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Let there be light

Published on August 29, 2013August 29, 2013 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

I am so glad I stumbled upon a videotaped performance this evening of the talented and zany Christian communicator, Patsy Clairmont. My own strength is waxing and waning at the moment so she provided the little something extra I need to make it through to tomorrow.

In her show, Patsy described her search for words to comfort a dear friend battling cancer and found it in Genesis 1:3. Here God reveals to us through Moses the beginning of the story of life as we know it:

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.²Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Patsy points out that the first words the Bible records of God speaking are for there to be light. Ah yes, light dispels the darkness and guides our way; light is a symbol of God’s glory and presence throughout the Bible, and so much more. Intended as a meditation for her friend, the simple message of the verse, “let there be light,” became a joyful encouragement to both of them. I invite you to view the You Tube video for the moving story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HpRO8g9Qds

This evening was a dark one for my beloved husband, Steve, and me. He’s exhausted from the demands of work and his heart breaking as he watches his wife thrash about with convulsions every night. I am broken, depleted and in a good deal of pain most evenings from the same and the seemingly lack of direction in my treatment. It seems that every time I start on a new course of treatment for Lyme, Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome or the myriad of related conditions I get sidetracked or have to stop due to increased convulsions. The current pattern of some form of these “seizure attacks” is for them to occur about three times per day on average with one miraculous 23-hour break earlier this week. Go figure.

I need the verse, “let there be light” to wash over my burdened soul this night. I need my Jesus to be the light of my sore heart, the light of my weary steps. I need my doubt to be transformed by blind faith in His shining light. I need there to be light.

And so I say to you as I write this in the middle of the night, scared to go to bed for fear of more attacks, “Let there be light.” And to my heavenly Father, “Let there be light.” And to those exasperated by the duration of my illness, “Let there be light.” And to all of those who are weary, “Let there be light.” Together we can find His light and know what that means in our own lives as the night gives way to the day . . . zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Start with what you can eat . . .

Published on August 23, 2013October 26, 2015 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

Special diets can be maddening, time consuming, expensive and an all-around bite in the shorts (if you know what I mean)! Instead of stressing, I apply a few basic food prep principles, start with what I can eat, and whip something up from there. After a few weird entrees and sauces, things will start to taste more palatable and even kind of good as you gain confidence. Who needs recipes anyways?

My husband went shopping at a big box store this evening for basic groceries including grated cheese, fruit, a few veggies, and the only meat I’ll buy there for a rare convenience: canned chicken. Since I haven’t been able to shop very much lately, preparing dinner tonight required some very special creativity! Gratefully there were onions and cabbage from our garden in the frig, a loaf of multi-grain bread in the freezer for hubby, some sliced almonds in the pantry and a few other staples here or there. Now to make a gluten/dairy/sugar free meal plus a full flavor meal for the two of us . . .

His and Hers Salads began with Canned Chicken!

Not bad, eh? Gratefully it was yummy! The base started with spring greens in both bowls with oven toasted almonds (sprayed with grapeseed oil, sprinked with celtic salt and roasted about 7 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees, stirred once halfway through the baking time). The chopped chicken salad-and-vegetable mix included all the veggies we now had in the house: cucumber, cabbage, radishes, onion, and the canned chicken.

For Him: I garnished the ceramic bowl and base of salad greens with sliced pears and grated cheese. I made a 1/3 batch of homemade mayonnaise in the Vita-Mix using sunflower and olive oils instead of GMO-laden canola oil listed in the recipe. (Yes, here’s the one exception: ya gotta follow a recipe exactly from the Vita-Mix manual for mayo to turn out right!) I mixed the mayo with half of the canned chicken-and-vegetable mix and dolloped it over the cheese and spring greens. He got a topping of toasted almonds with a little extra dressing on the side, just in case.

Basic Parmesan breads: I thawed and sliced a loaf of multi-grain bread about 3/4 inches (2 cm) thick and placed them on a cookie sheet lined with foil and brushed with melted butter. I brushed the tops of the bread liberally with butter then sprinkled on some parmesan cheese. (For garlic butter, sprinkle some garlic powder or chopped garlic into the cup before microwaving the butter, about 23 seconds.) Broil on low for about 6 minutes checking it often near the 6 minute mark. I find that the low setting allows the pan to heat up and toast the underside in addition to both melting and browning the cheese on top.

