Seeking Medical Help......

When I was healthy physically, I had learned nothing except my deafness which is not an illness but rather a disability. Looking back. I was very healthy until I was diagnosed with MS a few years ago. I was unable to learn anything from my healthy body. Its just that I was able to do many things that an unhealthy person could not do. (which I learned later). 3 John 1:2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. Mark Pickup said it perfectly when he was healthy at one point, “I have been more service to God disabled than during my able-bodied years. This didn’t happen despite my disability but because of my disability.” Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." Joni Tada: "Sometimes God will use suffering and affliction to sandblast us to the core and get us seriously thinking about larger than life issues of heaven and hell, I just don't know that we would think about these issues were it not for an ice-cold splash of suffering waking us out of our spiritual slumber. God's purpose in redeeming us is not to make our lives happy, healthy, and free of trouble. It is not an escape from our physical pains. His purpose is to make us more like Christ. He will chose to allow spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis or blindness or stroke or Alzheimer's or whatever to not only teach us, but also our loved ones, about what it means to become more like him." Suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope. Romans 5: 1-5 (NIV) "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV) "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." God have provided great talents like Dr Luke and other great doctors and medical staff around the world. God also created herbs and similar plants to provide us proper medicine for our health. In case you don't know, many drug companies are using God's creations to make better drugs. Drugs do not come from empty air. I remember this quote and I think this applies:

Get Your Own Dirt One day a group of scientists got together and decided that man had come a long way and no longer needed God. So they picked one scientist to go and tell Him that they were done with Him. The scientist walked up to God and said, "God, we've decided that we no longer need you. We're to the point that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don't you just go on and get lost." God listened very patiently and kindly to the man and after the scientist was done talking, God said, "Very well, how about this, let's say we have a man making contest." To which the scientist replied, "OK, great!" But God added, "Now, we're going to do this just like I did back in the old days with Adam." The scientist said, "Sure, no problem" and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt. God just looked at him and said, "No, no, no. You go get your own dirt!"

No matter what we do, God is always guiding us through our circumstances (good and bad). Nothing is impossible for Him. God is Good and at the same time, God is Holy and Sovereign. The Apostles, Joseph, Joshua, Daniel, Job, David and other great biblical characters lived in the same world, but how differently they interpreted their relationship with God. Learning from them, I can see that circumstances did not control them; it is their reaction to circumstances that determined what kind of people they were and most importantly, how faithful they were. I have multiple sclerosis (MS) and taking expensive treatments for it. I will not reject what God have provided through great people who came up with medicines to help us. There were number of Christians in the Bible who were sick (i.e. 2 Timothy 4:20 Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus.) 1 Timothy 5:23 Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. Trusting God is important when you are sick but at the same time, use God's people who have spiritual gifts (talents) to help others. If I was going to die anyway, I would chose not to take drugs so I can "enjoy" my life until the day I die ONLY IF I knew the drugs would keep me in bed and not living my life while not knowing if the drugs will help or not. The odds of dying will be determined my decision. Here are my thoughts from my experiences: A Christian has the responsibility to put his faith in Christ, but God gives him the ability to make that decision through the Holy Spirit. Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. Romans 8:28-29 "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Proverbs 20:24 How can we understand the road we travel? It is the LORD who directs our steps. When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.(Eccl 7:14). In Proverbs 16:9 We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps. We don't know God's will specifically but we will know what directions we should be going. To be grateful to God's servants is to be grateful to God in all circumstances. Thanking God shows humility and acknowledges His rightful aurhority as the Sovereign Lord and the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). We are to be thankful in ALL circumstances.1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 I may not be feeling well physically today but I have learned to be thankful anyhow and to rejoice in the promises of God. God's eternal blessings do not depend on how I feel today. If my eternal hope rested on how I felt physically, which is temporal, I might as well forget eternal blessings. The point is this: my feelings (i.e. cope) in no way change my eternal blessings because of great examples in Hebrews 11. I will NOT dare not relate my faith and hope to my emotions of the moment and to how I feel today or whatever the circumstances I am facing. My eternal hope depends on God's Word and His decisions because He will make good on His eternal promises at HIS time, not mine. The subject of my human emotions and circumstances, God does not play on our emotions to bring us to the point of His spiritual decisions. God uses circumstances for His glory, not ours.