Food Allergies

Truth be told, all He asked was to Follow Him

For the past 2 weeks I have been fighting with God about a prescription I received almost a year ago. It read, “must have Florida Beach time often over the next year perhaps permanently.”  This prescription was given in response to my doctor telling me I needed to see a pulmonary specialist.  I told him it would have to wait 3 weeks seeing we were heading to Florida for family time and a church planting conference. In which he said the Florida air would do my lungs good.

More Florida Beach time

With prescription in hand, we headed to Florida.

That prescription was a catalyst that God used to get our hearts to be thinking of Florida.  I was under the assumption that once I moved to Florida then my asthma type symptoms would magically disappear. Instead for me and my body, (if you have followed any of my story), I don’t fit the mold. So why would I expect this to be any different?

I have been to a walk-in clinic now 3 times since our move to Florida.  I am on the exact same schedule I have been on since 2017.  Every 45-60 days.

I have made every excuse.

I cheated on my diet.

I was in the cold weather.

I was traveling.

For the past 18 months or so I have told doctors and myself.  “God is going to heal me. I just need to work out a few more things with my past. I just need to quit cheating on my dietary restrictions.”

In November, I was told that if I had one more flare up then I would need to see a specialist. Well today I once again found myself in the walk-in clinic.  The Doctor was not so pleasant.  She let me know without a shadow of a doubt I needed to find a primary care doctor sooner than later and get this under control.

So why this blog?

I had to come to grips that even though the prescription is part of our church planting story and why Cape Coral Florida, God knew I would need something that was of benefit to get my mind around moving 823 miles from my grandchildren and children.

Not being on steroids every 45-60 days and living in an area that is by the ocean and beautiful, was a great incentive and plus at that time we could do our job from anywhere. We were traveling for work 30-40 weeks out of the year anyway and it really didn’t matter where we started from.

By the end of February though, we were being called to plant a church, God even gave us handwriting on the wall, an 18-wheeler appearing out of nowhere as I am driving to the doctor because I am once again having an asthma flare up.

Fast forward to the past couple of months.  Nothing I thought would happen when we got here has come through. Everything I had put in motion to make the transition to Florida not feel so lonely, has fallen through.  And to top it off, I have been in the walk-in clinic 3 times since arriving.

I have silently been dealing with rejection and feeling like I was short changed. I have asked God to heal me. I have praised God for healing me. I have worked through more of my past. I have cried. I have laughed. I have screamed. And recently I have questioned.  Why? Why are you not healing me? I have faith. I believe. Why are you not healing me?

Then God gives me a flock of Ibis’s in the Wal-Mart parking lot.  To remind me He did heal me of my PTSD and there is no way I would have been able to move to a new area and plant a church with the anxiety and PTSD I had lived with for many years.

But God why are you not healing me of my asthma symptoms? Why did you bring me down here under false pretenses?

Then I read a book called Prodigal God by Tim Keller.

In the book was a story that went something like this.

Jesus says to pick up a stone and follow me.  You look around and because Jesus didn’t give you any specifications you pick up a small pebble and put it in your pocket.  A few miles down the road Jesus says to take your stone and place it in front of you.  He turns your “stone” into food.  You get very little because your stone is a pebble, others who were carrying bigger stones had much to eat because the food was commensurate to the size of the “stone.” Jesus now asks you to pick up another stone and follow Him. This time because you saw what He did for lunch you pick up the biggest stone you can find. You struggle and struggle. Finally, you get to a lake and Jesus says, “throw your stone in the lake.”   There is no food or any reward for carrying the big rock.  Jesus sees your frustration and He simple says, “All I asked you to do was follow me.”

As I was reading this sobbing, all God asked was, for me to follow Him. He also reminded me that the prescription came from man not God. God used it, but today I really know the meaning of the Proverbs.

In their hearts humans plan their course,
    but the Lord establishes their steps.
Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)

You can make many plans,
    but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.
Proverbs 19:21 (NLT)

 

Church Planters Cape Coral FL

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt if we had not moved we would have been disobedient.  But I am still human and as I was having a pity-party wondering what I had done wrong and why God had not healed me yet of my asthma symptoms, He reminded me that sometimes healing comes in the form of modern medicine I need to be okay with that and praise God for it.  And that the prescription for more Florida beach time was just a “sign” God used to get me ready for the next chapter our book He is writing with our lives.

