I've been walking a long road toward wellness, since my body fell apart from chronic Lyme disease over 12 years ago. Since then, I've learned that becoming whole isn't just a matter of whacking some bugs with an antibiotic or eating organic salmon and salads. It's not just a matter of healing the daddy wounds or coming to grips with a lifelong story of rejection.

It's about finding a relationship of unconditional love with God, because it is love- not a doctor, herb or belief system- that ultimately heals the whole person. Yet God gives us answers to healing through holistic medicine, as well as by His supernatural hand.

Indeed, most of the focus of the books that I've written has been upon medicine, but I realize that it's time to share all that I have learned from God as I have walked through the dark valley of this past decade. This includes strategies that heal the heart and spirit, as well as the body.

My knowledge is based upon my belief that Jesus Christ still heals supernaturally today, and that spiritual healing is the highest level of healing that we can attain to. Spiritual health can make us completely well, but it is also noble and good to seek healing at the physical level.

The journey to wholeness is always a journey, as none of us ever completely arrives this side of Heaven, but we can enter into a place of relative health and peace, with joy as the centerpiece of our days. I'm not there, but I am not the same person I was a decade ago. May victory be upon your horizon as it has been upon mine...

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

The Problem with Lyme Disease and God's Provision Through It

I've experienced, and witnessed, few illnesses that suck the life and joy out of people more than chronic Lyme disease. Like a tornado, it is insidious, powerful, all-encompassing and destroys every thing in your path- from your home, to your job, relationships, and ability to function. It ruins your health, your hope and your happiness.

You get my point. And it's not one of those things that any amount of positive thinking or self-effort can pull you though.  If you are fortunate and have the funds, friends and emotional support- and a great doctor who can work with your not-so-great biochemistry, then you might improve 50-80% after 2-5 years of therapy. I know a few folks who claim to be nearly symptom-free, but nobody ever fully gets rid of the infections, short of a miracle from God, and I don't know many who have come out of this storm feeling better in their bodies than before they went into it. It ravages everything within you, outside of you, and all around you.

Which is why, I suppose, in 2009, God impressed it upon me that he had a better way. I had been attending an ILADS Lyme disease conference with 400 doctors. And as I sat there, listening to the doctors explain about insanely complicated and expensive antibiotic healing protocols,  I thought, "This is a disease for the rich. This is a disease for the blessed few who have the mental wherewithal, emotional support, and stable enough biochemistry to overcome...not to mention one of the best doctors in the country."

I left feeling incredibly depressed, for myself and the other people that I knew with Lyme. At that time, I'd been treating Lyme disease for five years (much of that time on my own, mind you, which was a bad thing to do) and had improved significantly, but was yet nowhere near well.

Then God impressed it upon me that He had another way, and that healing wasn't just for the genetically-privileged, or the rich, or those with emotional support or the best Lyme doctor on the planet. He told me that people with Lyme disease could be healed through His Son Jesus Christ, and that by seeking His face, He would show them the way.  He told me that the same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead 2000 years ago was still present to heal today, and that when Jesus died on the Cross, He became an atoning sacrifice not only for our sins, but also for sickness.

I began to devour books that talked about healing and the Atonement. One of my favorites was Christ the Healer by FF Bosworth, because it explained, convincingly and by using Scripture to back up its contentions, why in fact Jesus promised that "the prayer of faith would heal the sick."

The problem is, God told me, is that we have allowed our theology and beliefs about Him to be dictated by our experiences, and not by what His Word, the Bible, says. Logically so, since quite often we pray and nothing seems to happen in the physical realm.

But then I learned about spiritual laws and that while God's promises to heal are true, there are sometimes spiritual strongholds that have to be broken in order for people to heal- but that God would show me those strongholds, so that I could break them off my life and others.'

