First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
1 Timothy 2:1 NASB
#33: Any Other Name
***This post is about us, but I need to start with Daniel.***
I made an interesting observation in the Book of Daniel (KJV Version). (Since the last ‘V’ stands for ‘Version’, can we call it the KJ Version? Or the KJVV? It seems too redundant.)
Daniel’s friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego) were actually named Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah in Hebrew. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were the Babylonian names that they were given after going into captivity. Daniel was renamed Belteshazzar (meaning: “he whom Bel favors”).
The following thought crept through my mind: Why do we know Daniel by his given Hebrew name, but we know his three friends–brave men who would rather be thrown in a furnace than betray the God of Israel–by their false Babylonian names?
It’s claimed that Daniel wrote the Book of Daniel, but it’s written in third person. Why would Daniel insist on calling himself by his true Hebrew name but not his friends?
I don’t have an answer (yet), but I’m willing to speculate he kept referring to himself by his true Hebrew name because he was committed to God. No way was he going to advertise himself as being the one “whom Bel favors.”
I believe we will have new names in heaven because of Revelation 2:17 (NASB)–“To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.”
The idea that our Father has different names for His children than the names we own here seems symbolic of our identities and how we’re understood. Everyone belongs to one of two kingdoms: The Kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness. And what partnership does light have with darkness? Unbelievers cannot truly understand and deeply befriend a Believer. (I am NOT saying that we shouldn’t be nice to unbelievers. On the contrary, we are to be kind to everyone and we can be friends with unbelievers. My point is that an unbeliever can’t truly understand what makes you tick unless they know your Watchmaker.)
We have identities that are being molded for eternity (if we’ve placed ourselves in Jesus Christ). Life is messy, but our Creator knows how to help us along. The world is getting darker, and modern-day Babylon will try to rename you.
DON’T LOSE YOUR TRUE IDENTITY.
Michelle ~ “We love Him, because He first loved us.” — 1 John 4:19
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John 6:37
#32 Growing with Life: My Testimony. Part IV
I put off my decision on radiation for a while, waiting to hear from the Lord. It was a difficult wait, with mysterious health issues at every turn that doctors couldn’t figure out. Eventually, I was led to make an appointment with a radiologist, and so I did. It was great that I had waited! If I had gone immediately (as I’d been instructed), I would’ve seen a different radiologist. But, because I waited on the Lord’s timing, I had a radiologist who had taken the same treatment when he’d had a six-month-old daughter at home! So he knew better than most doctors (who would’ve spit out textbook answers,) that I needed to abstain from holding my children for long periods of time because I’d be emitting radiation. If I had acted immediately and saw the original doctor recommended to me, I would’ve held Lydia way too soon.
When I saw the radiologist, he told me he wasn’t sure I needed radioactive iodine. He said I was an intermediate case, and there was no way to tell if I still had disease in my body. It was entirely possible that surgery had removed it all or that cancer was still in my body. It was my decision.
I followed the pattern: I waited for the Lord again. After a couple weeks, He told me I still had microscopic disease in my body and I needed radiation.
Radiation proved harder than surgery.
The radiology team wheeled a metal box into my room, covered in biohazard and warning labels. They opened it, and there was the radioactive iodine pill. I took it and drank lots of water. I was confined in a room for 3 days. No visitors. Only medical personnel—and many of them came in with gowns, masks, goggles, and gloves because every fluid that came out of me was radioactive.
Within a couple of hours, the poison had taken over. It was so strong it was like something off of a movie: I would stand out of bed, and everything would jolt sideways. I had to brace myself against objects to walk; the dizziness was so severe I was almost blind. My stomach was churning and twisting and burning. I was so cold I scalded my skin in the shower trying to get warm, and I had the temp cranked up to 80 and blankets piled on me to feel somewhat comfortable. I got violently ill and prayed between heaves, but they came in rounds so quick and fierce I could only whisper “Jesus” before hurling again.
Vomiting was great; it was like the Lord’s way of removing the excess radiation I didn’t need. The radiology team measured the levels where I vomited, and it was reading quite high, so I was assured I’d purged a lot of it.
The next morning, I woke up swollen in the face. My salivary glands were so huge I looked like a chipmunk. Later that day, my tongue was scorched from the radiation and all of the lemon drops I’d sucked on, and it continued hurting for weeks.
It got easier after day two, and I went home after three days. Matt and the girls found me, and Matt lost his breath the second he laid eyes on me; something magical had happened to me with God during radiation, and he could see the difference in my eyes. Lydia (who was only seven months old,) took my extended absence hard. It was about a month before she trusted me again.
I had to stay in quarantine, away from my family, for an additional 4 or 5 days. This whole time, Matt was waking up at 6 a.m., packing up the girls and taking them to others’ homes before he went to work, picking them up, cooking dinner, and putting them to bed. (And he still found time to create homemade games on paper and fax them to me while I was in the hospital so we could play over the phone!) He was a single parent for a week. He did great, but I never want him to have to go through that again.
I had a radiation scan about ten days later, and they said I was cancer-free. (But the Lord had told me a couple of days before that!) One doctor wanted me to have a follow-up scan a year later before saying I’m cancer-free, but I’m not taking radiation again unless the Lord tells me to. Even a minuscule “tracer-dose” can do some heavy damage. (My life-experience on this carries far more weight than doctors’ book-knowledge.) Fortunately, blood tests and ultrasounds can do wonders for monitoring my health.
By the end of September, I was frustrated because I couldn’t hold my babies like I wanted to. One night in desperation, I fell on the ground crying out to the Lord that I wanted to hold my babies like a normal mom. I felt Him around me, I felt His care for me, and then I felt Him PULL the radiation out of my neck! There was a physical pop under my skin. When I went to the radiologist, they scanned my neck and my radiation levels were gone! (All they could detect was “background radiation” that’s everywhere.) Some were surprised, but not me! This is the God I roll with!
Since having radiation, I have gone through many trials with my health. That tiny gland in the neck does so much. If I get too far hypo- or hyperthyroid, I have ailments.
I’m not going to lie: I miss my thyroid, but those occasions are becoming fewer and farther between. I remember the person I used to be and see the person I am today, and I have thanked God for breaking me. I’ve learned that sometimes we have to lose something valuable to gain something precious. Since that moment, I haven’t missed my thyroid. I’m a hard-headed, strong-willed person, and it would’ve taken something powerful to snap me out of myself. God didn’t give me cancer, but He did bring good out of it. And if I hadn’t listened to Him, if I hadn’t said yes to Lydia or submitted myself to Him in prayer, I might not have discovered in time that I’d had cancer. Papillary thyroid cancer is rarely fatal, but my case was more aggressive than doctors usually see. It could had spread through my lymph nodes, and it could have spread throughout my entire body. I might’ve died of cancer in my mid-40s like my mother did.
Another believer once said that when someone makes the decision to fully commit and submit to God, they go through a wilderness period–a trial or hardship that teaches them how to trust Him. Again, God didn’t give me cancer, but He did use it to make me a better person. Before cancer, I was selfish, and fear was my strongest driving force. I didn’t understand how much so. But now, my prayer is answered: I am as fully dependent upon God as I can be, and that dependency grows each day as He leads me in faith.
Michelle ~ “We love Him, because He first loved us.” — 1 John 4:19
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A Chosen Race
But you are A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession , so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
1 Peter 2:9 NASB
#31 Growing with Life: My Testimony. Part III
The Lord was with me every step. He woke me up at five in the morning on Lydia’s birth date to tell me I was starting labor. Really? A few minutes later . . . I was in so much pain I wanted to kill something.
After having Lydia, I had to face reality because putting off treatment was over. I had spent my pregnancy studying natural medicine, and my doctor connected me with a local man who was dying of prostate cancer, but had refused surgery, chemo, and radiation. Instead, he’d visited a hospital in Mexico where he was cured naturally. He’s sixty and feels seventeen again. I spoke with him, and he put me in touch with the facility. I prayed before I called the hospital, and the Lord told me to have surgery. I was stunned. I thought for sure He’d step in and heal me naturally, give me this big miracle to brag about and how it was a reward from Him for having faith. He gave me permission to call the Mexican hospital, probably so I wouldn’t have that “what-if” hanging over my head. I called them, and two different doctors—one of them was the same one who’d treated the local man with cancer—told me there is no natural cure for the cancer I had. Surgery and radiation was my only option.
At this point, when I wept, it wasn’t for myself. I was scared I’d do the wrong thing and mess it up and make the Lord look bad or that He failed.
I had surgery. The night before, a prophecy was spoken over me. It’s another long story, but it gave me comfort that I would love the Lord like Peter, the main character in my novels. (The person who spoke the prophecy has never read my manuscripts!) The next day, I woke up from surgery behind curtains. The room was large and full of people who were also coming out of anesthesia—cursing, screaming, vomiting repeatedly, lunging at nurses. Me? I had prayed for protection beforehand, so I woke up staring at the beautiful artwork on the ceiling. Then I found out I had a male nurse and a female nurse, and their names were Jay and Dianne. My main character’s parents’ names are James and Dianne! If I hadn’t been drugged, I’m pretty sure I would’ve jolted in a double-take. Combine that with the prophecy from the night before, and it was yet another sign that the Lord was with me.
When I was finally well enough to stand and walk again, I looked in the bathroom mirror, expecting to appear beastly after surgery. I looked younger! When the cafeteria employee delivered my breakfast the next morning, he thought he had the wrong room because I looked ten years younger than my age. Hahaha…. I love God!
The doctors warned me that after having my thyroid removed, my parathyroid glands would be “stunned” and unable to regulate my calcium levels, so I would have to take calcium supplements for a while following surgery.
Eight days after surgery, I was attacked by a dog. Thankfully, I pepper sprayed it before it got to me, but the stress messed with my hormones and my calcium levels dropped. I was locked out of the house with the kids in the backseat. (Another long story.) I couldn’t drive anywhere in that condition, and the hospital was about twenty miles away—with construction taking up one-third of that distance. So I called Matt home from work to unlock the house. (Still faster than an ambulance driving through construction.)
I sat in the car and waited for his arrival. My brain turned to mush quick, and I could feel myself beginning to lose consciousness. I called Matt, but he didn’t answer. I called a friend, and she kept me talking so I’d stay with it. My ability to speak tanked fast, and I had a delay responding to questions. As I lay slumped over the center console—feeling my muscles tightening more and more by the minute, I prayed for God’s help, and He assured me I would live. By the time Matt arrived home, my body was so stiff he couldn’t pick me up or carry me. He dragged me into the house, and it took serious effort. He gave me Vitamin D and calcium and took care of the kids. I was telling him what had happened with the dog when my heart started to fail. I could feel something wasn’t right in my chest. Then I realized my heart was slowing down too much, and slowing down more and more. I remembered the Lord’s promise that I wouldn’t die in this scare, and He put a visual in my mind of an old rescue inhaler. I told Matt to get it, and I took a couple of puffs and the medication boosted my heart rate! I had Matt massage my calves to prevent blood from pooling and keep it flowing freely back to my heart. That was the scariest ordeal of surgery.
A couple of days after that, I visited with the surgeon for my pathology result. Most of the doctors had told me I had an “easy win,” and that because I was a young female, surgery alone would probably be enough. They doubted that the disease had spread much. The pathology report surprised us all. In surgery, they had taken out several lymph nodes, and all but two of them had tested positive for cancer. The surgeon said that my young age was the only reason my case was stage 1. If I had been just ten years older, it would’ve been stage 3. He said I needed radiation.
The battle continues in Part IV.
Michelle ~ “We love Him, because He first loved us.” — 1 John 4:19
Find Behind Heaven’s Veil, Part 1: Emergence on Amazon!
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God is Love
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
1 John 4:16 NASB
We love, because He first loved us.
1 John 4:19 NASB
Perfect Love
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
1 John 4:18 NASB
#30 Growing with Life: My Testimony. Part II
About two days after my prayer, I went to the doctor for another prenatal checkup. The doctor and his assistant were surprised I still had the child. “You’re still pregnant? What happened to the (insert private medical issue here)?”
I beamed. They were happy, but still caught off guard.
On the heels of victory came the next battle. That same visit, we found out my next thyroid levels were only slightly lower—but still dangerously high. The next step was an ultrasound. Within hours, the doctor’s assistant called: I had a nodule on my thyroid and it could be cancer. I needed a biopsy.
After the call, I fell to the floor in shock. As the shock faded, I wept as I watched 1-year-old Chloe have fun. Matt sat next to me, staying calm and praying I was healthy.
August 17, 2015, the endocrinologist called with the biopsy results: I had papillary thyroid cancer.
As soon as I received the diagnosis, I traded baby showers for ultrasounds, nursery planning for blood draws, house prepping for doctor visits, and newborn photos for treatments. Our world turned upside down.
The first weeks after diagnosis were terrifying. Despite that the doctors said I would likely live, I felt quite the opposite. I saw my grandmother and mother in their final weeks as they died of cancer—it’s not how I want to go. I crumpled in a fetal position on the bathroom floor, pulling my hair, crying, screaming, and kicking a door in rage. I would cry at random times. Matt didn’t always know what to say, but he always gave me a shoulder to cry on.
I tried reading my Bible, but the words felt hollow and flat. I wanted to follow the Lord, but how could I when the living Word felt dead?
That’s when God stepped in again.
Desperate to feel normal, I went back to working on my novels. There I reconnected with characters who serve and trust in the Lord in life-or-death situations. They reminded me of great truths that opened my heart to reading the Word again. Though Matt and I both suspect others will be blessed by the story, he had said for years that he believed God gave me the story for me more than anyone else, and he was right: The novels gave me heavenly perspective and hope. I could relate to them in new ways because my life was hanging in the balance of my choices, too. That made it possible to read Scripture again. If not for those characters and the beautiful story they tell, I might not have sought God through cancer, and it might have claimed my life. (That is why I always tell people: “This book saved my life!”)
Then the Lord kept adding signs of His presence and care. Matt and I had been hit by financial blows, and there were things we needed and couldn’t afford. There were other things we needed and could afford, but I was too busy and worn-out to shop—and they were things that Matt wouldn’t know how to buy for me, like maternity clothes. We told no one about our situation and trusted God with it. Suddenly, people were coming out of thin air to meet our needs. It started when Matt came home one day, opened his wallet, and started placing cash—one bill at a time—on the counter until we had the exact amount we needed. He had tears in his eyes when he said that a friend had told him, “God told me to give this to Michelle and Chloe.” I cried, too! Over the next few weeks, we also received a big bag of clothes for Chloe, two bags of maternity clothes, and an exercise bike—all free! Then I was thinking about how nice it would be to get a play kitchen for Chloe. Seconds later, my phone sounded: “Would Chloe like a play kitchen?” It got to the point that Matt and I were no longer surprised. Every few days, one of us would say to the other: “So God’s giving us ____ for free. Should have it tomorrow/next week.”
This strengthened me for battle and to occasionally go against the doctors’ wishes when God instructed me to do something differently. (His sense of humor certainly came out now and then.)
Being that I had cancer and was pregnant, some doctors were more aggressive in their approach, and it took courage for me stand up for myself and what I knew was right. At one point, my thyroid stopped working. I had no hormone, though I still felt fine. They wanted me on thyroid hormone so I wouldn’t deliver prematurely. I said no to medication after praying about it. One specialist must’ve thought I was an idiot for refusing. He lectured me, and at one point he broke out models and slide shows about the medication. Still no. God had spoken. Fast forward a few months, the doctors wanted to rush Lydia out because I was going so far past my due date. I had been eating a plant-based diet in an attempt to keep my and Lydia’s immune system strong since I was fighting cancer. Doctors were concerned my diet wasn’t “healthy” enough and Lydia would suffer in the womb. She was the first baby born at that hospital who scored a perfect ten on the APGAR in years with that particular nurse. This nurse never gives perfect scores, but Lydia—the baby the Lord saved from miscarriage—was (is) that healthy!
(Battle coming in part III.)
Michelle ~ “We love Him, because He first loved us.” — 1 John 4:19
Find Behind Heaven’s Veil, Part 1: Emergence on Amazon!
Read FREE chapters here.
Christian Girl In A Plastic World 