Priorities - Where Does Fibromyalgia Fit?

It sure takes a lot of time and effort to revamp your life.  Lots of reading, studying, testing and practicing.  I feel sometimes like this is a new job.  I guess it is.  I have spent hours and hours reading, and talking with others who are living with fibromyalgia, trying to find what God leads me to put into practice in my own life as steps towards healing.  This can quickly take over your whole life,  putting God and family responsibilities on the back-burner!  I KNOW that is not what God wants for me, so where does getting healthy fit into my priorities?

Here is an illustration that shows the Circles of Priority for a Christian Adult according to
Bearing Fruit in God's Family by NavPress:

After talking about this with my husband we came up with the idea that for me, fibro should fall between “Work” (I should point out that "Work" does not necessarily mean a paying job) and “Other."  We’ll call it “Self/Health,” not “selfishness,”  but “Self/Health.”  This is the place to work on getting healthy.  My list for “Self/Health” would include; 

-reading/research on my illness

-healthy eating

-supplements

-exercise (which for me includes lots of prayer time & scripture meditation)

-Dr. appointments

-resting (which could lead back to God)

-blogging (which could also be helping others)

Maybe you would add massage, chiropractor or acupuncture.  Whatever you do that surrounds your illness and healing.  All of these are important and have a place on our priority list.   Here is my new visual which you can grab, print & customize with your own priorities:

 

Certainly there are times in people’s lives where health needs to be moved up on the list.  If you are hospitalized, or going through something like Cancer, your priorities may look different for a season.  When your illness has you so down (physically or emotionally) that you can no longer do the things on your priority list, that is a problem that needs to be addressed.  You should seek help to get things under control.

As I spoke about in a previous post, Job - Help for the Hurting, God allows things to happen in our lives for the purpose of bringing us closer to Him.  Don’t let anything get in the way of that relationship!

My point is this.  Let’s not let fibromyalgia (or whatever illness you have) take over our lives to the point where we are ineffective Christians.

Let’s put it in its place.

Job - Help for the Hurting

“so I have been allotted months of futility,

    and nights of misery have been assigned to me.

When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’

    The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.”  Job 7:3-4

“And now my life ebbs away;

    days of suffering grip me.

Night pierces my bones;

    my gnawing pains never rest.”  Job 30:16-17

Sound familiar?  Researching the history of fibromyalgia you will often find references to Job possibly being the first recorded sufferer.  I hadn’t heard anything about this before I began investigating this syndrome, and I have studied the book of Job a few times.

Most commentators agree that Job is the oldest book in the Bible, possibly written soon after the flood of Noah, many years before Moses penned the Torah (first 5 books of the Bible).  Job was a righteous and wealthy man.  Satan approached God with a challenge, that when all good things were taken away from him, Job would blame God and turn from Him.  Satan is given approval to prove his theory and all of Job’s wealth is taken away, his ten adult children are killed and he is afflicted with illness.  Why does God allow us to suffer?  Three of Job’s friends show up to try and make sense of what was happening to this Godly man.  Job never wavers in his faith and worship of God.  Then, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe speaks to Job about who He is.  A Living, Loving, Personal God, active in all facets of His creation.  Job is found to have passed this test and God blesses him, giving him twice as much as he had before.  More wealth, more children, and although the text doesn’t mention his health, the fact that people once again were not afraid to be around him, and the fact that he lived happily for 140 years after these events, leads me to believe he was healed.

As I read more of Job’s own description of his afflictions and looked back to the beginning of the story,   “So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.”  Job 2:7, I can’t help but doubt that fibromyalgia is what was ailing him.  In my opinion whatever it was, was horrible and included open sores (boils) that would explain his physical torture.  However, even if Job didn’t suffer from fibromyalgia, those of us that live with pain can turn to this book for comfort, answers and hope.

“There is great news to those who have lost possessions, for those who have lost position and for those who have lost health.  God is near, God is in Love with you and God is in control.  It is a huge challenge, but the truth is that the God who directs each and every lightning bolt is in control of the situation.  Nothing that has happened in a life, as tragic as it is, is a surprise to God, nor was it beyond His capability to stop it.  The good news is that God is so capable that He can not only manage, but also direct the life of each individual in such a way that measured in the eternal scheme of things, a perfect plan unfolds that is best for the person and brings glory to God.  The life of the hurting is in the powerful and loving hand of the Creator and has His laser focus and undivided attention.” (193-194) God’s Science Quiz, Dr. Gary Sutliff.

I invite you to study The Book of Job for yourself and pray that you find comfort in it as I have.

For further study into the science in Job, you can pick up my Dad’s book on the subject!

God's Science Quiz.  

And watch this video by Chuck Missler - 
God's Science Quiz to Job.

Stormy days – Am I a Human Barometer?

Something I have read about, and heard from others, is that weather really affects their fibromyalgia.  Up until recently I’ve been pretty confused about my symptoms and what is going on with me, but it seemed like the weather really didn’t bother me much.  I live in AZ where it is very dry most of the year.  But every summer, mid-July, we get hit with monsoons.  The humidity literally goes from 0 – 60 in a matter of days.  It’s lovely to have summer storms in the desert.  Pouring rain, lighting shows and the most beautiful sunsets you’ve ever seen!

