Back on February, 20th 2021, I posted a letter for you titled, “Our Shelter.” You may recall that in that letter I was explaining to you the great paradox that I found myself in, and how I was not able to reconcile the choice between laying down my life for you or for my wife (in a manner of speaking). I said:
“If I had two lives to give, I would gladly give them both so that God’s love would be made real to you and to her. It is a great conflict to my soul! … but in truth, I have never actually had a choice in the matter.”
Ultimately, I finished by proclaiming that “she will not accept it!” I said that she would not accept the perfect love of God that I had attempted to give her for so many years! I even went on to add that, “She will gladly accept my carnal love, but she will not accept God’s true and perfect love.” It was a very harsh thing for me to say, and I certainly heard about it! Especially, from my mother!
I rejoice in my great God and Savior that I have been proven wrong this day! For this day, I have come to understand that I did not rightly understand the situation.
In part two of the explanation of my gastrointestinal issues (titled, “Not by Bread Alone”), I wrapped up the story of my sore tummy and how I arrived at my current condition. I also introduced the prescription that God has given me to treat my illness and prepare me for my trip around the Globe, a fast. The interesting thing is that He has not told me how long I am supposed to be on this fast for. As of today, I have been fasting for nine straight days. For some reason, I suspect that I will be on this fast for a total of 21 days, but God has yet to confirm that notion. For all I know it could be 40 days. Perhaps, He does not want me freak out at the thought that I have 32 days more to go, so He simply is not telling me.
I find that God does that very thing quite often with me. There are facts that He will not give me until the very last minute; because, He knows that it would crush me if I knew certain details any sooner than necessary. It is a great comfort to rest in God’s infinite understanding and knowledge, and to trust that He always knows what it best. When I am truly following His will, I never have to worry about dark the path that is ahead of me. He provides a path through the menacing gauntlet every time! Yet I do not understand why it is, but I often worry and fret regardless. God has been faithful to deliver me time and again – practically every day of my life – and I still cannot seem to remember that fact, until I stop for a moment, pray, and reflect on all His goodness.
In my last post I mentioned the fact that the fungal infection that I am fighting against is an outbreak of Geotrichum candidum in two different areas of my large intestines: in the cecum and in the descending colon. I also mentioned that I have tried many different treatment protocols over the years, and that none of them have ever been effective enough to overcome the outbreak. This is true even after I made adjustments to target Geotrichum candidum specifically, and my supposition for this condition is that the infection has taken up root in my appendix.
The problem is that there is no way to delivery enough of any anti-fungal agent to the areas of infection in order to completely wipe it out. I have come remarkably close a few different times, but in the end, I simply cannot get to the foothold that it has established deep inside my appendix. What I have determined is that the only way it can be fully exterminated is to starve is out. I have to stop feeding the fungal colony, which means that I have to stop eating. Moreover, I must be very careful not to drink any more water than necessary, as water aids in the survival of the fungus.
When I last expounded upon the details of my gastrointestinal issues in one of my previous posts (titled, “Spilling my Guts”), I was only able to tell you half of the story. Now I would like to take the opportunity to tell you the other half of the story, and to introduce the plan that God has for my deliverance from this affliction.
In the post, Spilling my Guts, I explained how the doctors that I had seen over the years were limited by their own system of pathophysiology (or pathology, take your pick), and how that became the primary obstacle preventing them from properly diagnosing my issue. Furthermore, I explained how I was blessed by God to meet a doctor that could help me, the late Dr. Vincent Marinkovich. Dr. Marinkovich was able to properly diagnose the problem, but then he died before I could be appropriately treated for my illness.
Nonetheless, God was faithful in leading me to finding a solution for the original problem that I had, which was Candidiasis (aka overgrowth of Candida albicans). However, this was a process that took a few more years. During that time of self-treatment, I was able to get rid of the Candidiasis, but there was a different fungus that moved in and took up residence in place of the Candida albicans. I do not have any clear notion of when this happened. For a number of years, I thought that I was still fighting the Candida albicans, when in reality I was fighting this new fungus, Geotrichum candidum.
As I mentioned before, God wants the glory for my deliverance from my gastrointestinal affliction. Furthermore, in my blog post “I Believe!,” we have already seen that no doctor, no wizard, no man or woman, nor even mine own efforts have been able to lead me out of this affliction that I have now had for nearly thirty years. Therefore, I would be amiss not to explain what specifically it is that God is delivering me from.
When my wife and I were first married, God blessed us with a new home, a new car, and He gave me a new job and promotion in my new career in IT. We had great benefits and medical insurance through my new employer, and my wife had ample money to balance our family budget. She could not have been happier.
God was exceedingly good to us. We had both given Him honor in our wedding ceremony and all the events surrounding it. Had it not been for the fact that she had been so resolute to see the fulfilment of our wedding, God would never have received all the honor and respect that was given to Him during that time. Thus, what did God do? … He repaid us tenfold! He is amazing!
Perhaps you are thinking to yourself that I do not cherish and love my wife, and I suspect that there are many others that are thinking the same thing. When I published my post, “A Riddle?,” I figured that it would cause a bit of a stir, and it appears that it did. What was I supposed to do, pull a Jonah and disobey God by running off to Tarshish? You have heard the story before, no?
“1Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. 4But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. …”
“15So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. 16Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows. 17Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
You (and many others that are reading this post) understand how that I am afflicted with a debilitating gastrointestinal disorder. There have been a few times over the course of this last year where I was completely convinced that I was only days away from a full deliverance from my affliction. Alas, in each case, I was not able to get past the threshold. Therefore, even as I write this, I am still suffering from my disorder. Perhaps you assumed that I must have found a cure to my problem, since I am now publicly telling world that God has called me out to circumnavigate the Earth. Yet, this is not so. God truly has called me out to do the impossible.
When I first accepted Jesus as my savior, I was still young and full of spit. Moreover, I did not know much about the Word of God. I certainly did not understand what it was to live by the law of faith. To the casual observer, I was every bit as heathen as any other twenty-year-old living a life of sin, apart from God. I have always been a hard worker, but apart from that, the only other thing I knew, in life, was how to party … and party I did! Therefore, in my folly God blessed me with this gastrointestinal disorder. I say that with all reverence; because, it was a genuine blessing. Had it not been for my affliction, I would have continued partying my life away into oblivion.
