time for some philosophical rambling.)

This morning, I heard (again) the story of the 10 lepers that Jesus healed and how only 1 (not even a Jew) returned praising God, falling at Jesus' feet, and expressing thanks. As I thought about the story, I realized that it seems the difference in the 1 vs. the 9 is simply focus. Stay with me and I'll explain.

I mean I can vividly imagine a dramatic healing and the amazing freedom it would mean. Imagine every action is restricted. You'd feel like a prisoner and suddenly your free--you can do all the things you've missed for years and years. What would you do first? See, that depends on your focus. If it's "all about me", then you have probably dwelt on what YOU couldn't do for all the time and how unfair, so now it's time to catch up on the lost years.

BUT if it's all about God, then you wouldn't be focused on yourself, but on the awesomeness of the God that healed you. And then you would have had the chance to be the one. Think about it--the nine got healed, but the one got healed AND got to praise the living God in person on earth. It seems to me, that the others missed God in the process of enjoying His gift of health.

So, now where I get convicted. What about my sickness? Is it all about me? What I miss out on? What I can't do? How this affects me? By the way there is a good "me" question to ask: Did I do something to cause or allow this? (My answer would be "yes-carelessness with my health.")

Or is God the center of the universe? Maybe I should be asking: How is He using this for good? Am I allowing Him to use this for good? Does my suffering give me a closer connection to the Savior who suffered? (But not why did God cause this?)

If I'm looking for the healing and hoping that I will be one who praises God for it. But I think I need to start now, making God the center, so I'll be focusing on Him when the healing comes.

In fact, our emotions play such a part in our health. Keeping your heart free is just another good thing you can do for your health. But let's not forget, it's not all about "me" and my health and suffering. There is a bigger picture and best of all, our suffering is only "momentary", as is our time on earth.

Musings on suffering

You know I used to think the big bad diseases people got were just sorta bad luck. But what is luck? For the Christian, is it just an indirect way to say, "God's will". Or is it based on some sorta unseen lottery system? As in God didn't will it, but he didn't stop it either--is God a hands off God? Well, the correct Biblical answer is suffering is b/c of sin. Did sin somehow create the disease bacteria? So, now you just wait around and how you don't get hit?

Let me tell you my experience and how I've worked out this concept of "God's will", disease, and sin. I got Lyme disease while overseas, so I was in the midst of the adjustment period to a new country and language. And as usual, I was pushing my body without any regard to rest (what's a Sabbath?) to keep up with full-time language study, a 2 year old, and my part our company, which was more than usual at that time. So, that's where I missed the mark.

But also, I believe I was deceived. There is a lot of misinformation on health and diet in our world. I believe a lot of our health mistakes are because we idolize convenience. So, we "have" to eat fast food, b/c we cram our schedules so full we are too tired or too busy to cook. I definitely am guilty here. But a lot of the deception comes because of companies' greed for money. So, they mislead or downplay negatives in their advertisements and press releases. Just investigate into the pharmaceutical industry or pesticide companies a bit. Or read how margarine is made. So, our culture (here and in Europe) is as a whole mislead and their contribution to my disease. But I am responsible for not thinking for myself!

Lastly, I come to where was God. Well, he could see that he could use it for my good and to allow me to help others. So, I feel as if He said, OK, you left yourself vulnerable in this area and are getting attack. I will carry you through this path you chose and set you up on a high rock where you will be stronger than when you began.

So, now I feel as if I have a new mission to help other people see past the deceptions and make good choices without having to go through the hard path. While I have lamented the losses of several years, I look forward to seeing the restoration of the "years the locust have eaten". I want to be and feel fully alive well past the average age. And I want the full energy level God created me to have so I can run again.

I can tell you that you don't need to fear Lyme Disease. You won't get it unless your body is worn down and your in the midst of a hard emotional season. (In fact, the CDC says 85% of diseases have an emotional element.) Don't fear--prevent. Not with DEET, but with wisdom that builds a strong foundation.