To follow our church plant click the link  Restoration Christian Church

Satan will no longer take me hostage

 

 

I suffer from Asthma which is induced by food allergies. Over the past few years, I went from “yes you have food allergies, but you should be able to add things back into your diet; to I am sorry, now you can’t have… and the list gets added to.

To date I have to stay away from:

  • Gluten
  • Dairy
  • Eggs
  • Corn
  • Soy
  • Safflower/ Sunflower
  • Refined sugars
  • Peanuts

 

I have had doctors tell me:

Your body needs to rest

You need to heal

You are too stressed out

You have adrenal fatigue.

You need to take care of you.

 

So for the past few months, I have tried to lay low and to care for myself, especially when I was told, “you need to get rid of the stress or the stress will get rid of you.”

I was also told during this time that my food allergies may be the result of stress.

In reality though, I did not understand what any of that meant. No one was banging down my door to tell me what to do in a way that I understood it, so I muddled through the best I could.

It became apparent that I needed to figure out something because my asthma attacks were getting more and more frequent. So we made arrangements to change the way we did ministry; allowing me to REST.

But problems can become apparent when you allow your body to REST.  You may find out there are more layers of UNREST below and it rises to the surface.

This happened on October 7th.  I was teaching in my hometown in Michigan.  I did not think anything of it, but I guess my body did.  By the time the training was over, my neck was hurting.  It got so bad that I couldn’t sleep well, I had to hold my head to turn it while I was laying down and I had to hold the back of my neck just to swallow without pain.

By Wednesday I was in so much pain that I finally went to the Urgent Care Clinic.  I needed relief.  I still had one more training before I would be able to get home.   The Doctor said there was nothing wrong with me medically, but my neck was in knots, so she gave me a steroid shot, a prescription for a major steroid, a muscle relaxer and sent me on my way.

I was grateful for modern medicine but I also knew that I needed my chiropractor back home.

The rest of the trip went OK thanks to the steroids, but as soon as I was done with them and they were out of my system, it was back to the same level of pain.

I got in to see my chiropractor that week, he adjusted my neck and it started to feel a little better.

On October 24th, it was flared up and I was living on the muscle relaxers and pain relievers, so back to the chiropractor I went. As the doctor started checking me, he adjusted my back and did a few things through reflexology, but he never adjusted my neck.  He sat me up, looked at me and said “Meredith, there is nothing wrong with your neck. It is all stress related.  It is what I call a psychosomatic response. It’s all in your head.”

What? No! There has to be a medical reason.  Food allergy.  Something.  Not a psychosomatic response.  I was working so hard for the past few months to reduce my stress, because this is the same doctor who told me that if I did not reduce my stress, it would be reduced for me when my body shut down.

As I was on my way home, I texted my mom, “The verdict is in… its stress”.   When I was in Michigan earlier that month she told me it sounded like stress, and I answered, I have no stress.

The rest of the evening Rob and I started talking through things.  My childhood. Our marriage.

As we were talking, I wouldn’t have to say yes or no that did or did not bother me, my body did it for me. These talks turned into me having an ugly cry face, but I went to bed that night for the first time in 17 days and slept pain free.

You see I am really good at helping others figure out their life. Over the past 15 years, I have been working on myself, but only in a form of teaching and using my story to free others.  In September I was given a self-study that was geared toward healing my body.

On November 16th, a blog came out about what self care really means. Click here to read it

In this blog there were a couple of things that stood out. The main thing was:

 “how much (anxiety) comes from the way you were being trained to think before you even knew what was happening.”

In our program we teach on this very thing, but we don’t put this way.  For whatever reason, this statement hit me like a lead balloon.  I got out my journal and started thinking through her statement with The 180 Programs diagrams and my past.  Listening to the lies of satan through the voice of my step dad.  I believed what he said about me then and unfortunately I was allowing his words to shape my current thinking.

