Mayo Clinic

     Our experience at the Mayo Clinic was absolutely phenomenal!  I have never before experienced so many doctor's and specialists who honestly want to help you and get to the bottom of your sickness.  I feel very blessed!  This will be a very detailed blog of my diagnoses.  Please feel free to skip information if it's too much to read.  I wanted to create one very detailed blog seeing as me and my family have yet to memorize all of what was told to us this past week.
     I have been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).  PCOS is a hormonal disorder which the doctor's believe I already had at a very young age.  PCOS sometimes shows itself in symptoms similar to breast cancer.  My ovaries are enlarged and covered with cysts, my DHEA level is very low and I do not have regular periods.  Seeing as I show so many signs of PCOS it is clear that mine is very advanced.  Many women with PCOS before the age of 40 get type 2 diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea and/or cancer.  Because of these risks it's extremely important to stick to a strict diet and exercise program.   Women who follow a low FODMAP diet (this is a strict diet put together by medical professionals) and who exercise twice the amount of a healthy adult (most adults should exercise 30-60 minutes daily, PCOS women are asked to exercise 60-120 minutes daily) do not have as great a chance of getting type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease etc.  Most women with PCOS are never able to get pregnant.  There are several medications and surgeries that can help encourage fertility however they come with fierce side effects.  Women with PCOS who manage to get pregnant often have babies with many health issues as well as the mom having health issues during pregnancy. Often babies with moms who have PCOS don't survive pregnancy or birth and many end up passing away within the first few months of their lives.
     The doctors also believe I have Willis-Ekbom disease, also known as Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS).  This syndrome effects sleeping.  Those who have RLS that is untreated never go into a deep sleep.  It's as if they are always only in an extremely light sleep.  The doctor's think that I got RLS when I did the NightWatch at IHOP.  Because of this, they think I may have not have a good night's sleep for over a year!  Therefore, I have extreme fatigue, constant headaches and an achy body.
     IBS (Irritable Bowl Syndrome) is another thing the doctor's found.  I have acid in my esophogus which most people should have in their stomach and my stomach seems extremely sensitive to certain foods (which explains my nausea).  Because of this along with the PCOS they have suggested sticking to an extremely strict diet of low FODMAP foods for several months.  After this they want me to slowly start adding certain foods back into my diet.  Foods high in fat (mainly dairy), wheat products (including gluten products) they want me to stay away from for life.  This will greatly decrease my chance of heart disease, cancer, diabetes etc.
     Of course our big question was, how on earth does my body have so many things wrong with it at such a young age.  My doctor thinks it is one of two things.  1, it may be a post viral infection.  My body may still be trying to fight off the bad stuff and therefore my body has simply gotten weak from fighting.  2, I may have picked up something during travelling to different countries that weakened my immune system and caused me to have several side effects.
     I am starting on several different temporary medications.  I made it very clear to my doctor that my dream is missions and therefore I do not want to be dragging with me bottles of pills for the rest of my life.  Therefore thankfully, most (not all) of my medications are simply temporary.  It may take several weeks for my body to adjust to the new medications.  My doctor's are all keeping in contact with me to help adjust amounts of medications and different types of medication if necessary.
     To sum it up, in day to day life my biggest adjustment will be diet and exercise.  My doctor's kindly explained that this isn't something I can 'cheat' on once in a while.  Other then this, the doctor's are hoping that within three months I will be as good as new!

Ohhh Kansas City

     I had an amazing time in Kansas City!  My friends are absolutely amazing.  They took hours out of their schedule just to listen to me, to pray for me and to just chill and be together!  There are a group of intercessors from IHOP who have committed to praying daily for me until there is complete and total healing in my body.  My school has offered to work with me and allow me to be a student online this semester.  This way I could participate as much as possible and possibly return in August as a Junior (a third year student).  They have asked if they could Skype with me once a week to see how school stuff is doing and to see how my health is.  Mike Bickle even took time out of his schedule to meet with me and my family to see how we are doing.  I feel so loved, blessed and supported!  I am so incredibly grateful for my school!
     I got accepted to the Mayo Clinic!  Me and my family are leaving on Monday and starting tests on Tuesday in Rochester.  I am so thankful for this opportunity.  Please pray for an abundance of wisdom to be upon the doctor's and specialists.  Please pray for a quick diagnoses and hopefully somewhat easy treatment.  I would be so happy to be back on my feet this summer!
     Mike, being the preacher he is.  Nicely preached a small sermon when he understood what was running through my mind.  He told me of his encounter with a tumour in his lungs which would have forced him to stop preaching.  He told me that during that time he studied eternal life.  The fact that we, as humans, are eternal is absolutely stunning.  To think that if you, or me would die right now, in less then 5 seconds we would be more aware and alive then ever.  So often we have such peanut brains that can only comprehend the present day pain.  However the life that takes place behind our eyes is eternal.  How exciting!  To think we are not only trying to get through today to make it to tomorrow and eventually simply be no more.  Instead, I am an eternal being.  My body and the pain that I am going through everyday is temporal, but the life that I experience every day on the inside will only increase forever, for eternity.
   
   

Only More Questions...

     Today I had my first specialist appointment.  I must admit, I walked away more frustrated and with more questions then answers.  I am going to be having more tests and will be seeing more specialists. They want to pursue each of my symptoms individually, with different specialists.  Please pray for wisdom for me and my family seeing as there are several options on how to move forward.  We are praying for a diagnoses as soon as possible.  Weather it's good news or bad news the unknown seems much harder then facing reality.
     I am off to Kansas City tomorrow morning!  My mom and dad are coming along to help me pack up my apartment, move home and tie up a few loose ends.  We are planning to spend several days in KC enjoying the prayer room, services, and for me to say good bye to the place I have called home for the past two years.  Please pray for peace, I am absolutely thrilled to return for four days however I know that leaving KC will break my heart.  I have grown desperately in love with my Saviour during my time at IHOP and have grow in much knowledge and love for the Word.  Leaving that place will be far from easy, especially considering the circumstances.  Good thing God is the healer of broken hearts :)
     I have been learning much in the past week of dying to myself in several areas.  It seems as if a highlighter has been over the 'people pleasing' area of my life.  I really like it when people like me, just being honest!  This past week I feel as if I have done everything but please the people around me.  I have cancelled hang outs with many friends and when I have the chance to snatch a few hours of work, I am well aware that the work I complete is not the quality it once was.  When I'm in groups of people, my dizziness and headaches seem to ramp up to an extreme.  Because of this, I've become the silent girl in the corner, avoiding people, leaving early and coming late.  It's been a real reality check. Why do I care so much about what others think?  At the end of the day the most pleasure I feel is from my heavenly Father.  At the end of the day if nobody likes me or if everybody would like me the truth is, I would still rather my final conversation before bed be with God and not with man.  If I profess with my mouth that I live for God's glory why do I try so hard to glorify myself and convince people that I am likeable?  I've so enjoyed being challenged this week to simply let go, and trust God that He knows what He is doing.  He likes me, and that's all that truly matters :)
   

When life does not go as Planned...

     I have attempted to write this post several times which always ended in highlighting the entire page and hitting the delete button.  I've decided to just get it over with and be extremely raw with all of you.  In fact that's what my blog will be over the next season of my life.  So here we go :)
     Well it's official, instead of finishing this next semester at IHOPU I will be staying home.  As some of you have already heard, my health complications over the past few years seem to have come to an all time high.  My doctor has asked me to stay home and go and see a breast cancer specialist next week.  For my family, simply hearing a diagnoses would be so exciting!  Once you know what's wrong, you know what your dealing with.  However having no answers, that can be extremely frustrating.  Being a 20 year old and being told I'm simply in no condition to go across seas can be annoying, extremely annoying!  I am completely off of my regular 20 pills a day that normally help me get through each day.  This way hopefully the doctors will be able to find the root of my sickness and not just treat the symptoms.  My body is in constant pain and I am always exhausted.  My original plan was to graduate from IHOPU this May, buy a condo and save up money to go on long term missions in a few years.  Now, now my plan is to get through today with an unoffended heart towards my Creator.  Because He loves me, because He saved me, because He is fully sovereign over my sickness, because I really do trust Him, and because He is empowering me today to be a witness of Himself.
     I am fully, 100% convinced that my God could heal me this very instant.  I am fully convinced that if it brought Him the most glory that He would miraculously heal me and I would be as healthy as the other 20 year old down the street.  Yet in this moment, He has not chosen to do that.  Therefore, I am fully convinced that His plan of being glorified through my sickness is greater then my personal dream of being healed.  I am fully convinced, that my present sickness is for my own good.  I am fully convinced, that my sickness is an open door to great communion and intimacy with my Creator.  I really do trust Him.  I am truly overjoyed to be used as a vessel, by His grace, to glorify Christ.  Therefore in sickness or in health, with His empowerment I will waste my life at His feet.  Because He is worthy.  I will continue to ask daily for healing and if He chooses to heal in His mercy, I will worship Him.  If He chooses to not heal me in His sovereignty, and maybe even take me home sooner then planned, I will worship Him forever and ever.
   