I was so inspired that I began to pray more for people, and even saw one man miraculously healed of all symptoms of chronic Lyme disease. Another was healed of cancer, and God began to use me to bring people into a higher place of wellness, either emotionally or physically. I began to attend Christian healing conferences, and saw God heal hundreds upon hundreds of people.

I prayed, and wrote my own book on spiritual healing, entitled, Healing Chronic Illness. Since that time, I have learned more about healing, but had hoped to see more people completely healed of Lyme disease.

Recently, I went to God about this and told Him I was discouraged, and asked Him what I needed to do to see His promises in Scripture fulfilled.

Sometimes, God speaks to me in the first person through my boyfriend Bill, and He responded (in a voice of great authority), "You must see what you have in your hand now, and you must be thankful for that which you have now. Your power and anointing have grown (over the past several years)...." And then He said, "Do not belittle the anointing I have given you! This is not about you. You make yourself far greater than Me if you think it is your prayers that make them well, when it is My power going through you that makes them well."

Well. I was duly humbled. But He still hadn't addressed my greatest concern, which was why I wasn't seeing more instantaneous healing miracles from Lyme- which is what I wanted to see.

Ever patient, God responded, "How badly do you want to see people healed? Do you not think that I want to see them healed, as well? Do you think I put it upon your heart to see them well? That there would not be a way for you to pray so that they would get well? If I did, then don't you think I'd let you see it through? That I would not give you the visions to see it accomplished; that anointing, talent, power, ability and fulfillment to make it happen? Rest in that, and embrace that..."

Then He reminded me of the healing miracles He had already done through me- emotional and physical healing miracles; miracles that I had disregarded or not appreciated because they weren't the whole kit n' caboodle.

He reminded me about the responsibility that we all play in our healing- to seek His face, to trust Him, and to believe Him to heal us- either through a supernatural, divine miracle, or through medicine.

The impressions He's given me over the years are that medicine isn't His preferred way of healing, because it's harder, more expensive, and painful, and not everyone will be healed through medicine, especially those with chronic Lyme.  We might be restored to 70-80% health or even become symptom-free, (if we are blessed and believe Him for a full recovery) but He made full provision for our healing when Jesus went to the Cross at Calvary, and that this provision was sufficient.

And Jesus doesn't just heal people from Lyme- He still raises them from the dead, both metaphorically and literally, and His power is sufficient to heal broken limbs, bodies and souls.

Yet, He uses and blesses medicine, especially because, for most of us, our faith is in medicine more than in God's supernatural power-  but if you don't have access to medicine, I just want to encourage you that there is another, better way! And the healing is for everyone- as God is no respecter of persons.

I haven't received an instantaneous healing miracle from Lyme, either, perhaps because of mental strongholds in my own life, or simply because God chose another way with me-- but I know people who have, and God has used me to heal others.

As I continued in my conversation with God, He told me to keep pressing in to Him; to keep praying, no matter the perceived outcome, and that as I continued to pray, I would see more people healed of Lyme.

Way back in 2004, I started out my Lyme disease battle in a bad place. I was very sick, and I quickly exhausted my savings, and had to sell my home, and move back in with my parents for a couple of years, until I won a Disability case, at which time I moved to Costa Rica for a couple of years while I wrote my first two Lyme disease books.

My suffering has been great, as, in addition to Lyme, I am a survivor of ritual abuse, which I endured for many years as a child. When I got Lyme, like so many others, I didn't have all the support that I needed-either emotionally or financially-, but I had a relationship with God, and daily I sought His face for wisdom and help.

Today, when I look back, I realize that while I've not "arrived,"and while I've not had an instantaneous healing miracle, God's divine power has been working in me, to heal and restore me, because I chose to believe (most of the time!) that He would.

Considering the circumstances that I was in 10 years ago, had I not sought God, I might have still been living with my parents, on Disability, or even dead, as there was a time in 2006 when I lost so much weight that I wasn't sure I was going to make it. I was 120 pounds at 5'10" (I'm now 160, on the high end of normal) and at that time, I surrendered to Him, believing that if it was His will, I would live. Many times in the years that followed, I had to remind myself of His promises in Scripture to heal me.