As I read and re-read the blog, I realized I was allowing the antics of satan to tell me that I was not good enough and that I was not being healed because I did not have enough faith.  I was also allowing my “lens of life” to be one that unfortunately still had the blurred lines of lies that I was trained to believe.

The day after I read this, I was able to journal my thoughts and feelings, God brought a woman into my life and she led me in a one-on-one prayer of self-reflection.  During this prayer time I was directed to events that were troublesome. I was then directed to just talk it out.  When I was finished talking, she would ask Jesus to tell me where He was in all of this.  What were the lies. Where was the truth?  As I sat in the room with a total stranger, I wept until I could cry no more, but I felt free.

For quite a while I have been praying for healing.  I was asking for healing from my food allergies… but what I realized was God healed me from something greater.

When I woke up this morning, I realized I was happy.  I have been asking God to make me happy in my journal for a long time.  I had not realized how many lies I was still allowing to engulf my daily life. I was still allowing satan to take me hostage in my own thought life.  It was subtle, but I realized how I framed my questions, how I framed statements, how I allowed the voices from my past to become the lens I walked my daily life through, and they were keeping me in bondage of fear.

Today I choose to walk with a renewed mind.  I will work to see myself through lenses of a loving Jesus.  He may choose to allow something bad to happen again, in fact I’m sure I will face difficulties, but I will not let those events be the lens that I filter my tomorrow through.

I have a choice and so do you.

Asthma, do I have any less Faith?

For the past couple of years I have struggled with asthmatic symptoms.

At times it has gotten so bad that I would sit in a chair all night sipping hot tea or black coffee just to keep my airways open until I could reach an urgent care facility in the morning. You see my flair ups never happen during regular business hours. 


Recently,  I was told it was a stronghold on me and I needed to find out what it was in my past that was creating the asthma. 

As much as I agree with strongholds and how much havoc they can create in our human bodies; I also know that sometimes God allows us to keep our “thorn”, and we must learn what it means to rely on Gods strength. Paul is a great example in 2 Corinthians 12 he says this:

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong….

So what if God does not supernaturally heal me?

Do I have any less faith?

Do I quit praying?

Do I quit seeking?

As I was doing a study that was to help guide me through breaking free from whatever it is that is creating my allergies and the asthma, I became very disheartened by the fact they pulled scriptures out of context to say the least.

But just like God does, He wanted me to see something else;  as I was doing this study, it referenced  Mark 11:23 it says:

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.  “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.

Sounds amazing right? I was thinking I am going to start reciting this day and night back to the Lord… It’s a promise and I am going to stand on it. But just as God does, He said continue reading.

Mark 11:24-25 says:

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

You see we want the promise without the work.  For me I was mentally preparing my list.. And I was like “yep, I am good”…until I was preparing to write a blog for another website.

As I was writing, I realized I was still holding grudges about a lost childhood, how I was hurt by the church and even bitterness I didn’t know I had. I was allowing satan, even 2, 3, 4, and 5 decades later to still pull the chains.

To me it wasn’t a in your face blatant “hold against you”… It was more about holding onto nuggets of my past so that I could use my story to reach more people. That doesn’t sound so bad.. Right?

Let me explain.  We are hearing more and more “we all have a story to tell”, but when we re-create the story to be more focused on the negative it created versus the positive that came from it, we allow satan to have power over our thoughts which turn into words.  By allowing Satan to have power over our thoughts, we are holding onto the past and not allowing ourselves the freedom to say to that mountain “Go through yourself into the sea, and it will be done”.

So I have a choice today as I tell my story, do I give satan the privilege of allowing the negative words to be heard?

If I do, this could create a victim mindset support group where no one heals, but continually lives the past in order to “hold against” the people and ultimately the Lord.

I didn’t cheat that much Part 2

This is how part 1 ended:

This was a conscious choice that I made to cheat on my food allergy diet, it not a medical condition like asthma. It is 100% a choice of  living in denial, that my excuse, “I can cheat just a little, because it doesn’t affect anyone but me.”

Because of my conscious choice of “cheating”, it affected me by being sick even thinking I may not make it through the night.

