What They Don't Say

Job 8:14 “Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web.”

What They Don’t Say

Did you know that arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Hashimoto's diseases and more are all auto-immune diseases? Not much unlike cancer, these diseases most of the time can all be safely treated without drugs but that is not what your doctor says. What they do say is here’s a drug and it is the only way to find relief from continuous pain. What they don’t say is that changing your diet and exercise has a profound effect on your longevity with a pain-free existence. They steal your hope.

I’ve said over and over again to change your diet, relieve your pain and illness and over and over again I hear people not having any success because they don’t have the willpower to save themselves, they’d much rather think a drug can do all the work for them.

Why is there a war on health? Why have doctors made healthy eating a back-burner portion of your visit? Why don’t they hold knowledge of what actually heals a person instead of basically killing people with drugs? Had doctors been taught this information to begin with many of our parents, grandparents, children, and grandchildren would not have died. I hear all too often that a doctor saved a life because the drug kept momma stable, alive for a few more years. Baloney!

Maybe drugs are a necessity, maybe they can help, but does the doctor offer you the change in diet FIRST as a level of defense to fight what ails you? If he told you that you had to give up dairy, meat, or caffeine would you take a drug over changing? I believe you would. We live in a self-satisfying world addicted to sugar, oils, meat, fat, and drugs.

I believe when I gave up alcohol all those years ago, on my own, without a twelve step program that was, to me, proof that I had the willpower to fight anything that was thrown at me. Granted, that this wretched disease is a little bigger than an alcohol addiction.

It pains me to see friends sick on a daily basis. Every day it seems I’m bombarded with news of people with the flu, stomach virus’, colds and everything in between. I have to stay away from the social arena for days because of the negative invasion of illnesses and the unhealthy eating habits and no one willing to change. Stay in bed, pop some pills, go to the doctor, remain sick for days or weeks. Change? That’s not an option, they’d rather whine and pop pills, it’s a safer route than change.

I often think of how far I’ve come and how tempted I am when around people who are living it up in the toxin-filled world. It’s not easy choosing vegetables over a cheese-smothered pizza, it would be so easy to choose a Pepsi over a glass of water, a chip over a grape, the list goes on and on. It’s not easy staying alert and watching every single thing that goes in my mouth. A crash is basically inevitable as long as I allow the negative influx of my surroundings to have an impact.

This calls to mind the disciples when Jesus went to pray, were asked to sit and watch, each time Jesus returned they were asleep. Each time I tell someone to help them change their diet and keep sickness at bay, they eat and eat and eat everything that is making them sick to begin with. It’s as if they’ve fallen asleep and my words fall on deaf ear. They don’t have time to change, they can’t or won’t change or it’s just too hard to change. If they’re going to die, they’re going to die happy and unhealthy. You can’t take a healthy body with you, right?

After reading yesterday’s post, you see I hit a roadblock. I’m as human as everyone else and I fall too. I only had a pizza, and it would’ve been very easy for me to cave in and drink a Pepsi, or guzzle some alcohol. I chose the lesser of two evils and had pizza. It’s bound to happen but I was not ready for the emotional roller coaster that came before the crash.

My mind plays tricks on me as I imagine each and every one of you fight with before indulging in something you know isn’t good for you but you do it anyway as a form of comfort. I needed comfort from my toying thoughts. As time passes by I wonder about things. I guess it’s normal since I’ve chosen this path without the medical field supporting me. But rest assured, I wonder.

So I hit a speed bump in my journey. Nothing new there, we’re all bound to come across one or two when fighting addictions, diet change, or on a health-filled journey. I need to brush myself off and get back in the saddle again and ride onto victory. It can be done and won.

I rode my stationary bike like there was no tomorrow and I went on a journey of riding down a sun-laden country road with blooming trees and a melody keeping me focused. It felt great to get away and when I looked out the window and saw more intense snowfall and shivering temps in the teens, I kept peddling. My bike ride took me away from the negative world into a wonder-filled palace that I’ll be visiting quite a few times until I get myself out of this funk.

