knowing that healing will come, not knowing when

/

Click {here} for all our health-related posts. Read below for an introduction to those posts... 

While they don't define me, my health struggles are part of who I am. I once prided myself in being healthy, playing water polo in college and lettering in swimming and golf in high school. If I was a dude, I would have fit the bill to be carried off to Babylon in Daniel's day.

No longer. Now my list o' conditions includes:
Of the three, RA is the one that is the hardest to manage and live with and the one that sends me to my knees regularly (well, not really to my knees, 'cause kneeling hurts. but you get my meaning - it spurs me to prayer). Here's a description of RA from the Mayo Clinic link above: "An autoimmune disorder, rheumatoid arthritis occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks your own body's tissues. In addition to causing joint problems, rheumatoid arthritis can also affect your whole body with fevers and fatigue."

In other words, my immune system treats the lining of my joints as if they are germs to fight. As that lining - called synovium - swells, my bone wear away. I was diagnosed just after I turned 26, and because of the amount of bone erosion I experienced in the first few months of the disease, doctors have described my RA as "severe" and "aggressive."

In simple terms, when my RA is acting up, I stay as still as I can in the morning when I wake up because I know that's the only pain-free moment of the day. Once I move, I feel that all my joints are stiff and sore for more than an hour in the morning. And I hurt. A lot. I have to ask strangers to unbuckle my kids from their carseats or to unscrew the cap on my gas tank because I can't do it by myself. I do hit the gym, but each workout is planned around that day's limitations. It's not the life I planned.

There is hope here, though. And I'm not just talking about the hope of finding the right combination of treatments, which I do think will happen in the next few years. The hope I cling to is that I know healing will come. God promises it. I just don't know if it'll come on this side of heaven. Until it comes, we're asking God to teach us through this.

And He is teaching us. And I love that. So I wouldn't erase the pain and IVs and blood tests and MRIs of the past few years, because through them I have gained sweet intimacy with my God. Praise Him for bringing beauty from ashes!

All of my health related posts (including some about your normal childhood viruses) can be found here, but you might want to start with these:

Speaking of gas masks

/
Because of his role on a state Urban Search & Rescue team, Lee has one (but not the bra one). Because of Jocelyn's curiosity, she wanted to try it on.

 



And as a quick update on Lee's US&R work, he has been asked to apply for the same federal team that his boss is on. The team he served with during the ConAgra blast in Garner is a state team rather than a federal one, and he will continue to serve on it no matter what happens with the federal team. Pray for us as we do feel convicted that he should apply (and knew that a few years ago, which makes the decision about whether or not to apply now a no-brainer) but as we also know that this particular team was deployed to Haiti immediately after the earthquake and to New Orleans for Katrina and to many other places in need. Usually advance notice for deployments is days or even hours, so it could make life interesting. Lee would love to shine for Christ on that team, and I'm on board with that 100%. The realities aren't gentle, but they do demonstrate why he's needed and why he's applying.

I. kid. you. not.

/
This is just too good to pass up.*

"In the face of a disaster, are you prepared? Not unless your bra doubles as a face mask." Read the rest from Time here. Evidently, it can filter out chemicals like those at Chernobyl.

And my favorite quote from the designer of it during her acceptance speech for the Ig Nobel Prize, "Ladies and gentlemen, isn't that wonderful that women have two breasts, not just one? We can save not only our own life, but also the life of a man of our choice next to us."

For $29.99, it can be yours. 

(Thank you, Josie, for sharing this. You rock.)

*Edited to add: I meant too good to pass up on mentioning. I have no plans to acquire this unmentionable.

And now I have to read To Kill A Mockingbird for the millionth time...

/
I just finished reading The Mockingbird Parables. And now I have to add To Kill A Mockingbird to my October reading list.

(By the way, October?!? Next week!?! I don't think I'm ready for it to be October yet.)

I so love Atticus, Scout, Jem, Boo, and the rest of the bunch, even the characters who repelled me. Because of that, I was both interested in and concerned by the premise of this book. Matt Litton coursed through the original story to glean what it could teach us about God and the Church. I saw the potential (thus my interest), but I was concerned that Litton would poorly handle the story or the Gospel in his attempt to draw parallels.

For the most part, my concerns were unfounded. In Litton's words, "I personally find it is easy to become so accustomed to, and comfortable with, religious language that I start to sleep easily through the night, not hearing the words and messages that should keep me awake and vigilant. You see, there are themes and messages in To Kill a Mockingbird that have sounded off like the hours of a grandfather clock, waking me like the blaring horn of a freight train, allowing me to hear parts of the gospel to which I had become deaf" (pg. 12). He presents Boo as a God figure, Atticus as a model of obedience and courage and parentin, the house fires and church collection as models for community, Miss Maudie's azaleas as a call to care for creation, the missionary tea as the opposite of how we should regard missions, and Scout as a model for women in the church.

It was this last point that made me say that my concerns were unfounded "for the most part." I agree with him that women can be strong and that abuse against women cannot be and should not attempt to be justified by God's word. I disagree that women are meant to be equal to men, though I wouldn't argue for inequality either. Men and women are different by design. Litton calls out a certain denomination - not by name, but it was obvious in description - for refusing to allow women to serve as pastors. His description of this is flawed, in that he misunderstands affirmation for male leadership in the home and church as an insult to women and a prohibition against using their gifts in the church. I belong to a church in that denomination, and I am thankful for both the godly men who lead our church and the plentiful opportunities for me to lead and serve.

I did agree with most of the chapter on women, though, and I loved many of the other parallels Litton drew. If you love the original, I think you'll enjoy this take on it. You'll see quotes from it appear

I received this book from Tyndale House Publishers for my honest review. All opinions are my own.