But it also affected my husband because he took care of me.  It also affected our budget.  We do not have $500 of indispensable income.  It also affected my daughter because today, she wanted me to go shopping with her.  It also affected an out of town visitor and her children, because we were not able to see them again while they were visiting and I had promised her son I would cook and bake with him.

I know that there will be things that I accidently eat (ie while traveling and not getting all the ingredients in the spices or sauces).

But today, I choose not to cheat on purpose.

Today I still have to live with the consequences of cheating since Thanksgiving.

Just today I have spent $270.  Earlier this week I spent almost $100 on a chiropractic appointment and vitamins.  A week and half ago we spent over $100 on other “Natural products”.

So this “choice to cheat” cost almost $500 out of pocket expense…just because I said “it’s not that bad.  I didn’t cheat that much and it will only affect me.”

I am the co-author of a program called The 180 Program. In the foundational piece called New Beginnings  week 4 is on Excuses.  In this week we look at all the people that you make excuses for and all the people that make excuses for you.  We also look at a cycle of what happens when we allow others and ourselves to stay in that cycle of excuse making also known as living in denial.

As we enter 2017, I have a serious question:

Are you ready to get off the cycle of insanity? You have to do it for you! If you do it for anyone else, it will not become a new behavior you are invested in for you and only you.

Are you ready to say NO MORE EXCUSES?

 

 

Feel free to download the sample week 4 and do the work. I would love to hear your feedback.

 

I didn’t cheat that much

In 2011, I woke up and couldn’t walk without excruciating pain radiating through my body.  I called my chiropractor and asked if he could get me in because I needed to be “fixed”, so I could enjoy my weekend with all my sister-in-laws in Texas in just a few short days.  He said “Yes, can you come right away?”

“I can come as  soon as my morning commitments are over, will that be ok?”  I was catering a luncheon for one of our local schools.

I hobbled in and he told me to lay on the table.  He went through the normal reflexology items and did a few adjustments.

“Meredith, your back was a little out of alignment. But, I really want to check your nutrition.”

I responded with, “thanks, but there is nothing wrong with my nutrition.”

I left and finished my day, which included a run to Sonic for a Route 44 Cherry Limeade. Dinner included a pasta dish, with extra cheese, bread sticks, and a large Coke with a few refills.

I woke up the next morning feeling worse than the day before, but I still made a run to Sonic for breakfast, (Sausage, Egg and Cheese croissant, with hash browns and a Route 44 Cherry Limeade) becuase I was running late for the 2nd day of luncheon catering, this time for another school.

By the time the food was out, I was in so much pain that my friend kept telling me to leave and go get myself looked at.

I took her advice and called my chiropractor and jokingly said “you have 30 minutes to fix me, I need to get on a plane to Texas.”

 After doing a few tests, he left the room and when he came back he said “Meredith, have you ever considered a total water fast for the rest of your life?” Within the hour, I was walking out of the chiropractor’s office wanting to cry.

I left that day, knowing that my body did not like food.  And that if I wanted to start walking without pain, then I would have to make some changes.

Over the next month or so, I stopped crying every time I went to the grocery store; I only cried when I wanted to find something new to eat.

My final diagnosis,  NO MORE:

  • GLUTEN
  • CORN (or any byproduct ie High Fructose CORN syrup or CORN syrup, Corn flour, etc… you get the point)
  • DAIRY
  • EGG whites
  • and PEANUTS (or anything made with Peanuts)

Over the years I had learned that I could cheat, or at least I thought so, except for Peanuts. My Peanut allergy is not bad enough that I need an epipen, but I do carry Benadryl and I stay away from Peanuts and anything cooked in peanut oil.

At the end of last year, I was tired of following my diet. How bad could it be? So what if I get a Migraine from the Corn syrup, the Gluten, is not that bad.. just a feeling that my hands are swollen when I wake up.

There it was, a Krispy Kreme Glazed Cream filled donut… how bad can it be?  Within a minute, the headache came on, no biggie… I am used to that symptom. A small migraine was my common side-effect if I happen to not see there was corn syrup in something.  Then I started tripping and I was dizzy.  This went on for the entire day.  I even tripped trying to get out of my van that night, 8 hours later.