   

Are You Wasting Your Singleness?

     In the past two years I've been on the emotional roller coaster that many singles in their twenties find themselves upon.  I've gone through heart break, I've considered celibacy, I've been desperate, I've been satisfied, the list could go on!  Where is there peace in the midst of this precious season of singleness?  This fall, I really began to think much of this subject.  Many of my friends had just broken up with boyfriends or were going through breakups.  I, finally felt ready to start dating again and was wondering where all the knights in shining armour were staying.  So, I began to seriously ask the question, what can all of these single, young people offer that others in the church cannot?
     1 Corinthians 7 has become an extremely precious chapter to me, a chapter which I used to avoid for fear of what on earth it was trying to tell it's audience.  I would certainly encourage one to read the entire chapter and the entire book if possible.  This will allow you to read those frightening verses from the context which Paul intended.  Verse 32 states, "but I want you to be without care.  He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord - how he may please the Lord." Verse 34, "there is a difference between a wife and a virgin.  The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit.  But she who is married cares about the things of the world - how she may please her husband."  Verse 35, "and this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction."
     Paul, clearly, is a great example to us as one who truly loved singleness.  He goes as far as saying, "for I wish that all men were even as I myself," single!  Being single allows you "to be without care."  Nobody is waiting for you to make them dinner, do their laundry, or relying on you to bring home the money for bread and butter.  It's just you.  What are you going to do with this free time in your schedule and this freedom in your mind?  You are free to care for the things of the Lord alone, if you choose.  You are free to spend hours in prayer, to study the Word in great depth, to involve yourself greatly in the church.  To spend your time caring of how you may please the Lord, not a man or a woman at your side.  You can spend yourself striving for holiness in body and in spirit.  You can commit yourself to not look upon anything unclean, to not listen mindlessly to that which does not glorify Christ, to not touch that which is not yours to touch.  This can be an intense season of preparation for the bridegrooms return, and possibly for your earthly bridegrooms arrival into your life. You truly have been given a gift, the ability to serve Christ free from distraction.
     This gift, I believe, is one of the most neglected gifts amongst the church today.  When we see one who is single in their twenties our minds are searching for a reason.  We switch into counsellor mode.  Maybe they are socially awkward?  Maybe their past is holding them back?  Maybe there is a lack of options for them?  There must be something wrong!  Oh that we would become living examples of how precious this season in their lives is!  I truly believe that singles in the church need those who are married, and those who are married are in need of those who are single.  Those who are married must be a constant example and reminder of how the church is meant to be in relationship with Christ.  Those who are single, should be a continual reminder to those who are married of how life will be once again, at the end of the age.  Scripture is clear that once Jesus returns, there will be no more marriage.  We will be "as the angels."  Once again free from distraction to care only about the things of Christ.
     Now, I do not want to come across oblivious of human emotion.  Men were created to be attracted to woman, and woman to man.  To ask a generation of single adults to never ponder upon marriage is ridiculous!  I, myself, greatly look forward to the day when I will be married to a man who challenges me daily to die to myself.  What a great opportunity to draw nearer to Christ!  My point is not to provoke one to never desire marriage but rather to not waste the current season in which you are called to walk in.  How dreadful the thought of attempting to explain wasted minutes and days to God before His throne.  Don't waste this time, treasure it.

