If You Lost It All…

I wanted to introduce you all to two dear people who are incredible living illustrations of joy and hope in their Lord in the midst of physical suffering far greater than I have known. Erin Leach has suffered from epilepsy for the past seven years, and John Spiro suffers from ALS and has daily watched his ability to live a "normal" life slip away with each passing day. If you have not already watched these testimonies please take a few moments to do so. And if you already have, I'd encourage you to do so again. It will remind you of what lasts and matters eternally and give you perspective and joy for the trials you may face today.

Their unshakeable faith, enduring hope, and deep trust in God's perfect wisdom and steadfast love has challenged me immensely. As you listen, watch for the joy and hope that shines forth from their faces and overflows from their hearts. And pray that God would continue to uphold and encourage their hearts.

If I lost it all
Would my hands stay lifted
To the God who gives and takes away

If You take it all
This life You've given
Still my heart will sing to You

When my life is not what I expected
The plans I made have failed
When there's nothing left to steal me away
Will You be enough for me?
Will my broken heart still sing?

- Kutless

Light and Momentary

"So we do NOT lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being RENEWED day by day. For this LIGHT MOMENTARY affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of GLORY beyond ALL comparison, as we look NOT to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are TRANSIENT, but the things that are unseen are ETERNAL." – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

What precious words of hope these are! Our afflictions here are but "light" and "momentary" ones when held next to the incredible "weight of glory" that awaits us in eternity. How amazing it is to be a child of God, to belong to Him, and to know that His sacrifice

Thank you all for being patient with me in the face of how infrequent my updates have been. I continue to feel your prayers and am excited to share some praise reports with you!

• The virus I was fighting is almost gone. I only have minor lingering congestion which is on its way out and no signs of a secondary infection. Praise God!
  
• Nathan has had fewer seizures since you began praying.
  
• My weight remains stable.
  
• My symptoms have worsened over the past few days just as my doctor told me they could which is a good sign that my treatment is having a good effect.
  
• Acupuncture and PT continues to go well.
  

Prayer Requests:

• For endurance and strength as I press through the intensification period of these symptoms.
  
• For my faith and joy to abound in the love of my Savior.
  
• For wisdom for my nutritionist and my doctors.
  
• For strength for my family as they care so faithfully for me each day.
  

I am so grateful to God for each one of you. Keep looking at Him. He is ever faithful to us.

Streams of Mercy Never Ceasing…

…call for songs of loudest praise. This line from the old hymn, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," has been running through my head as I contemplate all the Lord is doing. He has constantly been at work to provide and care for me in so many ways. I am going to do my best to give you all a summary.

Last week, I had my first session of acupuncture with good results. The primary benefits I noticed were increased motility within my GI system and improved sleep that night. My acupuncturist especially hopes the treatment will stimulate the strengthening of my immune system. It looks like I'm going to continue with a few more sessions to see how my body responds, and I actually just returned from my second session this afternoon.

God is continuing to "turn the darkness before [me] into light." This past Monday I saw a new doctor who has a good deal of confidence that I will see significant improvement through my treatment with him. With each of these steps, I perceive the kindness of the Lord and can see His hand leading, providing, and guiding. Regarding Dartmouth, I am still waiting to hear back from the doctor there. He has my medical records and upon reviewing them, will determine whether he can squeeze me into his packed schedule before the fall. Apparently, he receives hundreds of requests like mine, and it does take some time to sort through them all. My dad is also looking into the Mayo Clinic.

Prayer Requests:

• For physical strength as I begin a new treatment. I've been told to expect that my symptoms may worsen significantly following the first week and then begin to level out and improve somewhere around the end of the second/beginning of the third week.
  
• For healing from a virus/sinus infection I came down with yesterday.
  
• For continued guidance and wisdom from the Lord regarding my nutrition, supplements, schedule, etc.
  
• For my joy and faith to increase daily that I might be a blessing to others and know and do God's will during this season.
  
• For my brother, Nathan, who continues to endure severe seizures, sometimes on a daily basis.
  

Thank you all again. I can't stop saying it. You are incredibly kind to pray for me. I know it is not easy to keep walking alongside of those with chronic health conditions because their situation does not typically change overnight, yet you all continue to do this for me. I cannot tell you how grateful I am.