I'm still not fully healed today- but the infections are no longer a major problem, and emotionally and spiritually, I'm healthier than I've ever been. As I've stated many times in my articles, I can work and travel. I have my own home again, and God has used the most hideous trial I've ever endured and enabled me to help thousands through the eight books that I've now published (three on their way this summer!), along with the anointing that He's given me to see other people healed through prayer.

So even though I still grumble today about the challenges that I still have; financially, with my health and otherwise- if I look back to where I was 10 years ago, I must be a walking miracle, because there is no way I would have gotten to where I am today without God. Not with the kind of background, history, financial and physical challenges that I've had.


Still, the temptation is always to look at what God still hasn't done in our lives, instead of what He has, and complain that He's not moving in our lives, or healing us. I've been guilty of that, a thousand times over, and I admit that envy likes to worm its way into my life, and show me what other people have that I don't.

Although that said, whenever I look at the newsfeed on Facebook and read the posts from people that have Lyme disease, the messages reflect lives that are far more difficult and devastating than the people I know that haven't suffered this terrible illness. We all suffer, to be sure, but meter of suffering in those with chronic Lyme is right up on the high end of red.

Which is why God continues to urge me to contend for healing miracles, for myself and others.
I'm pretty sure it's He who put that desire in me, too, because had it been me, I probably would have given up a long time ago. The pain of seeing what others go through is just too great, but now, my determination is fiercer than ever.  I am determined to see Jesus' promises to set the captives free, the sick healed, and the eyes of the blind- fulfilled- I will, no matter where I have to go, or what I have to do.

As He continues to encourage me in this, I pray He will encourage you also in your healing journey. Seek His face, thank Him for the healing, and then trust Him to guide your path. He will do it, even though at times the progress may seem slow. Continue to believe, and you will see Him change your life for the better! Because believing is seeing in God's world...not the other way around. God bless you :)





17 comments:

  1. Hello Connie!
    Thank you so much for shinning the light of Christ into this dark world. I love the insight the Lord has given you and appreciate your honesty.
    May God bless you abundantly!
    Julie

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  2. Hey Julie, You are welcome! So glad the post blessed you. Hugs :) Connie

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  3. This is beautiful and so timely for me! I, too, have drawn much closer to the Lord since being ill with Lyme. He has put it on my heart lately that there is a stronghold in my life that is blocking my healing ... I have been praying that He would reveal it to me so I can be delivered from it in the name of Jesus! I always tell myself that even though lyme has destroyed my health, temporally ruined my future plans and affected my husband and I financially, that great things has come out of this horrendous illness and for that I'm thankful! Blessings and healing to you, my friend! :)

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  4. Thank you for encouraging us to press into our Saviour! I know I was near death prior to finally being tested & diagnosed with chronic Lyme, suffering symptoms over 30 years. Looking back at my journey & being able to help others with their health honestly has helped me make sense of the disease. God never promises an easy life but that He's faithful which means so much! Our 3 kids (now 17, 20 & 22) don't really know life without me struggling. They've been positive too but our Lyme - literate Dr. kinda messed their trust in the diagnosis & treatment and think because they don't have symptoms like mine that they're fine. It breaks my heart but am trusting God. I'm leaning in on His truths and thanking my Lord for directing my paths to my personal road to recovery. (I haven't had my blood work done for 16 months.)

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  5. Hi Aisha, I'm so glad that the post blessed you! If you feel like God has revealed to you a stronghold in your life, then rest assured that He will remove it- without you having to strain to find the key. He will simply do it as you continue to pursue intimacy with him. :) I pray you would be blessed in your healing and know that He will lead you in the direction of wellness, no matter where you may be now. I'm glad you can see the blessing in the darkness, I know it's not always easy :) Hugs

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  7. Hi Linda, You are welcome! Thank you for sharing your story. It seems you are a lady of great strength and what a blessing that you have been able to reach out and help others because of what you have suffered. May the Lord bless you richly for your faithfulness, and continue to heal you as you seek Him :) Hugs and blessings.

