Showing posts with label Crohns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crohns. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Faith In The Midst of Hopelessness


For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:5

I was twenty one years old when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease; a disease of the immune system that causes your body to attack itself, specifically the small intestine. Having suffered with the disease and the horrible misdiagnoses my entire life, it was a relief to finally receive the news. Then it hit me—I have an incurable disease.

At the time, (I’m dating myself) there were only a couple treatments for Crohn’s. The preferred medication being Sulfasalazine, and the less favored drug was corticosteroids. Steroids are less favored because of their numerous side effects and inability to control the disease. I would soon find out that I’m allergic to Sulfa drugs. My only alternative was steroid therapy.

There were times in my late twenties when the pain, exhaustion and constant trips to the bathroom were more than I could bear. The ups and downs caused by the steroids were like being on an emotional rollercoaster, not to mention the damage they can do to your body. And I had to continue working a full time job in order to have medical insurance coverage.

I’ll never forget one night in particular when my pain became so severe that my husband called my mother for help. I was already taking a massive daily dose of steroids, so we knew that a trip to the hospital meant surgery…and surgery is not a cure for Crohn’s, only a temporary solution.

Mama arrived and came to my bedside. She laid her hands on me and prayed. It was hard for me then to understand why she praised God during this difficult time. But the pain immediately left my body, and I praised God right along with her.

There’s a lesson to be learned from Mama. As Christians we should learn to practice our faith even when the circumstances seem hopeless. God’s faithfulness to His children never ceases. So there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be faithful to Him, no matter the situation.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Bowel Wars

“Jedi Master Skywalker, this is Rebel Base, we have just received a communiqué from the Supreme Ewok Ruler that Imperial forces have set up an enemy fortress on their home planet of Endor.”
“Roger that, Rebel Base. Gold Leader, Red Leader, chart a course for Endor. We’re going in. Vader and his men won’t be taking control of that planet today. Not as long as I’m in charge.”
“Master Skywalker, this is Gold Leader, I have a visual lock on the Imperial stronghold, awaiting orders to blast.”
“Red Leader here, I’m locked on target and prepared to blast on command.”
“Gold Leader, Red Leader; fire at will, fire at will! May the force be with you.”
“Master Skywalker, Rebel Base here. We are receiving distress signals from Rebels stationed on the planet of Endor. Cease fire! I repeat, cease firing!”
“Skywalker to Base, what’s going on here?”
“Rebel Base here, it appears that we have been seriously deceived! That communiqué did not in fact come from the Ewoks it came from the Empire itself! We have mistakenly killed hundreds of Rebel troops with…friendly fire!”
“NOOOOOOOOO!”
This is a layman’s illustration of what it’s like to have Crohns Disease. The planet of Endor represents more than a foot of my small bowel. Skywalker and his forces represent my overactive immune system that innocently, and yet callously attacks my Endor, er I mean ileum, er I mean small bowel. You see, my immune system views my small bowel as an enemy that needs to be taken out. And apparently I have a pretty darn good immune system because it’s doing quite a number on my bowel. At this point in time, my Endor is suffering severe casualties, and there’s nothing left for it to do, but evacuate. I spend countless hours in the evacuation chamber hoping that I remembered to purchase the extra soft variety of T.P. and not the extra strong variety.
It pains me to think that one part of my being would cruelly attack another part of my being. I don’t know what might happen if I failed to take my medications to suppress my immune system. It may very well try to take over the world! But that’s how it is when we willfully allow sin in our lives. It’s like giving Satan an open invitation to set up housekeeping in your soul. Only he’s not a good houseguest. He won’t be making brownies for you. He’ll set up traps for you to fall into…traps that you can’t get out of on your own.
So don’t give Satan any opportunity to create a foothold in your life. Fill your soul with Jesus, and he will keep your “Rebel Base” safe from all harm. In the mean time I’ll go take more meds to suppress this “Imperialistic” immune system of mine. I wouldn’t want to put an end to the world as we know it!