On page eighteen
in Rick Warren’s book, 40 Days of Prayer,
were two questions: “What are you lacking in your life simply because you’ve
never asked God for it? What is your
greatest need?”
My written
prayer response on February 23, 2018, was brief but heartfelt: “My greatest
need and what I’m lacking in life is energy.
Most of the day I rest—wasting hours on Kindle and the Internet (instead
of spending time in the Word). I want
the energy to fulfill God’s purposes in my life. Forgive me, Father, for wasting time.”
Naturally,
my vision for God’s answer was far different than His. Though I lacked the faith to really believe
God was going to restore the energy I lost to fibromyalgia over twenty years
ago as well as the energy I lost to cancer treatment two years ago, I hoped for
a miraculous answer delivered immediately.
However,
what followed was not what I expected.
Having recently recovered from influenza and a sinus infection, I was
hoping for health. Instead, what
followed was hard-hitting seasonal allergies, an ear canal infection, an eye
infection, and then a severe outbreak of what I did not know. A biopsy revealed atopic dermatitis (a type
of eczema), the treatment for which was a high dose of steroids (60 mg) for three
weeks. The dermatitis disappeared, I temporarily felt great, and then came the
month of tapering the steroid dosage. Once
I hit 20 mg per day, the eczema reappeared with a vengeance, and my energy
tapered down to zero, just in time for the birth of my granddaughter on May 24.
It was
horrible to be unable to help my daughter and her family. Just walking across the street to their house
was almost more than I could manage.
Fortunately, they managed with the help of friends while I rested in my
recliner at home and took multiple naps in my bed every day. A month later, after the itching became
ferocious, I decided to go back to my dermatologist. She explained that the next line of treatment
would be oral chemotherapy. I could not
face that. I decided to try a detox diet developed by Dr. Mark Hyman, who, by
the way, was a co-author of another Rick Warren book, The Daniel Plan.
The next day—Wednesday,
June 27—I started the process of giving up coffee, which took a week. But I immediately jumped into all other
aspects of a new way of eating: organic fresh,
non-starchy vegetables; a little bit of organic fresh fruit; lean meats; and
proteins such as farm-fresh eggs, tofu, nuts, and seeds. That was it.
I quit dairy, gluten, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and artificial
flavorings and preservatives.
Within a
week--though my eczema was no better and the itching was just as intense--I
noticed something unusual: fatigue had
disappeared along with most of my usual aches and pains. I had energy I wasn’t used to. All through July, August, and now into September,
the old fatigue has not returned, my thinking is clearer, and I no longer live
in my recliner. On August 2, a job fell into my lap: as of August 21, I am teaching two composition
classes at Rogers State University, Bartlesville campus.
That’s a lot
of history to put you through, but it is for a purpose. Clearly, God answered my prayer asking for
energy. However, it was not the way I
thought it would be. I did not expect to
sink down into more health issues and a greater fatigue than I had ever known
before, but that is what it took to get me to do my part (about which I was
clueless). I know that God can heal
instantly and miraculously, but often His purposes require our response, too. The hardest things, it seems, are intended to
bless us through growing our character if we cooperate with Him. There is no way I could exercise the
self-control it takes to stay on my limited diet on my own; I have no doubt
that the Holy Spirit is helping me every single day.
By the way,
the eczema has slowly improved, and I have hope that the sores and the itching
will disappear in the coming months as I continue a healthy diet. But even if they don’t, I have what I lacked
and sorely needed: energy to fulfill
God’s purposes in my life.