 I’ve been feeling pretty good lately.  Tired, yes, but not in all that much pain and my brain has been working pretty well.  :) This morning though, I woke up with a fuzzy head and was sore from head to toe.  I tried to help my husband make some breakfast, but kept forgetting what I was doing, why I had opened the fridge, stuff like that.  I just did not feel right.  Went about the day and we even took the kids to the movies.  While we were there the sky opened up and it poured like it hasn’t all summer!  We’ve had a few good storms, but this one was the biggest.  Rain, wind, hail, thunder, lighting!  We were ducking in and out of stores at our outdoor mall while this was going on.  My hero of a husband braved the storm and went to get our big suburban “Bruce” as close to us as possible.  We all got soaked despite his efforts.
It was quite an adventure.

Once we got home and I sat down to rest (more like crash) I realized that my body had been trying to tell me this morning that it would storm today.  I think I am more in tune to my own body and symptoms now that I have been paying attention to and trying to improve them.  Here is an article from fibromyalgia-symptoms.org on Weather and Fibromyalgia, that explains why the weather effects us!

I really am a human barometer!

Next time, I will listen.

First Steps to Healing!

I am a follower of Christ.  I believe the Bible is the Word of God and I try to live my life to reflect that.  So when faced with having fibromyalgia I naturally turned to prayer for help.  I would pray (and still do) for healing and guidance on how to handle living with this syndrome.  I wrestled with what I was being told by Dr.’s to be selfish and the negativity I was seeing in other people around the world living with fibro.  I wrestled for months, “HOW do I handle this God?”  All kinds of people of course were there to offer suggestions.  Most wanting to be helpful.  Try this diet, take this pill, read this book.  For me though, I need to hear it from God.  The answers need to come from His Word.  The first place I was led to was the book of James.  I was doing a Bible study with the women’s ministry at my church.  I loved it, even though I was late most meetings.  (It was held in the mornings & I am just NOT a morning person.)  James is a short book, 5 chapters.  Guidance came for me in Chapter 5.  Yup, He made me wait a little bit.

 

Well.  That’s pretty clear.  I was sick.  I needed to call up the elders of my church and have them pray over me.  So I did.  Next week in church I wrote my request on a little card & turned it in.  Was contacted & set up a time for me to come to a board meeting.  (I would also like to mention that I shared this in my Bible study group and those wonderful ladies gathered around me right then to pray.  We all can and should pray for one another with the authority of Christ.  “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16)


My husband came with me that evening, and the board members gathered around me, laid hands on me and took turns praying for healing.  I cried the whole time.  I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to receive complete healing right then.  I do believe that that is possible!  But I believe God has me on a PATH to healing and this was my first step of faith & obedience.  I left feeling very blessed to be surrounded by people who care, and earnestly prayed for me to heal.  Thank you Mission Community Church! I also left that evening knowing that healing is coming.

Introduction - Living in a Fog

We all have difficult things that we face in our lives.  Broken relationships, illness, death, poverty.  I have not had to walk a very hard path most of my life, but I have had struggles.  I have faced tough times and been brought through a few fires.  I have relied on my God to bring me through these things.  His grace is unmatched.  I would love to share my story with you and give a voice to what daily life is like living with fibromyalgia and fighting it!

My journey with fibromyalgia began in November of 2011.  After living with severe pain in my legs & feet for over a year, getting worse as time went on, my husband convinced me to see a Dr. and figure out what could be wrong.  I was tired all the time and felt like I was living in a fog.  Whatever was going on was really interfering with my life & my ability to be a parent & keeper of my home.

At the time, I was 33 and stay at home mom of a 13, 10 and 2 year old.  Every day I would wake up and feel like I’d been hit by a truck.  Everything hurt.  I felt swollen and achy from my feet to my fingertips, up to my neck, jaw and top it off with a headache some days.  My joints were the worst.  I could tell what kind of day it was going to be by how much it hurt to walk down the stairs.  On the bad days I felt like my bones would snap as I took one step at a time gripping the railing for dear life.  I would get kids off to school and then sit on the couch and try to wake up for around 2 hours, or go back to bed for a few hours depending on how late my 2 year old would sleep.  Once I actually felt awake around lunch time, I could usually get ONE thing done during the day.  One errand, clean One area of the house, One playdate.  It wasn’t good if I tried to do more.  I often pushed myself though.  Just get one more thing done, or run in the store really quick.  That always led straight to a crash.  I was always forgetting meetings, or phone calls to make, appointments, or some other household tasks, or cancelling plans because I just couldn’t leave the house.  I tried to play and engage with my 2 year old, but more often than not, I couldn’t do much.  I couldn’t even take him to the park.   Just the thought of that made me tired.

For me, when I say I feel “tired” that usually means that my entire body is SCREAMING at me to “Stop Stop Stop!!!  Sit down!  Rest!  You can’t go on!”  It’s an all-consuming feeling of being overwhelmed and exhausted.  My mind would fog over & I was done.  Out.

I don’t know how I made it through dinner time most days.  Usually around 4pm I would start to head downhill.  Just in time for the older kids to come home and need help with homework (that I couldn’t do because I couldn’t even think) or be driven to some activity. The pain in my legs was more than I could bear by that time of day.  My husband would come home from work and watch me as I literally cried just standing up & walking some nights.  Forget cleaning up dinner.  I would park myself on the couch after eating and there I would stay until bed time where I would become so stiff and sore it hurt to move.  I was exhausted, yet I would dread going to sleep because I knew how bad I was going to feel when I woke up.

This is how I lived for a year.  Feeling like a failure at life.  Ineffective for ministry.  Wondering if this was just “getting older.”   I was ready for answers.  I was ready to have my life back.  I had hope.  I know that God can heal.  I myself have experienced a miracle in emotional healing.  I just didn’t know how long my journey with this would be.  Would you like to walk out of the fog with me?