To Move Foward - Follow Up

Yesterday I met with my doctor again to discuss this last month's game plan.  The new approach we had tried had not worked and in fact I had worsening symptoms since stopping the previous treatments.  So we're going to tweak the old game plan and try again. 

It was interesting because he said to me that as much as he didn't like to see me having regressed - the data we collected from something not working was as good as if it had.  It pointed us back towards the direction we should take and helped us identify ways to improve it. 

Isn't life like that?  So many times in life if something isn't working well, we sometimes think that to fix it will require major changes but upon a closer look, small changes are often all that is necessary for a major payout.  Things like coffee.  I can't have caffeine (for almost two years now, caffeine free!) because of my illness so at first I thought there was no point to bother with it.  But I really missed the warm comfort a cup of coffee can give so I resigned myself to decaf and quickly realized the missing caffeine wasn't really missed!  I can still have a cup of coffee and get all the benefits without the nasty side effects of the caffeine.  Not all problems in life are solved that way but more often a simple, moderate approach to change can be more successful than going cold turkey or doing a complete 180. 

Very often, I find myself wishing for a quick fix to my health.  The extremely gradual and slow process of healing and the numerous set-backs make it feel like we've gotten nowhere.  But, for some reason God wants this healing to be slow for now and probably because there's other things in my life that need to heal, too.  He knows that the gradual approach is the only way I will really make real changes - I just pray that whatever lessons He is asking me to learn during this time, that I will really learn them.  I don't want this to be for nothing - it's been too hard and too life-altering that I couldn't stand it if it in the end, it was a waste. 

So, today I try to move forward with hope that going back to the previous treatments will be more successful with the adjustments we made.  And, hoping that I will move forward growing from this situation instead of regressing.  I long to honor this fight I'm in by honoring God and that's why your prayers are so essential - because it's so easy to get stuck in a rut or feeling sorry for myself.  Thanks for reading and for your prayers!!