NO, it can’t be a symptom…. oh yes it can….  a side-effect of a Gluten intolerance.

That was scary.  I learned my lesson.  No more Krispy Kreme or any food item filled with that much gluten and corn for me. I started to really watch my gluten and corn intake.

So why this post as we enter 2017… this year I have been sicker than I want to admit. It started in February, then in June, September and now today.

In February, I know what started the Bronchitis like symptoms, I got a head cold/flu.

But in June, I made excuses because I did not want to think that my dairy allergy could be the culprit.

September, I still had a rattle, but I said “Oh, I had a little ranch dressing, I’ll be fine”.

not-feeling-wellBut these past weeks… My excuses included:

Oh, I’ll be fine.

It definitely could not be a dairy allergy.

I have been doing so well.

Come on what do you want? It has been Thanksgiving and Christmas.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”61d0C” via=”yes” ]I didn’t cheat that much. #foodallergies #glutenfree #dairyfree @duffy66[/ctt]

I go get all the Natural Products I can. Teas, Vitamins, etc… but last night as I laid on the couch trying to sleep, praying that God would allow me to get to the doctors office… praying my doctor would actually be open, the day after Christmas.

 With every breath, less and less was getting into my lungs.

I got up every 4 hours and made a Breathe Easy tea. The warmth of the coffee cup on my chest, seemed to open up my airways so I could breathe.  Finally, 8am rolled around, my doctor will not be in till tomorrow.  The Vanderbilt walk-in clinic is open. I get ready and my husband drives me over there.

Just sign-in and we will call you up.

A few minutes later, my name was called. Ma’am you do understand there is about a 55 minute wait. I nodded in between coughs gave her all the information and then went and sat down.

After sitting a waiting, my name was finally called.  The Nurse Practitioner came in a few minutes later and started to put the stethoscope up to my chest and said

“wow, you get the prize for being the weaziest.  I am going to give you a steroid shot and a steroid pack. You will also have a breathing treatment and go home with an inhaler and cough medicine and cough pills.” breathing-treatment

The Nurse Practitioner, was talking about a reactive airway. Something triggers the inflammation and before you know it… you are here. But what could be your trigger?  My amazing husband kept saying “can a dairy allergy cause it?” To which I kept saying “I have cheated that much.”.

The entire time I kept lying to myself by saying, ” I didn’t cheat that much.” God kept gently reminding me of how much I did cheat since Thanksgiving.

I started reading up on reactive airways and dairy allergies.  As I kept reading, I found out how quickly bronchial airways can become inflamed and death can be the result.

Death… or a Choice to Cheat?  For me it could have the same outcome.

I have been saying for the past 5 years, “mine (food allergies) aren’t that bad and I can cheat a little. Well after these past few days and more so, last night wondering if I would wake up, I have a major choice to make.”

You see, it is still a choice.  I have been living in denial that my dairy allergy is NOT THAT BAD… so I would cheat.

We live in a First world country and I can get to the doctor for a breathing treatment to open back up my airways.

Right?

Wrong?

Why do I want to put my body through this?

This was a conscious choice that I made to cheat on my food allergy diet, it not a medical condition like asthma. It is 100% a choice of  living in denial, that my excuse, “I can cheat just a little, becuase it doesn’t affect anyone but me.”

Because of my conscious choice of “cheating”, it affected me by being sick even thinking I may not make it through the night.

But it also affected my husband because he took care of me.  It also affected our budget.  We do not have $500 of indispensable income.  It also affected my daughter because today, she wanted me to go shopping with her.  It also affected an out of town visitor and her children, because we were not able to see them again while they were visiting and I had promised her son I would cook and bake with him.

I know that there will be things that I accidently eat (ie while traveling and not getting all the ingredients in the spices or sauces).

But today, I choose not to cheat on purpose.

Today I still have to live with the consequences of cheating since Thanksgiving.

Just today I have spent $270.  Earlier this week I spent almost $100 on a chiropractic appointment and vitamins.  A week and half ago we spent over $100 on other “Natural products”.

So this “choice to cheat” cost almost $500 out of pocket expense…just because I said “it’s not that bad.  I didn’t cheat that much and it will only affect me.”