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  8. Thanks, Connie, I identify with so much of what you wrote here. Thanks for saying it.

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  9. I'm so confused, I started with major panic attacks, anxiety and confusion, brain fog all began on one day, I was told by a lyme literate doctor I have lyme I'm my brain even though western blots are continually negative, only a positive spect scan shows this, I've seen two wonderful infectious disease doctors, a neurologist all who said I don't have lyme disease, I've tried antibiotics, couldn't even take them a full two weeks, made me so much worse, long story short now, I don't have the money, resources and health to do antibiotics, I have the faith Jesus heals, all I'm asking is to mentally clear me up, get rid of anxiety, clarify lyme diagnoses and to be the mom of the 4 beautiful children I'm meant to be. Thanks for listening.

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  10. I'm so confused, I started with major panic attacks, anxiety and confusion, brain fog all began on one day, I was told by a lyme literate doctor I have lyme I'm my brain even though western blots are continually negative, only a positive spect scan shows this, I've seen two wonderful infectious disease doctors, a neurologist all who said I don't have lyme disease, I've tried antibiotics, couldn't even take them a full two weeks, made me so much worse, long story short now, I don't have the money, resources and health to do antibiotics, I have the faith Jesus heals, all I'm asking is to mentally clear me up, get rid of anxiety, clarify lyme diagnoses and to be the mom of the 4 beautiful children I'm meant to be. Thanks for listening.

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  11. Dear Connie, I am not sure if you are still checking this feed but it is 4:15 am and I am in bed praying to God for healing and for others. I have been wavering and striving for answers in the fresh even though the Lord has been asking me to be patient and trust Him. I have been sick 2.5 months with many different symptoms some of which make me feel like I can't go on another minute. I know some have it much worse than me and I am grateful for the provisions I do have which are so much more than others. But I still cry out desperately for restoration and healing and I ask you, dear Connie, to please pray for my restoration and healing. But please pray that I would seek and trust and peacefuThat is good as even SSRI's are harmful to our serotonin system. More Big Pharma poisons are not the way to go. Dr Whitcomb told me it is a mind game and he was right. But time is on your side. It is a game you can win.lly wait upon the Lord until that wonderful, amazing, awesome healing manifests itself in the flesh.
    Thank you!!!

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  12. Dear Connie, I am not sure if you are still checking this feed but it is 4:15 am and I am in bed praying to God for healing and for others. I have been wavering and striving for answers in the fresh even though the Lord has been asking me to be patient and trust Him. I have been sick 2.5 months with many different symptoms some of which make me feel like I can't go on another minute. I know some have it much worse than me and I am grateful for the provisions I do have which are so much more than others. But I still cry out desperately for restoration and healing and I ask you, dear Connie, to please pray for my restoration and healing. But please pray that I would seek and trust and peacefuThat is good as even SSRI's are harmful to our serotonin system. More Big Pharma poisons are not the way to go. Dr Whitcomb told me it is a mind game and he was right. But time is on your side. It is a game you can win.lly wait upon the Lord until that wonderful, amazing, awesome healing manifests itself in the flesh.
    Thank you!!!

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  13. Hi I am wondering if you could pray for me against this disease.my name is Janice

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  14. I’m praying for you Janice I have Lyme as well. Jesus loves you! I’m praying for you all!

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  15. Hello. I have lyme disease and am starting to build a relationship with God. Thank you for your message. Praying for everyone here. Please pray for me as well. Thank you so much.

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  16. Hello everyone my son who 5 has Lyme he has such terrible sweats at night does anyone get this ? Please keep George in prayer he’s also hard of hearing �� this diease toments me I need peace and we need a miracle for George

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