#FaithToFight

 Is there such a thing as 'wandering arthritis'?  For several years I had pain in my right hip joint. It would last for several days and go away and then pain would occur in my neck, for several days and go away.  There would be pain developing in one or the other shoulder and then go away, but last September things changed.  There was pain in all those places and it did not go away.  My bed became a torcher chamber where I could not sleep.  In addition to the pain, I lost strength in my hands.  I carefully held my coffee cup with both hands.  All this time I had been praying asking God to heal me, but no answer.  Then, I began asking Him to guide me through to the solution.  There had to be a solution.

Aspirin came to my mind and I began taking the largest dosage prescribed every night before bed.  It did relieve a bit and some sleep happened.  Not having my own physician, I Googled arthritis and found there is more than one type.  I tried to determine which, if any, type I might have. Glucosamine and Turmeric was recommended.  It was now November and I began a regime of those two supplements.  There was some relief and I quit taking aspirin.

Then along came 2020 and the Corona Virus was doing some damage here in the U.S. with shutdowns and social distancing and such.  A few days after Easter, I had severe diarrhea.  Perhaps it was something I ate or stomach flu or, hopefully not the Covid 19 flu.  I took an anti-diarrheal medication, but the next day it happened again.  Never had I experienced such a thing and it went on for days.  I was afraid that I would not be able to go to work.  Of course, I was praying. Was God trying to tell me something?  Was He trying to teach me something?  What did God want me to do?

In June, I seriously considered seeing a doctor, but hospitals were shut down and doctor's offices were shut down and I came to the conclusion that God had timed this for this time and He wanted to be my doctor.  If Jesus could heal a woman who had been ill for years and had seen doctors, but with her touch of faith on his robe she was healed, Jesus could heal me.

I quit drinking coffee and started taking probiotics and cut out spicy foods, to no avail.  I kept praying, asking for directions.  Then, I actually read my vitamin bottles and found that my calcium tablets were to be taken three times a day.  I had been taking only one a day, but immediately started taking three.  Within a month the diarrhea disappeared and the 'arthritis' pain became a memory.  By September, one year from when health issues developed, I was pretty normal, maybe even better, stronger and a couple of pounds lighter.

This gory story is told for two reasons. One, that God get the glory.  He is faithful.  He answers prayers.  He is seeing what could be with your eyes of faith and will help you get there. Two, that perhaps someone out there needs to hear that God is faithful and that Calcium is really a necessary ingredient to the body's good health along with Vitamin D3.