The winter in life is almost over and spring is just around the corner. A time to shed clothes and peel away layers of inhibitions and be proud of making it through the dormant season into the blossoming Springtime of life! I haven’t made it yet but just a few more weeks and I’ll be well on my way to victory. Are you going to say the same thing? Are you at least trying to change?

What they don’t say is that there is HOPE for some change! If your doctor or your path isn’t brimming with hope and possibilities, it’s time to find a path that will lead to success. If lil old me can do it, I do have hope that you can too! 

Job 6:11 “What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?”

Spiritual Maturity

Being mature in Christ is progressing in Christ not perfection in Christ. No one can be perfect in Christ because we all fail. We are all sinners bound to this world in imperfection. We can only work at being sanctified by Christ and growing maturely with Christ as your inner man takes on a change, transforming you into a man rooted in LOVE.

Eph 3:14 – 21
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Paul speaks of the inner man. Why do you think he would do that? He wants us to be rooted in LOVE and progress in spiritual maturity. He wants us to be aware of the power within us to become spiritually mature.

As an adult, we set out to sea on a sailboat, in a rowboat you’d surely die, we have no plan but to sail across the ocean and let God guide us to wherever he wants us to go. The thing is, we have sails for a reason, to catch the wind so we can be directed into the setting sun. The Holy Spirit is the breath of the wind that carries us to our destination.

As a child we’re set here in life out to sea on a rowboat. Our parents are our guides for a time until we mature and get a sailboat (progression of our inner man toward Christ). Some of us sail blindly. Some intensely. Some just lay on the beach not wanting to sail or progress any further, content with who they are and are happy going nowhere.

Sometimes in life I feel as if I’m drifting, no guidance, no direction, sails put away and I just bask in the sun, until I’m fried. We are called to be the salt of the earth and I wonder if that is why the sea was made full of salt. Is the sea an analogy of what we are to become? We’re drifters in that turbulent realm, we need the sails, we need the wind, and only with those two can we find direction to become the salt and light of the world.

As we mature in Christ, sail across the sea, fill our inner man with the fullness of God, only then can we be a light or salt to the world. We add the flavor that God has filled us with and carry the load to the shore and share with the lonely soul lying on the beach content in going nowhere. We offer him the hope in Christ so that he too wants to sail across the ocean to see what we’re talking about.

Phil. 3:20 “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:”

As we converse on the shores of beached humans we have to be ready to provide a strong worthy sailing ship that will guide the people out to sea, given the instruments to sail, and being filled with Christ, the wind will blow carrying them where they need to go. 

As you have been transformed into the maturity of Christ, rooted in LOVE you can relay a message of your growth of your inner man. If you are still full of hate, you have not been transformed into the maturity it takes to bring forth a powerful message. 

Pastor Mike says it like this: “You’ve been given a car to drive with a really powerful engine, but you sit behind the wheel with the key in the ignition. You don’t want to rev the engine. When you do, that is your INNER Man growing.”

We have been given a powerful message; we sit behind the Word throwing out bits and pieces (we read and believe) but have not been filled (spiritually matured) enough to rev our engines. And once we start the engine, we don’t know where to go. Our GPS has failed. Let me assure you, God does not fail; God is faithful.

Once you set sail, open up and let the wind carry you across the sea, you’ll feel the wind like fingers running through your hair, brushing all doubt and fear into the water. Yes, there will be storms but you will be so full of Christ that any storm you sail into, you too will be able to (metaphorically) walk on water.

Steven and I are heading into some turbulent water. He lost his job on Friday and my testimony is that we are blowing through the wind of change. I may be spiritually mature in Christ but it is a continual learning process guided by God of inner growth. Into His arms, I sail. 

May the Lord carry you through turbulent times and place you safely on land to be the salt and light in the world. To Him be the Glory!

Lyrics from Cornerstone by Hillsong:

When Darkness seems to hide His face

I rest on His unchanging grace

In every high and stormy gale

My anchor holds within the veil

My anchor holds within the veil

Christ alone; cornerstone

Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love

Through the storm, He is Lord

Lord of all

He is Lord

Lord of all