As God continues to bring together various pieces of the puzzle, greater clarity is emerging, but the ability to restore proper function and healing to my body rests in His hands. He is so wise, and He alone, as Nathan's nurse likes to remind me, is "the Master Doctor." We can trust Him as I continue to walk out the things that have been given me to do. Thank you for being such faithful friends.

When you stop trying to control your life and instead allow your anxieties and problems to bring you to God in prayer, you shift from worry to watching. You watch God weave His patterns in the story of your life. Instead of trying to be out front, designing your life, you realize you are inside God's drama. As you wait, you begin to see Him work, and your life begins to sparkle with wonder. – Paul Miller

Praises & Continued Requests

Friends, I have been overwhelmed by your care for me. I have truly been upheld by your prayers. And He has answered them in so many ways!

Praise reports:
· Over the past few weeks, I have noticed a marked difference in my overall strength and well-being. Experiencing a greater intensity of chronic fatigue symptoms a few days ago only served to highlight this for me, and my strength has improved today.

· My weight has been stable. I even added on a few pounds!

· I’m still able to eat every day, and in particular, I have been able to eat beef each day this past week for the first time in a few years! We hope it will help provide my body with some of the things it most needs right now.

· I have also been able to take in several sources of fats, a big step, as my digestive system doesn’t do well with these.

· God has been teaching me so much, especially that all this is resting safe in His Hands. I truly have no strength of my own.

What’s next?:
· The specialist at Dartmouth has received all my records and this Monday will be considering whether he can fit me in sooner, rather than at his first available appointment which would be in the fall. We will consider other specialists if this one doesn’t come through.

· I am continuing to work with my wonderful nutritionist and have been consistent with several new supplements that I recently introduced.

· I am continuing to see an incredible physical therapist.

· I am considering trying a few sessions of acupuncture to see if it will help with my GI motility and digestive issues.

Prayer requests:
· That my weight would remain stable at minimum and for the ability to continue to add on weight and hold onto it.

· That the foods I take in would begin to nourish my body and be assimilated rightly.

· For daily grace and strength to build a better & consistent routine.

· For wisdom as we pursue these next steps with the specialist, along with the present treatment I am under. The variables are too many for any of us to sort out, but God knows perfectly what is wrong and where to take me next.

· That I would learn better how to lean hard on my Savior and trust Him to carry me through each moment of my day.

· That my joy and peace would only increase and that God’s “good, acceptable, and perfect” will would be done.

Thank you for standing with me and helping uphold me when I am weak. It is incredibly humbling to be on the receiving end of such care from people like you. I look forward to sharing more soon!

Your present condition is from the Lord. He has not given you a stone, a serpent, or a scorpion. What He has given may seem hard, but it is for your lasting good. Trials may surround you, but God will bring good out of the apparent evil. Even now, infinite wisdom is fulfilling your wish. – C. H. Spurgeon

“Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.” – 2 Chronicles 20:15

Expect the Unexpected

Well, God has already answered many of your prayers. After examining me and looking over my bloodwork, my GI doctor feels it would be best for me to wait on TPN. From his perspective, their practice would typically not put a patient presenting as I do in for TPN due to the high risk of infection (especially due to my low white blood cell count). My liver and kidneys are functioning normally, my electrolytes are fine, and my clinical symptoms (other than weight) are not requiring this intervention. I am still able to eat and use my GI tract, and the longer I am able to benefit from that, the better.

He has recommended that I travel to see a GI motility specialist who is based at Dartmouth and consequently put in a call to him, asking for him to see me as soon as possible. We are presently waiting to hear back from this doctor, and once we have an appointment, my dad and I will be traveling up there to see him.

In the meantime, if my health takes a turn for the worse, we can arrange for TPN to be done through a PICC line and managed through home nursing care. My primary care doctor has agreed that what I have outlined above is the best plan forward from here.

I'm sure this is a surprise for many of you. It most definitely was for both me and my family! As I reflect on the verse at the top of this blog, which has been so close to my my heart over the past few months, I find myself in wonder at God's wisdom and sovereignty. I am the "blind," and He is leading me in paths that I have not known. He has promised to turn my "darkness into light." I am at complete peace that God will be faithful to illumine the path ahead and that He will continue to open each door ahead of me.

Thank you for your prayers. God is definitely using them to sustain me. And I will continue to be in need of them in the days ahead as I aggressively pursue working with my nutritionist and other doctors to eat well, sleep, take supplements, and get into a good routine, all while pursuing the possibility of working with this specialist at Dartmouth.

I will keep you all updated as I can and look forward to sharing more of what God does in the days ahead. Thank you again. It is such a privilege to have friends like you.

“In A Way That They Do Not Know”

The verse at the top of this blog has become very dear to my heart in recent months. The way ahead is not always clear – in fact, it usually isn’t! – but at every turn God has proven Himself faithful to simply take me forward. Just one more step. One more step. And sometimes it’s a baby step! Learning to take that one step forward into the little patch of light that illuminates a place for my feet is all I am asked to do. I often wish I could see further ahead, but my God is so much wiser, and He gives me what I need when I need it and not before.

As I step out in this new direction that involves hospital procedures I’d not have chosen on my own, I know that I can rest assured that the same God who has led me this far will continue to lead me down this path, turning every dark shadow into light, smoothing out the rough places, and more precious than anything, never forsaking me. I pray that this precious promise is a comfort to your own heart today. This is the kind of God He is!

You may wonder how I can trust Him to do this – someone I cannot see or hear an audible voice. It is not always easy, but I can do so because He has already proven Himself to me. He sent His very own Son, Jesus, down from the glories and beauty of heaven itself. He left perfection to come walk amongst the brokenness of our world. He clothed Himself in our frail human body with all its capacity to experience pain and imperfection. For 33 years, He lived out a perfect life in my place. Jesus then willingly allowed Himself to be put to death upon a cross. It was there that He received all the punishment that I deserved for my sin against a God who is holy and perfect and good in every way. God, His Father, then raised Him to life, demonstrating clearly that Christ’s sacrifice for my sins was sufficient and my debt had been paid in full. Because He has given His life for mine, I am now adopted into His family as a child of God, and I have the incredible hope of spending eternity with Him one day in a glorious New Heaven and New Earth. And so, if He has done something so great and at such infinite cost to Himself, then why should I not trust Him to continue to lead me through the dark valleys of this life? This is my hope.

What's Happening With Me

Many of you may have heard that I will be admitted to Georgetown hospital either today or tomorrow morning to begin TPN or Total Parenteral Nutrition. This is the next step in a health journey I've been on for the past several years. For those of you who don't know, in recent months I have been unable to gain any weight and have gradually continued to decline. Doctors are unsure of just why this is happening in my body, but several of them believe that Lyme Disease is the underlying cause of my multitude of GI issues. Because of my low weight and frail state, I have been unable to begin antibiotic treatment, and my doctors have decided that receiving TPN is the next step. The hope is that I will be able to put on some much-needed weight, gain nutrition, and then be able to tolerate treatment of the Lyme and other unwanted microorganisms that have taken up residence. At this point, we do not yet know how long I will be in the hospital and what it will all involve, but there is a possibility of continuing the treatment from home at some point.

Today, I go to my GI doctor who will then ask another doctor at Georgetown University Hospital to admit me. I will have a central port placed probably near the clavicle providing access for a direct line into my blood system. There is a risk of infection, especially due to my low white blood cell count, so this is definitely an area for prayer.

So, that's the medical side of things. You're probably wondering how I'm doing. The simplest answer I can give is that the Lord is truly my Shepherd. He is the One who is calling me to walk down this path, and although I don't know what lies ahead for me, I do know that I have a God who has promised to never leave nor forsake me. He is all-wise, all-good, and all-knowing, and He has sacrificed His very own Son for me. I can trust Him with each step ahead.

I am deeply grateful for each one of you, and if you are receiving this it is because at some point in my life your life has had an impact on my own. I hope that this time in my life is able to somehow encourage you as you walk through your own trials. Life is full of dark valleys, but they do not have to overwhelm us if we walk with the One who knows where He is taking us.

My family will be keeping this blog updated in the days ahead with prayer requests and progress updates. If you have any questions regarding visiting or anything else, please contact my parents at galbraithfamily@gmail.com.

Thank you all for caring. Each one of you means so much to me. I look forward to sharing with you in the days ahead all that God does through this time! It will be amazing to watch. I hope you can join me in expecting great things!

GOD, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer’s; He makes me tread on my high places. - Habakkuk 3:19