Mission to the City was wonderful! There were so many opportunities to serve, the DMACC girls and I were placed with a DTC bible study for the week and it was so good to be able to serve and build relationships with them. Some of the things we did included; work at our church, Ruth Harbor, Easter Seals camp, Iowa Right to Life, Operation Christmas Child, door to door fliers, and evangelism. The Lord gave me so much grace this week in how much I could handle, I was able to be at most of the things. I ended up joining my team around ten every morning and then taking a nap every afternoon which worked really well. The girls were great about my limitations, like always!
Another blessing was that our group also had a lot of service times where we had the opportunity to sit and serve which is best for me. I was also very thankful because there were three pregnant women who are all six or more months along so we stuck together during the physical labor service parts, it was refreshing to have others who also have physical limitations.
Half way through Mission to the City I began my antibiotics, so a new phase begins! I have not herxed yet however I am having more pain. I was told that the medicine will make me herx which is flu like symptoms, this occurs due to the death of the lyme bacteria, it explodes when it dies leaving us sick. I was also told most all of my symptoms would come back through antibiotics and that is where I have noticed a difference, my dizziness was gone for about two weeks and came back yesterday morning and today I have had some pretty bad stabbing pain in my abdomen. But to me this is a good sign, a sign that the medicine is beginning to kick in.
"It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statues. The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces." ~Psalm 119:71-72
As time continues I see more and more blessings that I have been given from lyme disease. First and foremost I am saved today because of lyme disease, my world was taken away and I realized how Christ is my world. Yesterday Laurie, Katelyn, and I were watching a lyme disease documentary and I realized how blessed I am that the lyme has affected me physically and not mentally. The problem with lyme disease is that it is in your blood and can attack whatever it wants, for me the main focus was pain in my joints and abdomen. Only the last couple months did the lyme travel up to my brain causing dizziness, memory loss, eyesight problems, and depth perception errors. Slowly the last month the lyme is traveling from my head back to my joints which was a very good move! So many people are effected purely in their brain which can cause permanent brain damage, loss of movement, even death.
In watching the documentary I was thankful that the lyme has effected me physically and secondly that I have a never changing hope in Jesus Christ. Almost everyone that was on the film placed their hope in their doctors, I have done that before I know where it leads, it will eventually crush you. But in placing your hope in the only one who deserves it, the only one who will never let you down, only then do you have the ability to rejoice always because our joy does not come in our circumstances but in our God.
Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living. ~Psalm 116:7-9
One day this pain will be gone, my pain, everyones pain. One day the Lords kingdom will finally come but for now we wait. Its gonna be worth it.
Prayer Requests:
*That the Lord will continue to use this for good
*That the Lord will give me creative ways to use lyme disease to advance the gospel
*I take the PRAXIS on Monday, its a test to get into the teacher education program, please pray I feel good that day and grace in answers
*My next class begins next week, grace in homework and using my good days effectively
Praise: My May class is successfully finished!
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