I haven’t told many people about this, but I feel like now is the time to talk about it. Recently our church took part in a 40 day fast. As I was getting ready for the fast to start, I began praying that God would show me what He wanted me to give up. I knew He wanted me to give up something BIG, but I wasn’t sure what at the time. One day, I was praying that God would take away a migraine I was having and He spoke very clearly to me, telling me I needed to fast MEDICINE….ALL medicine. I remember actually answering God back with a “wait, what did You just say?! Are You SUUURRRE You said what I think You just said?!”
Some back story: For the past 24 years I have relied on various types of medications for migraines. It’s gotten to the point that nothing works anymore, except one particular medicine that I can always count on to come through for me. Throughout my life, I’ve seen doctor after doctor and have been given one hopeless diagnosis after another. I had gotten to the point where I just gave up – excepting that my life will always be one of sickness.
It finally hit me, I’ve been relying on and putting my trust in medicine, and doctor’s opinions, instead of fully relying on GOD to HEAL me.
So, I did it….I gave up ALL medicine for 40 days! Not even a Tylenol! It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure, but I serve an amazing God who kept showing himself faithful to me over and over and giving me the strength to get through each day. I also have an awesome husband who encouraged me to keep going when all I wanted to do was give in an take the medicine that I knew would end my pain. He even wrote Bible verses on note cards and taped them to the wall beside my bed so that I could be reminded of God’s faithfulness and His healing power every time I was battling sickness.
At the end of the 40 days, I prayed again, and felt like God was not yet releasing me from the fast…so I kept going, not knowing how long it would be before I stopped the fast. Obviously there was a lesson in all of this I was supposed to be learning, and as the days past, I started seeing what that lesson was. When I reached the 70 day mark, I got another migraine. This time, I began praying about whether or not to take my migraine meds again. This was the first time I had asked God in the whole 70 days if it was okay to start them again. For some reason I felt led to look up the Biblical meaning of the number 70. When I did I was surprised to find this: Just as the number seven denotes perfection, maturity and completion, the number seventy denotes an entire period or a full state.
It had been 70 days since I have taken any meds! I felt like God was showing me that my sacrifice was complete. That I had done what I needed to do – fully rely on HIM.
While I am still having migraines, I feel like I have a new outlook on life, a refocused faith. I guess after all the years of having the same mindset, I needed to be awakened, renewed, refocused.
While I do feel like it is okay to take my medicine now, I will never again become so dependent on it like I was before. I have learned to go to God FIRST for my help. Throughout the past 70 days, I have learned that while doctors serve a purpose in our life at times, the only voice I want speaking into my life in regards to my migraines from now on is – GOD. He created me, and HE is the only one who knows me inside and out.
I am still expecting a total healing from Him, but until that day comes that He sees fit to heal me, I know that my patience and reliance on Him will continue to grow. Sometimes it takes us making a drastic change in our life to bring our focus back to what is really important - our obedience to Christ and our devotion to Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment