An Update

Dear friends,

God is so faithful. He is always at work. I have some encouraging news to share! For the past few months, I have been seeing an MD who also uses some alternative treatments. He has been treating me for Lyme disease since the infectious disease doctors determined that I am presently too weak to undergo the traditional antibiotic treatment for Lyme. Well, last week I had my first follow-up and learned that my Lyme disease and coinfections have begun to improve. He also noticed that I have grown stronger and put on some weight since he last saw me. He attributes this to the treatment he's been giving me for which I am extremely grateful. I also know this is the direct result of your prayers and the faithfulness of God. Thank you. I hope this encourages your faith. And one other praise report – recent bloodwork shows that my white blood cell count has entered the normal range for the first time in a few years! There are other things to watch, but that is a wonderful answer to prayer.

As encouraging as it was to receive this piece of news, the doctor also told me I have a long road ahead, and there are many areas that we need to begin addressing now, especially with my digestive system. In his opinion, the faster I can go through these treatments, the quicker I will see improvement. Because it can be challenging for my body to handle these all at once, I am in need of wisdom to know how fast to proceed. I recently began a new treatment and hope to begin a few others in the weeks ahead. I am set to return for a follow-up in early February, and in the meantime, my primary care is monitoring me and watching my labs.

Despite receiving this wonderful news, I have taken a downturn over the past few weeks and have found myself facing ever-changing sets of symptoms. In particular, it has become more difficult to eat in light of the way my body responds, but God is using this to cause me to lean harder on Him. Patients that have been treated for Lyme by this doctor often undergo what is known as a "healing crisis" – an intensification of symptoms for a set period of time before improvement comes – so that may be a part of what I am facing right now.

Thank you for your prayers in response to my last request a few days ago. I have felt them, and God has not allowed the waves to be higher than I can bear. Also, I have continued to keep dairy in my diet and am working rotating it throughout my week. Thank you for praying!

If you would like to know how you can continue to pray, here are the most significant areas:

• For faith and peace in the knowledge that His Word and His Truth are GREATER than all my physical needs and especially my every fear. That I might rest as a little child in the assurance that He is holding me.
  
• For wisdom and courage to continue to eat each meal and know how to best get in all the calories I need while at the same time seeking to minimize the negative effects I experience after eating.
  
• For greater strength, weight gain, and relief from these new symptoms.
  
• For healing for my digestive track, organs, and entire body.
  
• For grace as I continue with these new treatments and go through potential "healing crises."
  
• For renewed hope each morning and faith to move through my day, knowing that He walks with me and expecting to see Him working good on my behalf.
  
• That each moment of desperate physical need would press me into God in such a way that He becomes more real to me than any suffering or physical need. He is my life.
  
• That He would be glorified and made beautiful in the eyes of all through what He is doing in me. That "Christ will be honored in my body" (Philippians 1:20).
  

Thank you, dear friends. A day does not go by in which I am not reminded that I am the undeserved recipient of your faithful prayers and care. You are precious gifts to me.

At Christmas, I am reminded once again that we have a God Who has been faithful to fulfill His promise of sending us a Savior. Can we not trust Him to fulfill every promise in His Word when He has already done the greatest?

"For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." - Philippians 1:19-21

P.S. I still am without a cell phone, so email and my house phone are the best ways to reach me.