My Healing Journey

For the past few years I have been both wandering and wondering down a healing pathway, sometimes I am not sure if I am on track or not.  Several years ago, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).  Since I have always taken care of myself, eaten right and exercised regularly there was not much I could change to 'improve my health'.  For those that don't know, RA is a type of autoimmune condition where your body attacks itself.  In the case of RA, the target is the joints.  This differs from osteoarthritis (the kind your grandmother gets) in that it is not triggered by overuse of a particular joint and the affected joints are very random.  How's that for a quick primer on RA?

In my search for a non-medical solution I tried a gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free diet for almost a year.  While that type of diet does limit your ability to eat in restaurants or at parties, for the most part it is not a bad way to eat.  I also cut back on my alcohol intake limiting it primarily to my monthly book club gatherings (is it possible to even go to those without wine???).  The result for my dietary diligence was that the RA got worse!!  So, I tried prayer, Pilates, hot yoga, colonics (don't ask unless you are very interested), functional medicine, deliverance, chiropractic, acupuncture and several things I am sure that I am omitting.  The net result was the same, the RA progressed.  

Over the past few years, I have tried various forms of medicine from pills to injectable meds.  Some combinations worked better than others at controlling the pain and swelling.  By the way, I gave up the diet since I felt better when I ate whatever I wanted and  is it really living if you can't have cheese?  Anyway, I digress...

The last few months I have been feeling extremely fatigued which is always frustrating since David and I work very hard in this business.   Last week I went to my family practice doctor, she ran oodles of blood tests and discovered several things were off but most notable was the I had a re-activation of a bug that causes Mono!  I am 41, married and have this?!?!  Seriously?!?!  Well, I am sure there are lots of you that had this as a teenager and know that there is really no cure except to rest.  Here comes the lesson in all this for me - I have spent years fighting and struggling to find the right solution and apparently I am to stop fighting and rest.  Hmmm, I think it might be much easier to fight and struggle!

I had this epiphany during church this past weekend as I had several women gather around me to pray for healing.  I then realized that the job of healing is not mine and that there is really nothing I can do except trust God for healing, after all that is in His job description isn't it?  Boy, doing nothing sure is hard to do but I am working on trusting, letting go and enjoying the ride.  Not sure where I will end up but at least I will be rested!