For Her: I garnished the ceramic bowl of spring greens with a non-cheese alternative (e.g. Goya shredded mozzarella). Next I made a dressing with almond butter, unsweetened. coconut milk, Mrs. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos and a pinch of celtic sea salt. This requires some minimal adjustments for taste and consistency. Then I placed the other half of the plain chopped chicken salad-and-vegetable mix on top of the remaining bowl of spring greens and poured the almond coconut dressing of it, mixing it into chopped salad slightly to coat it. I finished it off with a topping of toasted almonds as well.

Sure, this meal took a little extra time to prepare and it was worth it. To make it even more worthwhile, during the assembly phase of this meal and next to the ceramic salad bowls were two large plastic containers that are not pictured above. I made duplicate salads with every ingredient listed above except the sliced pears (since they would turn brown by lunchtime tomorrow). So we not only had a yummy dinner tonight but will look forward to a “repeat performance” for lunch tomorrow! I usually make dinner this way: setting out the storage containers for lunch and serving them up right alongside the dinner plates to save time the next day. Cool beans.

That’s it! And it’s not all bad following a protein-oil-vegetable diet, with a tiny bit of optional, extra carbs from the cheese substitute, when it tastes good too. ‘Twas tough avoiding the cheesy breads I must confess . . . ;J

So where ya been?

Published on August 21, 2013 by Jesus is for the Wounded2 Comments

O.K. so I’m still sick and that isn’t my excuse this time! So where have I been? Editing, that’s where!

This past month I’ve poured and prayed over the decision to turn these blog postings into an eBook. I want to make sure I have the right intentions and that the end result will be something useful to others as well. In the process of reviewing this past year of New Hope Beyond Lyme on WordPress, it became clear that my followers enjoy messages that are particularly encouraging to persons recovering from a serious illness. Matters of faith generate the most comments and I’m pleased for that. To Him be the glory!

I did some research on various publishing formats and have decided to proceed with a no-cost eBook format where I can do virtually all of the formatting of the manuscript and cover art myself. I have a lot to learn about all of this, for sure! Lyme Disease will be prominent in the text since the treatment of Lyme was my primary focus for most of this past year. But the take home message won’t be about a disease . . .

The truths borne out of the trials, struggles, illness, and strife these past two years have once again served to strengthen my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. About a year into this season of illness, I began blogging to keep myself sane! Now looking back over this past year of blog posts, I am grateful to write, has actually brought more hope than tears. I was so scared of everything in the beginning, particularly when the tic episodes began escalating into full-blown seizure attacks. I didn’t even write in complete sentences most of the time back then. The crazy thing is that I generally have more hope and peace now when the attacks exceed 3 times per day, than when they were less! I have the Lord’s work in my heart to thank for that! He works in amazing ways for sure.

While I am grateful for the gift of writing, keeping my eyes fixed on the Lord through reading His Word continues to be the most important survival strategy for me in this season of life. The cool part is that I get to look up all kinds of scripture verses as I pour out my heart onto the computer screen. I do hope, however, that the New Hope Beyond Lyme eBook will never be a replacement for a fellow sojourner opening His or Her Bible. Reading a verse here or there in a blog or eBook, on a Facebook Newsfeed, in the signature line of a friend’s email, Tweeted, or in a Pastor’s message is not as valuable as soaking up God’s Word in our time alone with Him. We can’t dwell in His presence, linger before the throne of grace in the same amount of time it takes to hit, “delete!” His grace requires a bit of time to reach our weary souls . . .

I do hope, Gentle Reader, that your own faith in God and in the person of Jesus Christ has grown as you have joined me on this journey. I was reading today in the first chapter of 1st Corinthians where the apostle Paul teaches how we come to understand God through faith and not through an intellectual discourse. We choose to believe that Christ died on a cross for our sins so that we may become forgiven for our sins, right-with-Him, and begin an amazing spiritual journey rich with meaning as sons and daughters of the King. To receive the blessings and the promises of a relationship with God through the person of Jesus Christ requires faith. If we have faith in Christ crucified, it will make a difference in our lives for all of eternity. That will help us cope with virtually anything, today and tomorrow.

With the testimony of God’s Word as my witness, I submit to you that only with a personal relationship with the Lord, Jesus Christ will any of the stuff we endure in this life make any sense at all. If we do have this sweet fellowship with Him, the lover of our souls, all of this stuff will be worth it. And for me, all of this suffering will be worth it as well. I would not be writing anything if I had not gotten sick two years ago. Nothing I write will make any difference either if it doesn’t point someone, somewhere to something more than recovery from an illness.

How humbling that Lyme Disease may be used for good. Such is the, “new hope beyond Lyme,” after all . . .