How can I know the will of God?

     The all famous question of 'how to know the will of God' arises in children often even younger then eight years old.  I remember when I was nine years old I had to decide if I would continue to train professionally for competitive gymnastics.  Did God want me to quit?  Would that glorify Him more?  I wish there was more teaching on this within our churches from an extremely young age and on.   Absolutely nobody is excused from this situation, even seniors today are starving to know if they are to turn left or right.
     I listened to a message some time ago by Pastor John Piper, former pastor of Bethlehem Church in Minneapolis.  He gave such a simple answer that I hardly believed it to be possible.  He simple told his congregation to take their bible, go to a location where they would not be easily distracted, and read it for four hours straight.  He instructed them to leave technology behind and to take as few bathroom breaks as possible.  Sounds too easy right?  Wrong!
     The bible above all materials is the most sacred and easy way to decide on the will of the Father.  It is His instruction manual to us, I truly believe it contains every answer to our wandering questions.  No, it does not instruct to marry him or to break up with him but rather it let's us know what the Father's heart is for us.  It reminds us again and again that our first priority must be to Lord God and then to love those around us.  It shows us what this looks like and how to walk it out.  If we are within the commandments of the Word we are within the will of God.  He is not limited by our turning to the left or the right as long as our hearts are centred on Him.  God is not trying to trick us into choosing that which is not His will, rather He simply asks us to glorify Him.  Praise Jesus!

How important is water baptism to the salvation process?

One might wonder if baptism is essential for salvation, what happens if one is 'born again' yet not baptized?  Is a believer walking in disobedience if he or she is not baptized?  Should we be encouraging believers to get baptized or is this an act of faith that must be done completely on their own?  Is there an age where a believer is too young to make this great decision of baptism or do we simply look at the fruit of ones life and baptize despite the age of the believer?

The greatest place to start looking for this information would surely be when Jesus' disciples first began to head out and walk in the ways which the Master had taught them.  These accounts would primarily be found in the book of Acts.  The word "baptism" in various forms (plural, singular etc.) is found twenty-one times in the book of Acts.  It is clear that this subject is not only essential but emphasized greatly in the early days of the church.  In Acts 2:38 Peter commands the multitude before him to get baptized.  In Acts 8 we see a beautiful story of an eunuch not understanding the contents of the book of Isaiah and Phillip overhearing.  Phillip joined the eunuch on his chariot and explained the gospel to him.  Once the eunuch heard and believed he exclaimed "Look, here is water.  What can stand in the way of my being baptized?"  Phillip then immediately baptized him and disappeared.  Saul, in Acts 9, three days after his conversion was baptized once receiving his sight back.  It is important to note that though Saul was believing and understanding the gospel he had not walked out his faith for even a week prior to being baptized.  Length of time prior to baptism does not seem to be essential in the book of Acts.

My final conclusion would be that water baptism is clearly essential and important in the salvation process, yet not needed.  We see other examples in scripture where believers did not have the chance to be baptized.  For an example the thief whom died on the cross next to Jesus.  This thief stood up for Jesus against the mockery of the other thief and the audience before them.  The thief asked Jesus to "remember me when you come into your kingdom."  Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."  It is clear in this example that the thief was not baptized and did not get baptized prior to entering paradise.  How great it would've been for this thief to experience baptism and the glory of living this life with the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of him, yet scripture is clear that baptism was not needed for this thief's salvation.

As far as age it is hard to tell biblically when a child, yet alone an adult is ready to get baptized.  From the examples we have in scripture we know that people understood the gospel prior to being baptized and they confessed faith in this gospel.  Aside from this two pre-requisitions it does not seem like anything else is needed to become baptized.  In Acts 16:15 we see an entire household getting baptized.  It is hard to tell if this household consisted of infants as well as other ages or if possibly all were old enough to confess with their mouths and believe the gospel.  There are more examples throughout the scriptures where we see entire households getting baptized which causes me to believe that there is no minimum age as long as the child can confess with their mouth that they too believe in the gospel and understand the depth of their conversion.