"The opposite of holy is not dirty. It is common."
Dear family in the Lord!
Today I welcome you with a quote someone shared with me. As children of God we are called to be holy, but what does holy mean in a practical sense? Let's look at it together!
Last weekend our team went to a suburb of Chicago to have a conference with other Christians. The conference itself exceeded all expectations by far, but the day after turned out less desirable.
A friend that had a major part in the day of the conference, was supposed to do the same at a different event next day. Unfortunately she had been having symptoms during the weeks prior to our trip, so that she decided to see the a medical doctor twice, in order to get healed. After her second visit she was prescribed antibiotics that she started taking the day of our important conference. During the night after the amazing conference, she started to throw up and ran a very high fewer. We were all sure that it was a reaction to the antibiotics. We decided to make sure she drank water and kept her in bed with cold wraps on her head.
However, the people we stayed with made it clear to us that they thought it was irresponsible to not have her brought to a hospital with a temp of 102.5. So we left it up to our friend to choose to go to the ER or not. Needless to say that we had a lot of prayer support during the whole time. She, exhausted and in terrible pain, desired relief and chose to go to the ER. By the time we got her to the ER her fever had dropped by 2 degrees.
After her first examination she was declared "not in immediate need of attention" so we sat with the suffering little impersonation of her for over two hours in the waiting room. When she was designated a room her fever had dropped another degree. She was still in excruciating pain. The assigned doctor, (here is some comic relief) was a German, who didn't think that our diagnosis was accurate, so she had her take a different antibiotic and put her on an IV with water and pain medicine. Our friend didn't feel better at all and the tests they did to pinpoint the problem came back negative. So they ended up giving her morphine which made her dizzy, but didn't deliver the much desired relief of pain. She did feel a little appetite however and rather than something nourishing, such as a broth, she was given "Jello", which, no surprise, made her more nauseous.
When she was released, a total of 10 hours later, she was in the same terrible state and still throwing up just now with a naturally lowered temp. My faith in the medical world by that time had dropped from a low number to a negative value. All I could think of was getting her away from the hospital and the people that would put their sole trust in it and to get her home. So we did decide to make the seven hour trip home that night. I never appreciated the effects of sugar like I did on that long road trip!
She ended up seeing our trusted Nutrition-Response-Therapy Doctor who was able to help her and now she is fine once again.
We prayed and discerned throughout that whole day, "How could this happen?" Where was the open door for the enemy to touch us? For me it was clear that this horrible distraction was able to get to us because she had made a choice. The choice was to go back to something we already knew doesn't work anymore. She was like the Israelites in the desert, freed from slavery, desiring to go back to Egypt because they were hungry, rather than trusting that God is not forsaking them in the place He had led them to. Maybe she thought it was too expensive to see our NRT Doc in the first place when symptoms started occurring. Anyway, it turned out "not affordable" to not go the unusual route, as we have seen in this latest experience.
Dear family in the Lord, I know hospitals can save lives and doctors can be tools of health. I am not stating that everybody has to draw the same conclusions that I have. My life's experience, though, has been that
1) My mother was advised to abort me for "medical concerns" (we both turned out alright)
2) I have been misdiagnosed and/or mistreated with various meds ....
3) ....which led to side effects that I needed treatment for and even more longterm problems for not having been healed of the original issue.
4) Now, after going the uncommon route, I am totally wrecked, rendered useless and out of order to function in the regular world: I can't go back to wearing or smelling perfume without getting migraines, I can't use most lotions without getting rashes, I can't eat what most people eat without getting sick, I can't be sedentary without having insomnia, body aches and anxiety, I can't even take a vacation from my lifestyle during a week of vacation: I'll get sick. It is like coming down from a mountain and realizing that you are one of the very few that have been changed forever.
You see that based on my experience of what doesn't work for me and what does work for me I am making choices. Some sneer at me for that, others, on the same path to seeking lasting health, ask me to share what I have found. It turns out that our call for being holy can be extended to not going the common medical route, but to seek for uncommon ways; and the fruit that follows will serve as proof.
Dear family in the Lord, I know there are Quacks and Charlatans out there. That is why we need to ask people we trust for recommendations and see for ourselves.
Being holy means being uncommon. Not uncommon to be different at all cost, but after having discerned truth, daring to go new ways, which can turn out to be rather old, but forgotten, ways.
I pray that we would be refreshed and joyful during our live's journey to Wholesome Holiness!
Be blessed abundantly!
